46 years ago, in honor of the Montenegrin uprising against fascism - on July 13, Mileta Božović from Nikšić ran his longest and most demanding marathon - from Tjentište, through Gack, Nikšić, Podgorica, to Virpazar. Božović ran the 250-kilometer section, including unforeseen events on the path through the Sutjeska canyon, in 19 hours. He still keeps the sneakers in which he ran that day as a souvenir.
"I officially started running in 1952 when, as a fourteen-year-old, I participated in the cross-country race together with adults for the newly founded athletic club 'Metalac' from Kraljevo. However, my beginnings date back much earlier. The first 'races' were in Viroštak, where I was herding goats as a seven-year-old. For me, any physical work is a sport. "So aren't construction workers, mowers, people who need physical strength and endurance athletes," says the seventy-seven-year-old man from Nikšić, who is unique in many ways.
He was the first Montenegrin to run an ultramarathon of 100 kilometers, ran around the globe five times, was the athlete with the largest heart (volume 1.850 cm3), "went" to work while running,... achieved the best results with a weight of 88 to 100 kilograms , although marathon runners are generally thinner, experts considered it a sports and medical phenomenon. And he considers himself only a man whose life was marked by long streaks, an athlete who ran for the people and whose only wish was to popularize the marathon.
A Montenegrin running to work
"Father Ilija was killed in the partisans in 1942, and I said goodbye to him on my fourth birthday. Mother Jelka raised my sister and me and it was not easy for her. After finishing elementary school in Miločani, I moved to the city, to the student home for wartime military orphans, where I enrolled in high school and professor Mujo Stevović, a top pedagogue and sports legend, immediately noticed me and suggested that I do athletics," recalls the pensioner. Nikšić Ironworks and a long-time member of the "Celik" Athletics Club.
From Nikšić, he moved to Kraljevo, where he entered the Industrial School and became a member of "Metalac", for which he ran for three years, after which he returned to Nikšić and trained independently until 1957, when they formed the "Čelik" club in Željezara.
For Božović, the bus was a luxury, so he "walked" from home to work, both in summer and winter, running 11 kilometers in one direction. Mostly in shorts and a trick-or-treat shirt, regardless of the weather. When the weather was nice, he chose a longer route because he set himself the task of running "at least" 50 kilometers a day.
At the beginning of 1961, he went to Belgrade to study and transferred to "Železničar". Defending the colors of the aforementioned club, he ran in Saint-Etienne, where he was sixth in the 10.000-meter race, and in Paris, where he took second place in the 1.500-meter race. When "Železničar" was disbanded in 1963, he switched to "Partizan" and ran his first marathon that same year. It was in Kumrovac, on May 25, in honor of Tito's birthday, where the Yugoslav Team Championship in the small marathon, 25 kilometers, was held.
"Partizan" had excellent long-distance runners, Mihalić and Jovanović, but they needed a third member for the team ranking.
"I went with them and even though my task was just to run the course in very strong competition I was 12th. As long as I could I led the race, because I couldn't bear to have someone in front of me. At the end of the race, they jokingly told me that the Montenegrins would give me up because they are not a marathon, fatigue and sweating for us. And I knew that the marathon was my discipline," says the man with a smile, who rejected offers from numerous Yugoslav and European clubs, and remained loyal to Željezara, "Celek" and his mother.
At the individual championship of Yugoslavia in Osijek in 1967, he ran 42 kilometers in 2.50.12 and took second place, and the mentioned result included him in the table of the most successful Yugoslav marathon runners.
"It was so hot that some competitors lost their orientation. I ran in sneakers that were two sizes smaller and, as usual, I cut the tops and around the buns. Sneakers have always been a problem for me. The skin was hard, they started to blister, so after five kilometers I took them off and continued running barefoot. They didn't let me drink water because they had their own competitor who they were forcing. Nevertheless, I finished second and that is the best ranking of a Montenegrin runner at the Yugoslav level. The favored Croatian competitor gave up", recalls Božović of the race for which he was chosen among the ten best athletes of Montenegro.
A step to a dream
For Fighter's Day on July 4, 1968, he ran on the route Nudo-Grahovo-Nikšić-Tjentište (200 km), and a year later, on July 13, from Tjentište to Virpazar, he reached the finish line after 19 p.m. Then comes 1970, a very important year for him. He ran the first 100 kilometer race that was organized in Yugoslavia, but also in the Balkans, on the route Vidrovan - Virpazar. He reached the finish line in 7 hours and 29 minutes, which was the second time in the world until then. And then the unofficial world championship at 100 kilometers in the Swiss city of Biel, where 1.804 supermarathoners took part. Božović was then within reach of great success.
"When I saw the mast with the Yugoslav flag, I was speechless and numb with responsibility. Then I did not swear but cursed myself if I hung the flag. I remember that Dragomir Bukilić from Nikšić, when he heard that his countryman was competing, came from the other side of Switzerland and suggested that he rent a car and accompany me. I didn't agree because he spent enough on me," says the marathon runner.
He also made great friends in Bil, the Rolih family from Zagreb, who were there on temporary work and who welcomed him as a son.
"The day before the start, a Yugoslav translated the rules of the race to me and explained that they have control points where I have to register the passage, but also that there will be 'flying' controls when I have to sign on paper. At one point, a car stopped next to me and a woman from it handed me a white paper. The car slowly moved forward, and I, thinking it was a 'flying' control, ran after them because I hadn't signed. When they stopped I asked them for a pen. The woman laughed and explained to me that I should wipe the sweat. Only then did I see that it was a tissue for refreshment", says Božović with a smile.
The race started well, he was always in the lead and even at the 70th kilometer, he told Bukilić, who reached the square with a Swiss man, where he was happily playing Montenegrin because he heard on the radio that Mileta was leading, he said: "Wait for me at the finish line because I feel better than when the race started. Wait for the world record holder because no one can beat me without wings". But...
"At the 72nd kilometer, someone turned the arrow in the wrong direction. After a few kilometers I realized that it was not the right path, I turned back and on the way back I tore a muscle. I continued to run, at the next intersection I waited for the other competitors so that I wouldn't make a mistake again and the muscle cooled down, so I limped to the finish line more than I ran, suffered terrible pain and finished ninth. But I was a moral winner for everything and the world media 'raised' me to the sky", says Božović, who ran in Bila again the following year and finished sixth in a competition of over 2.000 runners.
A suitcase of accolades
Božović marked every important date with a run because his goal was to promote the marathon and attract as many young people as possible to play sports. That he succeeded in this is evidenced by the letters of those who wanted to be Mileta Božović and who started running because of him.
"I tried to be a good example to young people and ran in the cities, mountains and villages of Montenegro. Lovćen and Cetinje were my Olympus and I was the only athlete who participated in the opening of the mausoleum.
I ran the course from Njeguš to Cetinje ten times, and I regularly marked the days of the liberation of many cities of Montenegro, national holidays, unveiling of monuments with races", recalls the marathoner, who left the trails in Luxembourg, Zakopane, High Tatras...
His successes were appreciated everywhere in the former Yugoslavia, as well as abroad, least of all in his native Montenegro.
"Montenegrins have never glorified my successes, many have crossed over my results and are crossing over, many dates are forgotten. I received many cups, diplomas, awards, and what I am especially grateful for - the cup that bears my name. I guess it is the first cup that any of the Montenegrin athletes received in their lifetime. But nobody helped me materially. The municipality of Nikšić, the state and sports clubs from Montenegro have never given me a single dinar, except for Željezara and 'Čelika', who knew how to pay my travel expenses. I financed the preparations myself. Maybe they never gave me money because they knew that I wouldn't be able to spend it, but would share it with the poor again", says the man with a wistful smile who would do the same again despite everything because, as he said, human nature can hardly change.
He notes that he must mention the names of the people who were always by his side - doctor Radovan Mijanović, who used to run several kilometers by his side in crisis moments of the race, journalist Ljubo Tomić, who made a poster for each race, Prof. Dr. Vojo Nikolić who, together with other professors, allowed him to use the gym at the Pedagogical Academy (now the Faculty of Philosophy) whenever he wanted...
For her mother, marriage was more important than her career
As a voluntary donor, he donated blood more than 80 times. He was a member of the PSD "Javorak" and the Mountain Rescue Service, and it was one of his favorite experiences, and he worked as a manager in the Construction Workshop of the Ironworks, where he earned a pension, as well as the Order of Labor with a Golden Wreath. He participated in labor actions three times, from where he returned with striking marks, and he gave his entire property in Miločani to refugees from Bosnia and Kosovo, and later to poor families, without compensation. Now those buildings stand demolished and empty because they were destroyed by the explosion that happened nine years ago in Vir, and it seems that the money ran out when it was the turn of his houses.
What he is particularly proud of is his family - his daughter and son and wife Danuta, a Russian language teacher, whom he met during winter training in Zakopane. Son Obren successfully practiced judo for many years - he was the champion of Yugoslavia in the super heavy category, a medal winner at the Universiade and world student competitions.
He admits that his mother Jelka was not impressed with his career.
"She welcomed my successes, met numerous journalist teams from all over Yugoslavia, but that didn't mean anything to her because it was more important for her to get married. And I got married only at the age of 39", says Božović, who ended his sports career in 1977.
"After the ceremonial closing of the Olympic Games in Sarajevo, Lepa Brena and I had our minutes. First, she spoke for 15 minutes, and then a half-hour show about me was shown, which was made by Rajko Banović and which received the first prize at the Yugoslav level.
Bonus video:
