Athletes from Bauskas district start in Riga-Valmiera charity run – BauskasDzive.lv

This year, the 107-kilometer Riga-Valmiera charity run took place for the eleventh year in a row, but this time several innovations were introduced. For example, for the first time the race was held not only in May, but on the day of the restoration of Latvia.

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The historic Rīga-Valmiera race was born on August 27, 1989, three days after the ambitious Baltic route, as a result of a bet between two friends, and five years later, it fell silent with the Tristar Games. After 21 years of silence, in the early spring of 2014, the 107-kilometer run from the Freedom Monument in Riga to the Church of Sīmanis in Valmiera was renewed. The finish is counted after touching the door handle during the 19-hour control time, reports the portal lsm.lv.

More than 200 participants from ten countries, among them athletes from Bauska county, started at the Freedom Monument at midnight on May 4, after the address of Riga Mayor Vilnius Ķirš, to measure the way to the door handle of the Simanis Church in Valmiera.

Gita Muceniece, Zane Kaspere, Kristaps Paegle and Inga Abu-Dema represented Bauska county in the race. Gita Muceniecei, a runner from Rundalia, has just won the yard ultra-race “Footprints of the Lynx” held in Jēkabpils, but she covered the 107-kilometer distance Riga-Valmiera in 10 hours, seven minutes and 15 seconds and won the fifth place in the women’s group. On the other hand, Zane Kasperei took 9th place with a result of 11:21:56, Inga Abu-Demai took 16th place with a result of 13:18:16, and Kristaps Paegle finished in 36th place with a result of 11:18:06 in the men’s group, the Bauska county council informed in the public relations department.

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Out of about 60 representatives of the fair sex, the fastest distance was run by Diana Javiza from Salaca, living in Vienna, the capital of Austria (8:14:58), breaking the course record set last year by Vita Devyatnikova (9:09:45) by less than an hour. Last year’s third place winner Kristine Tronenkova finished second (9:30:27), while the already mentioned Vita Devyatnikova (9:41:17) reached third place in Valmiera.

For the men, the fourth victory in four starts with a new course record was won by Toms Komas from Jelgava (7:30:49), leaving Oleg Gurejev from Ventspils (7:54:28) behind him, just like a year ago, while the bronze went to Kristaps Čehović (8:18:08 ).

A few days before the race, five thousand euros were collected in donations for the rehabilitation of five-year-old Regnars from Valmieri, which previously could have been the amount collected in the entire project. Funds were also collected for anti-cancer drugs for Sindija from Vērgale in Southern Kurzeme district.

For the first time, the race took place under the Gold Label of the IAU (International Ultrarunners Association). For the first time, the watch car accompanying the leader was driven by a woman. Olympian Jēkabs Nākums commented on the event for the first time. For the first time, the representatives of last year’s “Sports Family of the Year” title, Jana with her twin boys, who participated in the Rīga-Valmiera race a couple of years ago, were among the volunteer helpers.