The ultra mountain marathon held in the famous Ayder Plateau in Rize started with the 'Kaçkar by UTMB' 100k course. In the race that started early in the morning, athletes illuminated the plateau with their head lamps. Speaking after the 50k start of the program, Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak said, "Our country is truly a sports country with the sports facilities, stadiums, gyms and investments made, especially the big sports organizations."
'Kaçkar by UTMB', the Turkish stage of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) World Series, planned for the 2nd time this year in the Rize- Kaçkar Mountains under the auspices of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and under the coordination of the Rize Governorship, started in Ayder Plateau. 2 thousand local and foreign athletes came to the region days ago; He ran in the 20K, 50K and 100K categories.
Athletes illuminated the dark plateau with their headlamps in the ultra mountain marathon, which started at 04:00 with the start of the 100K course.
The races witnessed fierce competition on the lush green paths of the Kaçkar Mountains. Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak, who attended the start of the 50K race, met with the athletes at the starting point.
Making a statement to the press after the start of the race, Minister of Youth and Sports Osman Aşkın Bak said, "We are organizing an important organization for our country. The 100 kilometer race started at 04.00 in the morning. We have just started the 50 kilometer race and the runners we see behind us have completed the first 4 kilometers with our start. It is truly an important organization in terms of sports tourism. We did this for the first time last year. There was rain and mud at that time; it was a difficult period." We have just completed the 50K race today. We will run the 20 kilometer race at 10.00 and the 4 kilometer race called 'Ayder Track' at 11.00. It is a great organization. As you know, it is a very important race where people integrate with nature. People are bringing their posts and images to their countries. "The runners are all over the world and they also have followers. This group especially follows such organizations and comes to them," he said.
Stating that Rize has a share in sports tourism, Minister Bak said, "Our country is truly a sports country with sports facilities, stadiums, gyms and investments made, especially in big sports organizations. We also clearly get a share from sports tourism; this sports tourism really provides significant profits to the country. We organize many organizations in sports branches, this is where the importance of sports tourism becomes evident. They share these experiences. People come to the countries they visit, new ones come. But as I said, man's challenge to nature continues."
Stating that a big organization was hosted for the promotion of Turkey, Governor İhsan Selim Baydaş said, "We started the 100K part of the Kaçkar leg of one of the most prestigious mountain marathons in the world. Kaçkar By UTMB is a race that we sit and talk about and tell everything about. Today is a wonderful day, the start day; from now on, we will start one after the other. We are having a wonderful day, we have just started. We hope that everything will go well. It is a great time for the promotion of our city, Kaçkar mountains and our country." "It's an organization," he said.
Ayşe Kılıç, who participated in the races with her son, said, "Yes, it is my ancestral land. I am from here. It is very nice, I ran last year, I was first in my age group again. It is very nice, the organization is also very nice, everything is very nice. The nature, the nature, everything is very beautiful. I love it here. I swear it expresses happiness. It expresses youth to me, at least I feel younger."
Atila Kılıç, who participated in the races with his mother, said, "I am also an amateur runner. This year is my second year, we came with my mother. I hope we will run, we are on the 20K track. Yes, mother and son. We already have an account with my mother from last year. Last year, she finished about 40 minutes ahead of me. This year, I did my work and training to surpass her. I hope I will pass her this year, let's see. It is a great feeling to run as a mother and son. Especially for me, of course, my mother is both the eldest and really me. "As the person who started sports and running, I respect him very much. I also run thanks to him. Hopefully, if we finish together in good health, that will be the greatest happiness for us."
