Ivan Miškeljin: “Anyone who wants a memory worth a story should come to Subotica and run through history”
We are getting closer to 25 August, the day when the streets of Subotica will host hundreds of runners from Serbia and abroad for the seventh time. Slowly but surely, the sporting event “Subotica Half Marathon” is becoming ever more visited and better known beyond our country’s borders, and it has only one goal: to gather, entertain and educate in one place everyone who loves to run.
Over the past six years the best have deservedly won first place in their categories, and through a series of articles you will be able to read on our website every week, we will try to convey their stories, impressions and the immense love they have for running.
The first Subotica Half Marathon was held in 2017, and in the men’s category the victory over the longest course of 21.1 km went to Ivan Miškeljin from Belgrade. His interest in running began at just 6, when, with his sister who was training, he started running along a circular corridor 10 metres long, every day and 50 times! “My sister Dragana planted the seed of running when I was 6, and from that seed grew an enormous love of running, which at 38 developed into a Serbian record at 50 km.”
Asked what his greatest motive for running is, Ivan says that motives change, as do races. “First it was half marathons, then marathons, then ultramarathons, trail running, national medals, records and titles. Now running represents freedom for me. I am free only when I run. These times and modern technology have made us modern slaves, but when open space, a meadow and the chance to run are in front of me, only in that way, through movement, am I a free man.”
He points out that there is a recipe for the best runner, and to become one you have to make your own path, that is, a personal system of training, thinking and values and, most importantly, have a passion for running. “That the fire of love for the stride smoulders in you, that you consider every day missed without running a wasted one, that a successful day is only one that begins or ends with training. In my view that is how you become a champion.”
Although seven years have passed since the 1st Subotica Half Marathon, Ivan keeps his memories. “The first ones are always remembered, and I wanted to become part of the history of the Subotica Half Marathon and of Subotica, and to win. And the name of your race is ‘Run through History’, so through that race I entered history. I have to say that with this race Subotica stands shoulder to shoulder with world marathons such as London and Paris… You have proved that you are worth it and that you last.”
For our interviewee, running has become a new identity and the ID card of a new and better self. “The book ‘Trka u mojoj glavi’ (The Race in My Head), and then the film ‘Moja trka u glavi’ (My Race in My Head), are meant to show a lifestyle that can give everyone the chance to get a new life through running, as I did. Anyone who wants a memory worth a story should come to Subotica and run the race through history!”
In the women’s category, the 1st Subotica Half Marathon was won by Nóra Szabó from Budapest, so far the only competitor from abroad to have won at this sporting event. Nóra holds the SUPM women’s record with a time of 1:25:01, and it is particularly interesting that today she is one of the best Hungarian marathon runners and took part in the Olympics in China.