Mountain marathon held on Mt Stara planina

PIROT - Mt Stara planina in southern Serbia was last weekend the site of Serbia's mountain marathon - mountain running and mountain bike races featuring over 120 competitors from six countries on the region's most demanding racecourses.

Minja Breberina of the Belgrade-based Freestyler association told Tanjug that the races started Friday at midnight on two courses - the 72-kilometre Kopren course, and the toughest challenge, the Midzor course, spanning as many as 122 kilometres.

The 36-kilometre race on the Bratkova strana course and the bicycle race started on Saturday morning.

Amid tough competition, Bojan Dulejan won the 122-kilometre race, finishing in 19 hours and 15 minutes, while second-placed Vlada Panic of Valjevo arrived just about thirty seconds later, after making the race very tense and exciting, Breberina said.

Macedonia's Jovica Jovancev finished third in 19 hours and 54 minutes.

The finishing times are a testimony to the demanding nature and difficulty of the course, because all ultra marathons in the region had winning times below 13 hours.

Tanja Stojanovski won the women's 122-kilometre race, finishing in 23 hours and 23 minutes, while Jelena Filipovic came second in 27 hours and 35 minutes.

Milan Nesic won the bicycle race, completing as many as six 32-kilometre laps in 24 hours. Aleksandar Djurovic finished second, with Nenad Mojsilovic in third place.

All races count towards the World Mountain Running Championships and the much more famous Mont Blanc Marathon, Breberina said.

Bojan Dulejan, a mountain guide who won the toughest event, says that Mt Stara planina is ideal for this concept of mountain marathons.

"Mountain marathons that...