Feature: Preschool kids compete at Belgrade Children Marathon
Xinhua, April 12, 2015 Adjust font size:
Belgrade Children Marathon Saturday gathered 130 fastest kids from the country's preschool institutions and kindergartens for the final showdown at Belgrade Zoo, Serbia.
Held for the 22 consecutive years, Belgrade Children Marathon is a chance for the fastest kids of five to six years old to compete among themselves to the interest of many of their young friends, parents, teachers as well as children with disabilities.
Competitors divided into 12 groups run at the 230 meter track around the elephant's space at the Zoo, and the winner of each group comes to the "super final".
Among the groups, the first one consists of children with disabilities who finish the run with the help of their families.
Six-year-old Filip Rajicevic, who won the race in just 37 seconds, said quietly and in confusion after crossing the finish line that he is happy to be the fastest and that he practiced very hard.
"It's not easy to beat the others. I don't know how I did it. I was evidently faster," he only mumbled trying to catch a breath.
Dejan Nikolic, director of the Belgrade Marathon, said that the event was held because sport education is important for children of this age, and that in the past two decades around 350,000 kids went through competitions in order to qualify to the Belgrade Children Marathon.
"Children in this age easily get interested in sports. It is important to keep them interested afterwards. Professional clubs begin working with kids at the age of nine," he said, stressing the importance to work with them even in preschool and kindergartens.
Nikolic said that the 130 competitors were selected among 16,000 kids in pre-qualifications, and that the aim is to promote sport to the youngest so that some of them would become professional sportsman, while others to create a habit to practice some kind of sport activity.
All participants were awarded with diplomas and medals and gifts from sponsors of UNICEF and the foundation of the world's leading tennis player Novak Djokovic. Endit