site.btaOver 400 Athletes to Compete in 19th Vitosha Run Speed Climb

A record number of more than 400 runners will take part in the 19th edition of the Vitosha Run, a mountain speed climb from downtown Sofia to Cherni Vrah Peak, on Sunday. The event will mark the 130th anniversary of the organized tourist movement in Bulgaria.

Athletes will attempt to beat the course records of 1:36:45 for men and 1:54:30 for women on the challenging 18 km route that starts from the National Palace of Culture (NDK) and finishes at the 2290-meter-high summit of Vitosha. The total elevation gain is 1,734 metres.

The competition is jointly organized by Sofia Municipality through the Sofia – European Capital of Sport Foundation, the Bulgarian Tourist Union, Vitosha Nature Park, and the Marathon Association.

The official start of the race is at 9:00 am near the Lovers' Bridge next to NDK. Simultaneously, three commemorative hiking routes will begin from Zheleznitsa (7:00 am), Golden Bridges (8:00 am), and Aleko hut (9:00 am). President Rumen Radev is expected to join the group departing from Aleko hut.

The highlight of the celebrations will take place at the summit, where the event will gather hikers, athletes, and guests, including representatives of tourism-related institutions. The fastest runners are expected to reach the finish line around 10:30 am. An award ceremony is scheduled for 11:45 am, followed by a floral tribute at noon to the bas-relief of Aleko Konstantinov, the founder of the Bulgarian tourism movement.

Festivities will begin on Saturday, August 30, at 4:30 pm with the traditional wreath-laying at the commemorative stone near Ivan Vazov National Theatre, the place from which Konstantinov led the first organized hike to Cherni Vrah in 1895. A parade of tourist associations and a concert in front of NDK at 7:00 pm will follow.

Among the participants this year will be national marathon record holder Militsa Mircheva (2:29:23), who also serves as the Sports Director of Sofia Marathon, and multiple national champion Milka Mihaylova, who holds the women's course record. Boyko Zlatanov, winner of the inaugural 2007 race, will participate for the 19th consecutive year.

The men's course record was set by Shaban Mustafa in 2011 with a time of 1:36:45. That same year, Mihaylova established the women's record.

For the seventh year, fans will be able to track the leading runners live via GPS at: https://marathon.bg/vitosha-run-2025. All participants will receive a commemorative medal, and one lucky finisher will win a professional sports watch in a lottery. Each runner will also get a BGN 25 voucher for the Lefterova House in the Rhodope Mountains.

The event is part of the Five Mountains series, the largest mountain running competition in Bulgaria.