For a fifth consecutive year, the annual competition for mountain running and biking Pirin Run was held on Sunday, 21 June in Bansko. The event was organised by the Municipality of Bansko and the Marathon Association.
The technical meeting and registration took place the day before in one of Kempinski Hotel Grand Arena Bansko’s meeting rooms. Later in the evening, the hotel also organised a pasta party for all registered participants at The Gallery Restaurant. All guests had the opportunity to taste a variety of tempting dishes with homemade pasta.
The pouring rain that came just minutes before the start at 10:00 on Sunday failed to thwart the race, which included over 130 professionals and amateurs aged between 15-75 years.
40 bikers went the whole 27 km and finished in front of Vihren Hut at 1.950 meters above sea level. Due to the inconvenient weather conditions, the finishing point for the 85 runners who passed 10 km this year was also Vihren Hut. For this reason, the award ceremony took place earlier than planned inside the hut.
Dimitar Mihaylov took first place amongst the men bikers and the winner amongst the women was Iveta Aleksieva. Kiril Nikolov finished first of the men runners and the fastest amongst the women was Maria Nikolova.
Honouring the tradition, Kempinski Hotel Grand Arena Bansko provided four weekend vouchers for the winners, which were awarded personally by the hotel management with wishes to all participants for success in their future sporting endeavours.
