Fans of running in Mari El are trying to save a mass summer race

Vitaly Vorontsov sent the chairman of the Mari Regional Branch of the All-Russian Athletics Federation to the head of the Committee on Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy of the Yoshkar-Ola administration Sergey Mukhortov and the director of the Palace of Culture named after Lenin Khadzhimurat Gutsunaev's letter with a request to hold a working meeting about the traditional Yoshkar-Olinsky small marathon. The participants in the working meeting will be members of the Ivika Runner Club. Vorontsov reported this by the 7x7 correspondent on March 17.

Fans of running from Yoshkar-Ola and regions of the republic are discussing the news for several weeks-in the calendar of sports events for 2017, approved by the Ministry of Sports of Mari El, there was no place for the traditional half marathon.

According to Sergei Mukhorotov, he is ready to meet and discuss the possibility of running in traditional terms - in early June. According to him, he is waiting for initiative proposals from social activists, primarily relating to some organizational issues.

When asked why the small Yoshkar-Olinsky marathon disappeared from the calendar of sports competitions, the head of the sports committee said that, probably, a letter with a proposal of the regional branch of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (it was sent to the Physical Culture Committee last fall) was lost.

“I did not find it,” said Sergey Mukhortov.

The official believes that two and a half months before the alleged holding of the competition, the problem can be solved. He said that in the near future he would contact the initiators of the meeting and set a date for its holding.

The Yoshkar-Olinsky small marathon "Yoshkar-Ola-Lake Shap" with a length of 21 km 97.5 m was held since 1982. In 2014, the route and the name of the race changed - instead of the lake, the competition participants turned the competition from the Kokshai tract to the bypass road and finished on the Kazan highway.

Over the years, the Yoshkar-Olinsky half marathon has become part of the mass sports culture of the republic. In the years of the greatest popularity, 400-500 people took part in the competition. Many famous athletes, officials, representatives of business, science, culture and art participated in the race.

Initially, the organizers of the half marathon were republican journalists and enthusiasts. After they lost the opportunity to take part in the organization of the competition, officials began to be responsible for it. Statistics of the competition participants in the past few years: 2013 and 2014 - less than 200 people, 2015 - 176 participants, 2016 - 137 athletes.

For the first time, the threat of closing the traditional mass athletics competition arose in 2012, when there was a ban on blocking the federal highway (Kokshai tract). During this time, sports officials have not prepared new options in order to save the race. In 2014, a new threat of the abolition of the half marathon arose. Fans of running and athletics veterans Mari El wrote a letter to the head of the republic Leonid Markelov with a request to conduct a competition under his auspices.

The result of an open circulation was the transfer of a half marathon to August and a change in the race route. In its new form, the Yoshkar-Oral half marathon has existed for three years.