Talented Amateurs Shine in First Tartu Marathon
Tartu's first ever city marathon provided a change of pace from globalization and international pros as the event was won by an Estonian runner competing in his first full 42.195 km footrace.
The victor, Dmitri Aristov, finished with a time of 2:32:46.
Raivo Alla came in second in the Saturday race with a time of 2:35:56 and Ivar Ivanov finished third with 2:37:34.
The top female finisher was Annika Vaher with 3:12:22.
Also unusual for a marathon was the fact that Aristov found himself running alone by kilometer 14.
Some 550 runners registered for the inaugural edition of the marathon. Before this year, the "Tartu marathon" has been identified primarily with the winter long-distance ski race; there was also a 23-km Otepaa-to-Elva running race.