The 21st Smoki Smokić Children’s Marathon took place on Saturday 12 April with 136 competitors qualified out of a total 16,000 preschoolers from all of Belgrade's kindergartens, for the final held at the Belgrade Zoo.
And the winner is Aleksa Tamind…¾ić, the boy from the “Cvrcak” kindergarten clocked 38 seconds for a convincing triumph over the 230m course with elephants, camels, kangaroos, and other exotic animals along the way.
Sne…¾ana „urić, the Secretary for Education and Children’s Welfare Department, said: “Here, today, all children are the winners and I am confident that several very successful future athletes are hiding among them.“We will continue to dedicate our attention to the development of physical culture, as it allows our children to improve their athletic spirit, spend time outdoors and socialize. This is how we will contribute to our youngest citizens growing into healthy individuals.”
Dejan Nikolić, the Belgrade Marathon director, and organiser of this event said: “We should be proud to present children aged from 5-6 with the values of athletics.”
The Smoki Smokić Children’s Marathon is supported by UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund and the Athletics Federation of Serbia.