A Milestone In Inclusive Sport For Central Asia: The 2024 Almaty Half Marathon

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) Late April saw a milestone event for sport in Central Asia asVirtus, the global sporting federation for athletes with anintellectual impairment, brought the 2024 Virtus World HalfMarathon and 10K Road races to Almaty, Kazakhstan. 28 Virtusathletes from 8 countries competed in the events.

The Virtus events took place as part of the 2024 Almaty HalfMarathon, the popular mass participation running event that's abuilding blocks towards the Almaty Marathon, one of Central Asia'slargest sporting events.

This year 8,000 runners from more than 30 countries took part inthe Half Marathon, which took in a route throughout Almaty fromFirst President Park to the city's Central Stadium. The eventoffered a 10k and half marathon, as well as Nordic walking and teamrelay options, and brought together everyone from eliteinternational athletes to those taking part in their first eversporting events.

In a further move towards inclusion, a number of wheelchairathletes took part in the Half Marathon and were for the first timecategorised as part of the general classification forparticipants.

GalimzhanYessenov , a Kazakh businessman whose charitable fund theCourage To Be First Foundation puts on the Almaty Half Marathon anda host of other sporting events in Central Asia, said he was“immensely proud” that the Half Marathon was taking further stepsto encourage inclusivity in sport in Central Asia.

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