N - Medzinárodný maratón mieru, Košice

L
L et’s take a look at the International Amateur
Athletic Federation’s Post Event Report on the 6th
IAAF/VSŽ World Half Marathon Championships in 1997:
“The work of the Organizing Committee was
excellent. The athletes, team officials, the media and
the IAAF Family were all extremely well looked after,
starting from their welcome at the airport, throughout
their stay, in the hotels and at the social events.
The members of the Organizing Committee and the volunteers
had a great deal of experience from their
annual organization of the Košice Peace Marathon,
which is considered to be the oldest marathon
in Europe.
“In the beautiful historic centre of Košice,
where the start and finish area was located, the city had
decided to speed up its renovation work so that it would
be completed before the World Championships.
The decorations in the shop windows and the 60 000
spectators at the event were also most impressive.
The IAAF can say without reservation that Košice organized
the best World Half Marathon Championships
so far, and one of the best non-stadium events in the history
of the IAAF.”
There had never been greater glory in all
of Slovakian athletics.
Košice’s candidacy at the Monte Carlo
Congress of IAAF was supported by the years of experience
of several generations of marathon organizers,
the long history and tradition of the Košice Peace
Marathon, the existence of the necessary infrastructure
and the geography of the city. This all helped to tip
the scales in Košice’s favour when it came to deciding
on the venue for the World Championships. At the IAAF
Headquarters in December 1995 the modest Slovak
delegation beamed with happiness.
The city began to dress itself up in more elegant
clothes, brand new paving was laid under the runners’
feet along the Main Street, the facades of the old houses
were done up – in short, Košice wanted to make its mark
on the sporting world. The television too sought out
more compelling shots for its cameras. The scene at the
finish with runners funnelling in between the packed
grandstands and the imposing silhouette of the
Cathedral in the background – that was a great idea.
The start and finish were moved for the first time into
the heart of the city, and grandstands sprang up outside
the Slovan Hotel with 45 colourful flags waving above
them, from the Armenian to the Zimbabwean. Primo
Nebiolo came too, the man himself, the long-term boss
of world athletics. The show could begin…
The streets of Košice resounded the whole
morning with a symphony of Kenyan feet. The fact is,
nobody really expected any other sound, seeing as in
Kenya brilliant long-distance runners are two-a-penny.
While the first part of the race was led by a trio from
Lesotho. Behind them, dribs and drabs of runners began
to crystallize into groups of favourites. Kenya, Kenya
and again Kenya - a crowd of green vests. Hendrick
Ramaala of South Africa also tried hard. As long as he
was ahead, his six brothers and sisters at home kept all
sixty of their fingers and toes crossed for him.
Moses Tanui, the favourites’ favourite, put on
such a hellish pace that he tore the ribbon of runners to
shreds. In the bit at the front end there remained, including
him, just six names: two more Kenyans Kororia
and Cheruiyot, the South Africans Ramaala and Thys,
and the Belgian of Arab descent Mourhit.
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The world of long-distance running is under Kenyan
dictatorship, and nothing can be done about it. It’s only
the names of the leaders that change. Kororia sprinted himself
into gold medal position two seconds ahead of Tanui and another
two in front of Cheruiyot. They weren’t interested in anything
else.
Fantastic results, the first two 59:56 and 59:58, the third
exactly an hour. Unheard of anywhere else, and the tables
of best performances at the World Championships were
changed. Košice had gone down in the history books. “We’re all
strong runners. I was sure that one of us would win,” said
Kororia, his words fortified with justifiable self-confidence.
“Each one of us came here to run the best possible time.”
An ever-smiling child from Africa – that’s how the Kenyan
Tegla Loroupe, world champion in the women’s halfmarathon,
appeared in Košice, still single. “I might just hook
one. No problem,” she flashed her teeth at the question
whether any Košice men appealed to her. “I travel a lot, you
know, and there’s always a lot of men around me, but I’m
not thinking about marrying yet. Later on maybe, and you
never know it might just be a Slovak.”
The women started off fifteen minutes after the men,
and the fastest of them nearly caught up with the last man to finish,
Lejdanski of Kyrghyzstan. The ever-smiling child of Africa,
the absolutely petite Kenyan Tegla Loroupe (just 37 kilogrammes
in weight and 150 centimetres in height) added the
gold from the world half-marathon to her victories in Boston
and New York. She too set a new championships’ best time.
On the way, though, she was deprived of her greatest rival,
the South African Elana Meyer.
“I’m sorry that Elana got injured
in the eleventh kilometre. Up to
that point we had been running
together and encouraging each
other.” But she found enough
strength in herself to pull away
from the excellentRomanians,
who triumphed in the team
competition.
Dr. Štefan Daňo
LOC President
IAAF/VSŽ World Half Marathon Championships
Rome, 6th October 1997
Dear Mr. Daňo,
Now that I am back in Rome, I would like
to take this opportunity to thank you for your great
assistance and attentiveness during my stay in Košice
at the 6th IAAF/VSŽ World Half Marathon
Championships. I have no doubt that this event was
a great success, and that this will have important
consequences for the organizational abilities of your
country.
I would like to extend my gratitude
and recognition to you and all of your colleagues
on the Organizing Committee for this unforgettable
event, on behalf of the whole world athletics family
also.
With sincerest regards,
Primo Nebiolo
IAAF President