Eurasia Marathon is the result of a hope and an enthusiastic expectation for
athletics. In the beginning there was no certain idea, the initial organizators were just
thinking to arrange a unique athletics race. Being a unique city thanks to its
history,
natural beauties, geography and tourism, Istanbul deserved a unique marathon. Some young
people devoted to athletics achieved to lay the foundation of the Eurasia Marathon in
spite of all financial problems and insufficient funds. It was 1979. I was notified in
1978 that a group of German tourists would visit Istanbul in 1979, who accustomed to run
marathon races in countries they visited. Their last race was the Nile Marathon in
Egypt,
so that the organizators decided to arrange an Eurasia marathon for them. Famous Turkish
athlets would also be invited to this marathon. Although some problems were suffered at
certain points, the organizators achived to schedule the Eurasia Marathon and to solve
problems with the downtown traffic, then the German group arrived here. All preparations
had to be, and were, completed in a very short time. 34 marathon runners from the
74-people tourist group gathered at the starting point, 700 m off the Bosphorus
Bridge, at
09:00 on that historical day. Thus the Bosphorus Bridge witnessed a marathon for the first
time in its history, along which the marathon runners passed from Asia to
Europe. It was a
historical moment, and proved to be the first event of a great organization that would
affect Turkish athletics. Thus the competitors ran from Asia to Europe in 1979, and Hasan
Saylan, from the city of Zonguldak, won the race with his score of 2:35:39. Arranged
annually in a consecutive manner in the past 20 years, one of the most important
characteristics of the Eurasia Marathon is that it is aimed for affection, friendship and
peace since day one.
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Mehmet Yurdadön, Champion of a
Eurasia Marathon (left),
Ahmet
Altun, runner representing Turkey at many international
races (right)... |
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Intercontinental
Eurasia Marathons course changed three times over the years, therefore winning scores
are different. Such famous athlets as Ian Thompson and Terry Mitchell attended the Eurasia
Marathon, which also became a testing ground for Turkish athlets, many of whom went on to
run at international races
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