The Ohrid Swimming Marathon is an international Open water swimming competition

admin ♦ August 9, 2010 ♦ 2 Comments

The Ohrid Swimming Marathon is an international Open water swimming competition, established in always taking place in the waters of the Ohrid Lake, Republic of Macedonia. The swimmers are supposed to swim 30 km from Sveti Naum to the Ohrid harbor.
The Ohrid Swimming Marathon  is an international sporting event that gathers the most famous marathon swimming names from around the world. This is an open water swimming competition that is definitely worth seeing.

Although the swimming competition in the waters of Lake Ohrid has been a long running tradition, the first international competition was established in 1998 when the Ohrid Swimming Marathon entered the World Swimming Club as one of the 12 worldwide marathons under the patronage of FINA – The World Swimming Association.

This event is usually organized in August. Because of the uniqueness of the swimming track and the unpredictable waters of the lake, this competition is a real challenge even for the most famous world swimmers. Starting from the monastery St. Naum, they swim along the lake-shore to the town harbor, approximately a 30-km route.
Each year, in the second half of July, the swimming elite throughout the world gathers in Ohrid and, starting from the monastery St. Naum, they swim along the Lakeshore to the town harbour, approximately a 30-km route. Since 1998 the Ohrid Swimming Marathon has entered in the World Swimming Club of the 12 worldwide held marathons under the patronage of FINA-The World Swimming Association.

According to hearsay, the first massive swimming competition in the Lake Ohrid took place in 1924. Similar contests were organized in 1927 and 1928. There is also a record of the establishment of the first water sportssociety in 1932 – The Swimming and Rowing Club “Ohrid”. In those days, the best swimmers were: Slave Bitrak, Dio Bogdan, Lambe Bido, Boris Filipce, Viktor Boev, Stefan Momir, and others.
In the Post-War period eight swimmers competed in the first swimming marathon that took place in 1954 along a 2.5 km route “Gorica-Ohrid”. The winner was Niko Nestor. The next two marathons were organized in 1956 and 1957, and the winners were Diki Bojadi and Goko Cudov respectively. Also women took part in the above two contests, and the respective winners were Sneze Grupceva and Sonja Dumbaloska. After that, there was a period when the marathon was not organized.

The first real marathon contest along the route of village Pestani-Struga-Ohrid (36 km) took place in 1962, with 22 participants from 12 countries. The following year, due to the disastrous earthquake in Skopje, the marathon was cancelled. In the subsequent years (1964,1965,1966) the Ohrid Marathon hosted about a dozen swimmers each year. After that there was a lapse in the continuation of this swimming marathon.

In 1983 “the small” marathon Gorica-Ohrid was reestablished and is organized to the present day.

In 1992, on the initiative of the sports magazine “Skok”, the Ohrid Swimming Marathon was reestablished. Each year, in the second half of August, the swimming elite throughout the world gathers in Ohrid and, starting from the monastery St. Naum, they swim along the Lakeshore to the town harbour, approximately a 30-km route.

Since 1998 the Ohrid Swimming Marathon has entered in the World Swimming Club of the 12 worldwide held marathons under the patronage of FINA-The World Swimming Association.Error processing request