06.08.2016.

The 6th CISM Mountain Running Challenge Cup

The 6th CISM Mountain Running Challenge Cup, a competition open to competitors who are not members of the armed forces, out of competition, was opened at Kopaonik. The CISM Mountain Running Challenge Cup is organized in the framework of CISM summer training camp – Kopaonik 2016 and will last until August 8.

Apart from the members of the athletic national team of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian

Armed Forces, competitors from the national teams of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Macedonia and Poland, will compete in the men's and women's competitions. Start of the women's race to 6 kilometres is scheduled for Sunday at 10:30, while men in the race to 8.8 kilometres will start at 11.15. Captain Mihaela Botezan from Romania will defend her champion title in the women's competition, and soldier Ales Zontar from Slovenia will compete in the men's competition.

Colonel Bosko Zoric, a member of the Serbian delegation to CISM, officially opened the 6th CISM Mountain Running Challenge Cup stressing that CISM, or the International Council for Military Sports, is "a non-governmental, apolitical, non-profit, sportive, international organization made up of the armed forces of 134 Member States. Through inter-army cooperation, CISM promotes and strengthens peace in the world and develops trust and reconciliation through sport. This idea is embedded in the CISM motto "Friendship trough sport".

Participants and guests were addressed by Stefan Petronijevic from the municipality of Leposavic, Arandjel Stojkov from the municipality of Brus and Mirjana Skoric from Raska municipality, as well as the famous athlete Dragan Zdravkovic. The ceremony was attended also by Ms Radmila Jagodic, Assistant Minister for Budget and Finance, and Brigadier

General Sinisa Radovic, Head of the Serbian Delegation to CISM. An appropriate cultural and artistic programme was performed by Kopaonik-Leposavic Cultural Artistic Ensemble.

The organizer of the sport event is the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, the technical organization of the competition is carried out by the Delegation of the Republic of Serbia to CISM, in cooperation with the organizational units of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, local governments of Raska, Brus, Leposavic, with the support of the Athletic Federation of Serbia, the Ski resorts Serbia public company, Kopaonik national park and MK Resort.