There is room to accelerate

The organizers, who have always emphasized that the marathon is a benefit for city residents, not a problem, and that the air in the square of closed streets where it is held becomes cleaner, are not answering this question now. But they promise that both the April half marathon and the main race in September will be held in the city, as usual.

2,000 people took part in the winter race. Among them, there are many athletes of golden age. 74-year-old Almaty resident Sergey SILIN has been running marathons for over 20 years. He instills a love of sports in his grandchildren - with such a grandfather, you won't get stuck in your smartphone. Laughing, he says that he was turned from a weakling into an athlete by... school bullies. Or rather, the fear of meeting them at the new school where Sergey transferred. He himself collected exercise machines from magazines and pumped up his body.

The winner of the race among men was Rakhimzhan KELMANOV - he covered 10 kilometers in 32 minutes 3 seconds. Among women, Marina KOVALEVA came first (35 minutes 29 seconds).

A suburban recreation area was chosen as the venue for the running festival. The distance was built on asphalt paths, without steep climbs, observing all the rules. True, some sections of the route were under ice, and sometimes a bit of extreme was added to the competition.

Yulia ZENG, Almaty