Rustam Minnikhanov was handed over the Challenge Cup of the National Project “ZaBeg.RF”

On June 16, in the Government House of the republic, Head of projects of the League of Heroes and First National Half Marathon "ZaBeg.RF" (the Race) Ksenia Shoygu handed over the Challenge Cup of the National Project “ZaBeg.RF” to Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov.

Kazan won the First National Half Marathon "ZaBeg.RF" and was named “the running capital of Russia".

Participants of today's event were reminded that on the 21st of May, 2017, for the first time in history, the National Project "ZaBeg.RF" was held, where runners in ten largest cities of the country from Moscow to Vladivostok ran difference distances.

Kazan Marathon, traditionally held in the capital of Tatarstan, became a part of this event. A total of 9,858 applications for four distances were submitted for participation in the marathon in 2017.

In his turn Minnikhanov stressed that such events are important to the republic. "We pretend to be the sports capital of the country for a reason. Mass character in holding sports events is very important. I was surprised to know that we were leading the race by the number of participants among other cities with a double margin,” he said.

Tatarstan President thanked organizers of the marathon for their pro-active position, for organizing and supporting mass sports events.

Ksenia Shoygu noted that the winning city was chosen based on three criteria such as the number of participants, the total length of the distance that all participants of the race ran together, as well as the time for which the distance was run.