NATIONAL MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS FROM 1930 IN THE KINGDOM OF YUGOSLAVIA UNTIL 2010 IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

The worldwide appearance of marathon, as athletic discipline, resulted in organizing of National Championships as well. In the majority of countries, they occurred between the two world wars, same applying to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The goal of this research was to fi nd, gather, reconstruct and critically analyse the data about national championships from 1930 to 2010. With regard to the time frame, depending on historical events, it was divided into following periods: 1. from the 1st National Championship in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1930 to 1939; 2. from the National Championship of DFY in 1949 to 1990; 3. from 1992 to 2003, when Serbia and Montenegro ceased to exist; 4. from 2003 to 2010. The fi rst data mentioning national championship goes back to 1930. The idea, according to the found information, was initiated by the marathon runner Dimitrije Stefanovic. During the period from 1930 to the beginning of the World War II, ten marathon championships had been held, one of which took place in Belgrade. There were only few competitors, which was also common for the national championships of other countries. During the period from 1949 to 1991, marathon was mainly organized within the national championships together with other disciplines, and after that, it became part of mass marathons. The analysis of quality and quantity of marathon national championships showed a great diversity. The results and number of competitors participating in marathons as part of the national championships were affected by: politics, the way of organizing marathon races, important events’ dates, and later on prize money paid by the organizers of mass marathons.


INTRODUCTION
The worldwide appearance of marathon, as athletic discipline, resulted in organizing of National Championships as well.In most countries, their occurrence was between the two world wars, as it was in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.The continuity of these contests may not be mentioned until 1908, because it did not exist.In most countries before 1918., athletic organizations at the state level did not exist.National championships in marathon were mainly organized by the countries where athletics was developed, or where there were already competitions in other athletic disciplines.
Marathon Championship were developed from races whose length was about 40km (length of the marathon route and their measurement was not uniform), or from the competition on shorter distances (20 km or more).Neither the establishment of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) 1912.had any signifi cant impact on the number of states in which national championships in this discipline were organized.Maintaining the continuity of national marathon championships infl uenced international competitions, the number of athletes who practiced this discipline, politics, economic conditions, wars.There were examples that regional marathon championship were organized, but nationally they did not exist (in Australia, although there was a "Australasian Athletic Union," only one region organized competitions however no national championship was held).There is also evidence that the national championships were organized only during the period before the First World War, and the interruption lasted to the end of the Second World War.In Norway, national marathon championships were organized in in the period from 1897 to 1901, and after that only after 1950.During the period between the 1919 and 1945, a crucial growth in number of national competitions occurred around 1927.In the Olympic years, no larger shifts in number of organized competitions were recorded.The beginning of the global crisis caused a slight decrease in the number of organized national championships, while the direct impact of the termination of the contest was the start of the Second World War.During the First World War in Denmark, Hungary, Sweden and the United States there was no interruption in organizing the championships, likewise during the World War II.In certain periods, and in some years, continuity was maintained by organizing a marathon race over shorter distances (30 -38km, e.g.France).
In the Kingdom of Serbia, since the origin of marathon by the end of the First World War, two races were held on the shorter distances and one marathon, as election race for the 1912Olympic Games, which was not considered the national championship.The aim of this study was to identify, collect, restore and critically analyze data about national marathon championships in the period 1930-2010 in the former Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia nowadays.

METHOD
For the purpose of this research historical, causal and descriptive method were applied.Data were collected about all marathon championships and the reconstruction of the marathon race were performed, to the possible extent.The observed period, depending on the historical events, can be divided into four periods:

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The fi rst data mentioning the national marathon championship date back in 1930.According to the daily "Politika", Belgrade was scheduled to host the fi rst marathon competition of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 13 July1930, and the organizers were to be "Track and Field Committee" and the sport club "Soko".The idea was launched, according to the obtained data, by Dimitrije Stefanovic.Thanks to his knowledge about the discipline, his experience as a participant in the Vienna Marathon 1927, the 1928 Olympics, his offi ce held in the Sports Club, Soko, Belgrade Track and Field Committee and Yugoslav Track and Field Committee, he designed all the events related to the upcoming championship.
Realizing the seriousness of the effort, which was placed to the participants, preparatory races were organized, such as the race "International race through Belgrade", and their schedule was published in the press.,,As we have previously reported on St. Vitus Day major international 25-km race will be held in Belgrade, modelled after similar games in Berlin, Paris, London, New York and so on.".For this competition, detailed propositions were published in the magazine "Vreme" 01 June 1930, page 6. Choosing the date of 28 th June was a good marketing move.Great interest for the competition was aroused, not only in Belgrade and throughout the Kingdom, but abroad as well.The number of registered athletes was above all expectations.Interestingly, foreign runners had special fi nancial requirements for participation in marathon and since they could not be met, some of the competitors were absent.For the fi rst time stopwatch was used, as evidenced by the writing of the results (4/5).It is interesting that they four categories were predicted in order to involve more runners.
Payment of the start fees amounting to 20 dinars was mentioned for the fi rst time.Despite these preparations and attractive routes, Yugoslav Championship was held in Zagreb on 13 July 1930 with only three runners.The reason why marathon was not held in Belgrade, as it was originally prepared, was found in an interview of a reporter of the magazine "Vreme" with Miroslav Dobrin, offi cial Yugoslav Track and Field Union (JLS).The remark by a journalist that "shortly before, marathon was thought to be in Belgrade, Mr Dobrin said that these were the things that could not be taken into account.(Our team went to Athens yesterday, Vreme, 03.10.1930, 3148, 8).He then explained why Simovic, although he was better than the winner of the Masarik Marathon,Czech Mizerovski, in Belgrade race, due to non-participation in Zagreb marathon, was Nušić participated again in the 1936 marathon championship in Varazdin.and this time he was much more successful and took the second place (Table 3).This competition, was reported in the magazine "Vreme" in the article "Three new Yugoslav records at Track and Field National championship in Varazdin" (Šporn arrived fi rst at the marathon race in Ljubljana, Vreme, 1935, 16.07, 4851, 9).A month later Stane Šporn, although he had no placement in the state championship and was injured, ran marathon as a member of the national team of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at Berlin Olympic Games.not included in the national team.The JLS decisions to change the venue of the championship had very negative impact on the further development of Marathon, both in Serbia and in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.And in the next two years clubs from Serbia did not have representatives in the longest athletic event.
National Marathon Championships in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia since 1930.to 1939.
During that period there were ten marathon championships (Table 2).Most competitions were organized in Croatia ( 6), followed by Slovenia (3), and only one in Serbia (Belgrade).Competitors from Serbia took part at fi ve championships.Since that was the period when the state did not cherished superior results and recorders, the performance was also moderate.Technically, the races were very poorly organized.A small number of competitors competed, as it was common at the state championships of other countries.The next national marathon championship was within the competition for the cup High patron of His Majesty King Peter II.It was the competition between athletic teams subordinated to organizations of the Yugoslav Athletic Associations from Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana.Marathon was held on the last day of the three-day competition.The organization was detailed in the report of the Fourth Army Command as follows: "The Army has allowed fi rst class marathon performance, as the entire track was covered by telephone lines with 5 stations and the runners were followed by bikers from start to fi nish."Belgrade Representative Borisavljević (unknown fi rst name) managed to reach the fi nish, but no result was recorded (Table 4).Finally in 1938.the capital of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia hosted the National marathon championship.Preparation for the marathon was similar to the preparations for the 1930 national championship.This time Dimitrije Stefanovic was also involved in the organization."Politika" (Propositions for marathon preparation for the Balkan Championship in Belgrade, Politika, 1938, 06.05, 10 753, 15) published detailed information about Belgrade Track and Field subassociation (BLAP), organized for the purpose of preparing for the big marathon run (State and Balkan championship) series of contests ... " In order to attract more participants and popularize marathon the BLAP predicted multiple categories for the preliminary competition.The opportunity to participate was given to novice, junior athletes, runners who were not in athletic clubs, members of the military and "members of the provincial clubs."Categories, provided for the competition are very similar to the categories that appear in today's mass marathons.Signifi cant change from the previous races was organizing an open competition -in which foreigners could participate, but they did not count in the ranking for the National Championship.In order to attract more spectators, the race was scheduled on the great Orthodox holiday and time was aligned with important international football matches.The most interesting question was who would take part in the competition, and how many domestic and foreign runners would participate.What distinguished it from the previous marathons was: the number of competitors (18 runners started), the existence of more than one category, international character (three Hungarian runners), awards and advertising.Again, it was shown that there were no Serbian runners who would be able to fi ght for the top three positions in the championship.The top-ranked runner from this region was the Nemanja Odanović (SSU from Sombor), who took sixth place (Table 5).1951, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1963 and 1965.It is most likely that the quality and small number of participants resulted in omission of marathon from the programme of athletic competitions.During this time the marathon was organized within the national championships along with other disciplines, and aside from walking or combined events.
The level of technical organization was very simplifi ed and marathon reduced to an athletic discipline, of no great signifi cance, because no records were kept.Those competitions were aimed mainly at choosing the best runner in the state and / or at qualifying for the national team.
Out of thirty seven marathon championships, organized in Yugoslavia, twelve were held in Serbia (33%).The hosts of the competitions were: Belgrade (4), Subotica (2), Kragujevac, Kosovo Polje, Pristina, Odžaci, Novi Sad and Zasavica.Athletes from Serbia took part in thirty-six national championships.They did not participate in the last competition 1991 for security reasons, because it was held in Croatian village Lipik.The most massive national championship, by the number of runners who started, was in Belgrade in 1981.Most contestants from Serbia participated in this competition..However, mass participation was not always a refl ection of quality.Of all the contestants from Serbia during the period from 1949 to 1991, who performed at the marathon state champi- Another representative Stane Šporn, one of the best marathon runners of that period, failed to fi nish the race.Those who studied statistics of athletics refer Šporn to old club of "Illyria" from Ljubljana.However, at the end of 1935 he moved to Belgrade Sports club "Yugoslavia".A small number of participants from Serbia can be explained by "less developed" athletics, especially long distances running.Ranking in the race showed how Serbian athletes lagged behind the quality of the competitors from Slovenia and Croatia The following year, organization of the championship was vested to Slovenes.The only representative of Serbia was Nemanja Odanović again, but failed to reach the fi nish (Table 6).Track keepers were wrong for nearly eight kilometers, and the athletes had run around 50km.This was the last marathon championship in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia before the Second World War.onships, 17% were unsuccessful.During this period, the number of participants in national competitions has changed.The fi rst peak was in 1950, probably as a consequence of the fact that marathon was a new discipline, and because athletes reached success in easier way.The second period of growth in the number of race participants began in 1954 as a result of the victory Franjo Mihalic at the Balkan Games in Belgrade, who won the second place in the Olympic Marathon in 1956 and organization of the 1962 European athletics championship in Belgrade.This was also a period when the state invested signifi cant funds in athletics.Less competition and fewer participants appeared in the category of female athletes, but some achievements were at a very high level thanks to the results of Suzana Ciric and Olivera Jevtic (Table 10).
Analysis of the number of participants and the results of national championships in the marathon showed a great diversity.One of the reasons why our best marathon runners have not always been able to participate in competitions abroad.Another reason is that no fi nancial prizes were given to the winners of national championships.Particularly unfavourable effect was caused bz the wars during the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the economic crisis, because several runners moved, and Goran Raicevic, one of our leading marathon runners, died in 1999.
Serbia has not always had the athletes in national championships, but the reason is not lack of marathon runners, but specifi city of the discipline.The best runners from Serbia did not participate in the championships due to appearances in international competitions.Franjo Mihalic and Nediljko Farčić during their career never appeared at the state marathon championships.
Besides the different profi les and settings for the marathon track the lack of regulations on the man-ner of surveying the route reduced comparability of the results achieved, i.e., the analysis could be done with a certain generalization.The results that athletes achieved in marathon were ranged from 2:14:30 (it is not known how much the course was shorter than defi ned by rules) to 3:46:02 (Table 7).
The fi rst competition for the title of best female athlete in marathon was organized in Yugoslavia 1986 (Table 8).Contestants from Serbia have participated since 1987.Disintegration of Yugoslavia occurred in 1992 and a new state, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, covered the area of two republics.This meant less competition and weaker competitors.The fi rst national championships were organized as part of the mass marathons and the winning the contestants were from Serbia in all competitions (Table 9).A number of runners, due to political events, in recent years had to emigrate or move from Croatia to Serbia.One of them was Borislav Devic, our champion in this discipline.In mid-2006 Montenegro declared its independence, and Serbia became an independent state again.The Athletic Federation of Serbia assumed the role of athletic union of Serbia and Montenegro, and continued with the organization of national marathon championships.They were within the two of our most popular mass marathons.The number of participants in these competition during the year decreased, as well as the level of results (Table 11).In contrast to the results level of male athletes, the quality of the female achievements occasionally was at a higher level (Table 12).The number of female contestants has declined over the years, and after 2008 the championship are no longer held.

CONCLUSION
The national marathon championships in Yugoslavia appeared in the period between the two World wars, as in Bulgaria, Canada, Spain, Poland, Romania, Turkey, USA.Competitors from Serbia participated in fi ve national marathon championships in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and hosted one.As in the fi rst world marathons not all the results were recorded.Therefore, it was not possible to fi nd results scored by the two Serbian athletes in 1937 and 1938.The achieved results were not good (3:22:25 and around or over 4 hours).
The interest of the state changed after the Second World War.Sport became one of the most important fi elds for proving prestige among the countries of the world.Thanks to the individuals who brought this idea across to athletics of Serbia, as well as the formation of athletic clubs "Partizan" and "Red Star", the number of runners increased and results improved.In contrast to the pre-war period, when the runners from Serbia only supplemented the number of competitors in the national championships, now they mostly dominated.
Changes in the national championships regarding the way the organization occurred after the collapse of Yugoslavia.The development of those competitions after Serbia gained independence was similar to that in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the countries that came out the Soviet Union.Since then, national championships have become part of mass marathon.In order to motivate athletes to compete, cash prizes were introduced.
National Marathon Championship for females Yugoslavia was fi rst organized in 1986, and our athletes participated since 1987.A small number of female competitors led to the fact that after 2008 the female national championships have not been organized.
During the periods of the World Wars, in some years (1956, 1957, 1958, 1963 and 1965), there was a discontinuity in these competitions due to historical events (the dissolution of Yugoslavia), economic conditions, insuffi cient number of competitors.The quality of performance of the participants in the national marathon championship is shown by the results that they have achieved.Some athletes, even though they represented our country at the international competitions (Balkan Athletic Games, Olympic Games, European Championships), have not appeared in the national championship because of the specifi cities of the discipline, which resulted in that the competitions have not always refl ected the true quality of the marathon in our country.Even today, this competition still exists thanks to mass marathon events.

Table 1 .
Ranking in the 25-km race, Belgrade 28 June 1930 before will be examined by a doctor before start.Upon the fi rst call of doctors they are obliged to give up the contest.9.No leading of runners by any vehicle is allowed (Yugoslav marathon, Politika, 6/15/1930, 7939, 12).

Table 2 .
Data on state marathon championships in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the period since 1930 to 1939.In 1934 "Politika" .recorded only ranking of the two fi rst competitors and that Šporn gained national title.(The fi rst part of the Track and Field championship, Politika, 2/7/1934, 9382, 12).Stevan

Table 3 .
Ranking in the national championship at the marathon in Varazdin 5 July 1936.

Table 4 .
Ranking in the national championship in Ljubljana marathon 4 July 1937

Table 6 .
Ranking in the national marathon championship inLjubljana 17 July 1939

Table 5 .
Ranking on the opened national marathon championship in Belgrade 26 June 1938

Table 7 .
Data on national marathon championships in man category in Yugoslavia in the period since 1949.to 1991.
* Shorter track

Table 8 .
Data on national marathon championships female category in Yugoslavia in the period since 1986.to 1991.

Table 9 .
Data on state marathon championships in the athletes category from 1992 to 2005

Table 10 .
Data on state marathon championships in woman category from1992.to 2005.

Table 11 .
Data on state marathon championships in runners in the category from 2006 to 2010.

Table 12 .
Data on state marathon championships in female category from 2006. to 2010.