For Petar Tsonkov, the connection with the Friendship Marathon in Pleven began even before his first participation in 2014. At that time, he maintained a running website and while writing articles, he came across interesting information about a group of runners who have been participating in the London Marathon since its beginning in 1981.
“Their group is called “Everpresents”. I checked and in 2024, 6 of them are still participating. What these people are doing is great, I wanted to do something similar,” says Petar and adds “So I already have 10 marathons in Pleven, this year is number 11.“
In fact, the Friendship Marathon is the first official marathon in which Petar has participated.
“In 2013, I had registered for the Sofia Marathon, but I got sick at the last minute and missed it. I got pretty angry and a week later I ran 42 km at the stadium in Ruse,” says Petar, adding that at that time there were no other road marathons except in Sofia and Plovdiv, so when he saw that a race was being organized in Pleven, he decided to sign up.
Petar remembers with a smile an incident from the first edition of the marathon in 2014, when his goal was to finish and run the entire race. At that time, the route of the Pleven Marathon passed through “Kaylaka”, then to the village of Grivitsa and the “Bridge of Victory” near the village of Yasen.
“On the way back from there, around 38-39 km, I was very tired and I just kept telling myself that I had to keep running,” says Petar. A volunteer on a bicycle met him and asked him if he wanted to switch and Petar to ride a bike. “He wasn’t kidding. I wanted to ask him if he was okay, but I just politely declined. It cheered me up a lot!”
One of the things that, according to Petar, distinguishes the Friendship Marathon is the fact that the route is not the easiest, because in the direction of “Kaylaka” it is a constant climb. He likes that the park is relatively shady, which, considering how hot it can get in Pleven, helps the runners.
“It’s good that participation for runners over 60 is free,” he says.
To anyone who is hesitant about starting to run, Petar recommends being patient at the beginning.
“That’s when it’s the hardest. It takes time to get in shape, but if you don’t give up, after a few months you will feel very good physically, you will enjoy running, and you will meet new people,” he says.
For 2025 Petar has an ambitious program – he plans to participate in the “Danube 24h Run” relay, the “Free Spirit Run” between Ruse and Giurgiu and perhaps in the Via Pontica marathon in Krapets and the Athens Marathon.
We thank Petar for supporting us so unwaveringly throughout all the editions of the Friendship Marathon and we are expecting him on May 18 in Pleven, where he was one of the first registered in the marathon distance. We wish him a great run!
Photos from personal archive
