World runners to converge at Eurasia Marathon in Istanbul

Thousands of people will meet in Turkey's biggest city on Nov. 13 to run the Istanbul Marathon, the world's only road race where people can cross from Asia to Europe.

The 38th Vodafone Istanbul Marathon will host not only some of the world's elite athletes but also thousands of people who just want to challenge themselves by running 42 kilometers (26 miles).

The Istanbul road race has three categories: a marathon, as well as 15km and 10km events.

A free, 8 km Fun Run will see people casually run or just walk along the Bosphorus.

The event has been a surprising success given the difficulties in finding space for regular running in the heaving, hilly metropolis.

While all the races will start on the Asian edge of the July 15 Martyrs Bridge, the marathon will end on the historical Sultanahmet peninsula of the European side where the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia are located.

The 15k and 10k races will end in the Eminönü neighborhood of Fatih district, while the Fun Run will finish in front of Dolmabahçe Palace, home to the last six Ottoman sultans.

The marathon is also the only legal chance for people to cross the Bosphorus Bridge on foot.

Ninety elite athletes will vie for the 38th Istanbul Marathon title, with 28 Turkish athletes among them.

Some of the top runners in the women's category are Fatuma Sado and Sechale Dalasa from Ethiopia, Kenya's Agnes Barsosio and Lithuania's Diana Lobacevske.

The men's category will bring together Kenyan athletes Peter Kiptoo Kiplagat and Vincent Kiprop Chepkok, Ethiopians Shura Kitata Tola, Tariku Jufar Robi and Birhanu Gedefa, Olekandr Sitkovskyy of Ukraine and Mumin Gala of Djibouti.

“I am delighted to welcome you to Istanbul," Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş said in an official message to the marathon participants.

“Once you have registered for the Istanbul Marathon, you become our very special guests who will experience the unique journey between two continents. Running from Asia to Europe through the history of one of the oldest settlements in the world is what makes your efforts so rewarding. I am sure your experience in the Istanbul Marathon will be memorable as well as enjoyable. Let's meet where the continents meet."

At the beginning, the main intention was simply to organize a marathon event. Being a unique city in terms of history and geography, Istanbul deserved a unique marathon. Despite the financial and logistical problems, an initial project was set up for the Eurasia Marathon.

In 1978, the officials were informed that a group of German tourists would visit Istanbul the next year, who run marathons in the countries they visited, the Nile Marathon in Egypt being the most recent race they participated. It was then decided to realize the Eurasia Marathon project.

Having solved the problems with the course and the traffic, the organizers invited the elite Turkish athletes to the event as well. Finally, all preparations were completed and the marathoners of whom 34 were from the 74-person tourist group gathered at the starting point, 700 meters behind the Bosphorus Bridge on that historical day.

Thus, the Bosphorus Bridge witnessed a marathon for the first time in its history, in which the runners crossed from Asia to Europe. That was the beginning of an important event.

The first Eurasia Marathon was won by Hasan Saylan, a Turkish athlete from the city of Zonguldak, in a time of 2:35:39. Being organized for 30 years, one of the most important features of the Eurasia Marathon is that it aimed to foster friendship and peace since day one. The race course changed three times over the years, therefore winning times vary in those periods.

Well known athletes such as Ian Thompson and Terry Mitchell participated in the Eurasia Marathon, which also became a testing ground for Turkish athletes, many of whom went on to run at international races.