DOZ Łódź Marathon 2017 reaches finish line. It was loud!
The seventh DOZ Łódź Marathon was held between April 21st and April 23rd 2017. With ‘The Loudest Marathon in Poland’ as its motto, the event was attended by thousands of runners from Poland and abroad.
Nearly 1,300 participants came to run the official distance of 42.195 km. The winner of the men’s race was Kenya’s Samson Barmao at 2.14:19, and the fastest female finisher was Kenza Dahmani from Algeria at 2.33:21.
The runners raced through Łódź’s main streets, passing by the revitalized historic building of the EC1 CHP plant, the recently opened Łódź Fabryczna Railway Station, and the historic Księży Młyn district.
Accompanying the marathon was the Ibuprom Sport 10k Run, which attracted over 2,300 runners. It was won by a Łódź resident Tomasz Osmulski with a time of 32:55. Only two seconds later the finishing line was crossed by Paweł Matner. The third was Krzysztof Pietrzyk at 33:05. In the women’s race, the first was Zuzanna Mokros at 37:04, the second was Martyna Balcerzak at 38:46, and the third was Natalia Grzegorczyk at 39:03.
As in previous editions of the event, the runners had an unforgettable finish in a multimedia setting in Atlas Arena.
The day before, on Saturday April 22nd, the Pelavo Kids Run was held at Łódź City Stadium. More than 800 participants at the age of three to 15 raced in various distances.
To earn the name of the Loudest Marathon in Poland, the DOZ Marathon had over 50 cheering points. The course was divided into seven zones, each featuring a different music genre, including club, rock, jazz, folk, pop, and world music. The musical setting was prepared by the Artistic Director of DOZ Marathon Łódź, Piotr Rogucki, a musician, song writer and lead singer of a popular band Coma, who also ran the marathon on April 23rd.
Apart from the music, the runners were also encouraged by cheering fans. Fanzones were set up by over a dozen local schools as part of the ‘Cheering Champion’ competition and by firms participating in the ‘Businesses for the Marathon’ competition. The runners were also loudly cheered by staff of DOZ S.A., Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna S.A., Pharmapoint S.A., Business Support Solution S.A., epruf S.A., and the DOZ Dbam o Zdrowie Foundation.
As its previous editions, DOZ Łódź Marathon 2017 promoted modern charity practices, with runners encouraged to make donations to the charities Iskierka Foundation, Stroke Foundation and SOS Children’s Villages Association as part of the ‘Running to Help’ initiative. The DOZ Dbam o Zdrowie Foundation was a partner of the ‘Running to Help’ initiative.
The title sponsor of the marathon was DOZ S.A.
DOZ Łódź Marathon is Poland’s first road race to earn a 5 Star European Athletics certificate and one of the world’s few events awarded the IAAF Road Race Silver Label. These two distinctions are a testimony to the event’s sporting and organisational excellence.
Read more on www.lodzmaraton.pl
