Ilsur Metshin: “The Kazan Marathon promotes the city as a tourist and sports center of the country”

(KZN.RU, May 6, Ksenia Shvetsova). The Kazan Marathon, attracting an increasing number of participants every year, allows the capital of Tatarstan to become a tourist and sports center of the country and grow to the largest races of European and world level. Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of the city, spoke about this today at the Business Monday. He noted that today the city has created all the necessary infrastructure to hold the most diverse and biggest sporting events.

Last weekend, a large number of various events took place in Kazan, both cultural and sports, reminded the Mayor. For example, an Easter Fair was held on Bauman Street for the first time. A new tourist season opened in the Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda, and orchestras performed in city parks and squares, recited poems, and film screenings took place in the open air. One of the biggest events of these days was the Kazan Marathon, which brought together thousands of professional athletes and amateurs. About 9 thousand people took part in the most massive 3 km race on the first day of the marathon.

“The participation of a large number of guests is encouraging, the geography of the participants of the most diverse age categories is growing”, said I. Metshin. He reminded that this year the distance was laid along a new route covering city sights. So, part of the route passed through the Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda.

The Mayor noted that the Executive Committee continues to be a sports team. Employees of the Executive Committee traditionally took part in the marathon. Thus, Denis Kalinkin, the head of the Executive Committee, ran 21 km in 1 hour 33 minutes, Irek Mukhametshin, the head of the Finance Department, ran 10 km. The same distance was passed by Ramil Latypov, the first deputy head of the Staff for Administrative and Technical Inspection, and other employees of the Executive Committee. “This is not only a good example of a healthy lifestyle, but also the promotion of Kazan as a tourist and sports center. Let us grow to the largest marathons of the European and world level”, said the Mayor. “Today, the infrastructure has already been created in Kazan, which allows us to carry out high-quality events not only at the republican and Russian, but also at the international level. Thus, all these activities become an element of the urban economy”.

This year, the organizing committee of the marathon divided the event into two days. On May 4, participants overcame a distance of 3 km, and on May 5, athletes ran 10, 21.1 and 42.2 km. Stepan Kiselev became the absolute winner and champion of Russia in the marathon, overcoming the distance of 42.2 km in 2 hours and 12.56 minutes.