The end of running adventures in Bila Tserkva - "Bila Tserkva Marathon"

At one time I fell in love with running because of one of its features - "start and finish". It so happened that from the very first race "start and finish" for me were not just words written on the arch, but also received a kind of sacred meaning, where "start" symbolized the beginning of moral and psychological rebirth and purification of body and soul, distance ”Is the way to go to achieve this, and the“ finish ”is the end of the process. Therefore, in all four years of my passion for running, I never go back to the start (like it or not) as a runner.

This year's participation in the race "Bila Tserkva Marathon" for me was the final stage of acquaintance with the races of Bila Tserkva because this road race wanted to complete my running adventures in this town, which consisted of four races (three cross-country races and one highway) and his time gave a lot of positive emotions and interesting impressions. Of course, at first, I planned to complete the Bila Tserkva adventures with a full marathon (registered for it), but to run again on the circular route, which this year I had quite a lot of desire, I also needed a doctor's certificate for the marathon, and I did not want to do it, so I decided to replace the distance from the marathon to the half marathon on the Sunday before the start.

Registration

Those wishing to register for the "Bila Tserkva Marathon" can through the official website of the marathon - bc-marathon.org.ua, where participants can choose one of three distances, the main - a marathon and satellite distances - a half marathon or a race for 5.2 kilometers. The organizers also provide participants with accommodation for a modest fee at the Ross Hotel.

The route "Bila Tserkva Marathon" is quite smooth and for the main distance consists of 8 laps, and for the half marathon, respectively, 4 laps. The length of one circle is 5.2 kilometers. In addition, there is one hydration point on each lap, where participants can regain their strength with water, isotonic, and fruit, and there were several points with musical support on the marathon route.

Run

I decided to go to Bila Tserkva on Saturday to pick up my starter pack early, in addition, the organizers organized accommodation at the Ros Hotel at quite reasonable prices. Therefore, the second half of Saturday I spent on the way to the town of Bila Tserkva and walking through its streets while walking to the starting town, which was located in the lobby of the hotel "Ross", where marathon participants could get their starter packs and settle.

The trip to the Bila Tserkva Marathon was my fourth and the last runner to this town, the first took place in October 2019, when I decided to take part in the first edition of the trail "Village Trail", 2020 brought an interesting running adventure during the trail. The "Trail over Rossyu”, and the meeting of this spring took place on the trail route “Shkariv Hills”.

For the participants of the Bila Tserkva marathon, it was supposed to start on Sunday morning, so runners could be seen on the streets of Bila Tserkva from the very morning. The route of the marathon and half marathon was circular, but quite smooth and fast, which makes the race convenient for setting its own record of its participants, in addition, during the marathon in Bila Tserkva was the Ukrainian Marathon Championship, so on the track you could meet top Ukrainian marathoners. The most interesting thing was to start at 10:30, when the participants of the marathon took their places in the starting corridor and the pre-start countdown began.

The start of the half marathon turned out to be quite good for me, as I ran quite comfortably and managed to overcome the first part of the half marathon (7 miles) in 54 minutes while enjoying a beautiful autumn morning.

Although the race route is convenient for records, but so far I have no desire to improve my results, so on the 3rd and 4th laps I had to restrain myself a bit and slow down my pace to fit in the usual time (1 hour 50 minutes). Although I did not try to do it, I managed to meet the finish arch in 1 hour and 49 minutes.

Impression

"Bila Tserkva Marathon" is one of the oldest marathons in Ukraine and at the same time, it has the fastest route in Ukraine for the marathon distance, which makes it quite interesting for participants. Participation in the “Bila Tserkva Marathon” left a lot of positive impressions, first of all, due to the rather good organization of the running event and the good support of the participants on the marathon route from the city residents. And to be honest, it seems that in Bila Tserkva it is a holiday of running not only for its participants but also for the residents of the city, who respect the participants of the race. And we can say that it was almost the first time I saw this at the Ukrainian start and it was not necessary to go to Europe for these impressions.

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