Serbians outrun international competitors at 31st Belgrade Marathon

BELGRADE, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Winners of the 31st Belgrade Marathon held on warm Saturday morning in the Serbian capital are unexpected - domestic runners - Kristijan Stosic and Nora Trklja.

Although Kenyan runners won 11 out of past 12 Belgrade marathons, Stosic and Trklja managed this time to win their international competition of around 7,000 participants from 72 countries and regions and return the trophy to Belgrade.

Thousands of fans cheered extatically for Stosic who overcame the 42.195-kilometre-track in 2 hours, 45 minutes and 23 seconds, and Trklja, who reached the finish line in 3 hours, 8 minutes and 45 seconds.

Stosic is the first domestic runner in men's competition that managed to win the Belgrade Marathon since 1990, despite the fact that his score is far from that of last year's winner Stephen Kipnegetich Katam from Kenya (2 hours 21 minutes and 12 seconds) as well as the record holder of the Belgrade Marathon (Japhet Kosgei, 2006, 2 hours, 10 minutes and 54 seconds).

"I would like to congratulate everyone that participated in this race under such heavy weather conditions. It was a struggle against oneself," Stosic said dedicating the victory to his three-year old daughter.

Second and third places in men's marathon also belonged to domestic runners - Milos Dajevic and Nenad Milosavljevic.

Trklja, the winner in women's marathon was also far slower than Olivera Jevtic that won the 2017 women's marathon race in 2 hours 38 minutes and 3 seconds.

More than 20,000 runners participated in the 5-kilometre-long pleasure race.

Besides a massive audience in the streets of Belgrade, the runners were also greeted by the Belgrade Philharmonic orchestra that performed a live concert in the open during the marathon race. Enditem