Pupils of elementary school "Ivan Vušović" from Vidrovan, near Nikšić, marked 52 years since the first ultramarathon with a symbolic run, when Mileta Božović from Upper Poland ran the 100-kilometer section from the monument on Vidovan to Virpazar in seven hours and 29 minutes.
"Our students will run a much shorter course, but with the same enthusiasm and desire to arrive first, with the aim of celebrating the feat of our famous marathon runner Mile Božović," said the school's director, Miluša Žugić.
Mileta did not hide his satisfaction that they remembered to mark the first ultramarathon in the Balkans and in Montenegro.
Primarius Radovan Raco Mijanović, who followed Mileta on all his marathons and ultramarathons, recalled that Božović's time when he ran from Vidrovan to Virpazar on December 6, 1970 was only four minutes slower than the world record, thus the second time in the world.
"At the Podgorica marathon held a few days ago, the winner, a foreign competitor, achieved the same time as Mileta in 1970. Time flows inexorably, but it seems that it can't do anything to Mileta Božović, a world sports and medical phenomenon," said Mijanović.
The first place in the race from the monument on Vidrovan, from where Mileta started in 1970, was won by Stefan Jovović, an eighth-grade student, the second was Ilija Pantovic, a year older, and the third was Aleksa Piljevic, a seventh-grade student, although all the participants in the race are unique the winners.
The director of the school said that the Secretariat for Culture, Sports, Youth and Social Welfare of the Municipality of Nikšić, in honor of the mentioned event, presented them with a certain number of balls.
As a fourteen-year-old, Mileta started to do athletics and until 1964 he ran mainly on medium tracks. Then the doctors concluded that he is an athlete with the biggest heart in the world and that only long distances and marathons suit him.
Božović marked every important date with a race of 50 to 250 kilometers, because his goal was to promote the marathon and attract as many young people as possible to do 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.
The longest and most demanding marathon was from Tjentište to Virpazar, which he ran on July 13, 1969. Taking into account the unforeseen events on the path through the Sutjeska canyon when he met a bear, he ran the 250-kilometer long section in 19 hours.
He still keeps the sneakers in which he ran that day as a souvenir.
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