An estimated 100,000 sports enthusiasts are expected to participate on Oct. 16 in the 33rd Nike Eurasia Marathon, the world’s only intercontinental race.
The marathon starts on the city’s Asian shore and finishes in Europe and presents the chance of racing over the Bosphorus to the athletes and running enthusiasts. Apart from the regular marathon, sports enthusiasts are welcome to enter the fun-run, an eight-kilometer competition.
About 80,000 will participate in the fun run, and 20,000 will compete in the 15-kilometer event and the marathon.
However, head of the sports branch of the Istanbul Municipality said the marathon should not be restricted to the Bosphorus.
“It is wrong to identify the Eurasia Marathon only with the Bosphorus,” Alpaslan Baki Ertekin, head of the Spor AŞ said. “It is covering the entire historic peninsula.” The marathon route passes through Eyüp and Balat and travels along the coastal road, next to the historic walls of the city and finishes at the Hippodrome in Sultanahmet near Hagia Sophia.
“So if you make a list of Istanbul’s sights, they will all be seen on the route of the Eurasia Marathon,” Ertekin said.
The fun run starts at 9:30 a.m. at Altunizade in Üsküdar and the marathon starts 300 meters before the Bosphorus Bridge at 9 a.m.
The race routes will be closed to traffic between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday. The Metrobus will not be working during those times, either
