The unexpected news of the cancellation of this year’s Ohrid Swimming Marathon, the biggest international sporting event organised by North Macedonia, caused disappointment and criticism of officials.

Cancellation of Showpiece Swimming Event Dismays North Macedonia

The 30-kilometer-long Ohrid Marathon starts at the St. Naum of Ohrid monastery. Photo: National Swimming Federation

The news of the cancellation of this year’s Ohrid Swimming Marathon came out of the blue on Wednesday, after President Stevo Pendarovski, the traditional patron of the event, met the head of the National Swimming Federation, Goran Stojanovski.

The president’s office said in a short statement afterwards that Stojanovski had said that the marathon cannot take place because the National Swimming Federation’s bank account has been frozen.

Without giving any more details, Stojanovski put the blame for this on the “bad financial work” of the previous federation leadership.

The mayor of the lake town of Ohrid, Kiril Pecakov, called the decision to cancel “shameful”.

Pecakov said his town, by far the biggest tourist destination in North Macedonia, had been looking forward to hosting the marathon.

“It is irresponsible to leave the National Swimming Federation with a frozen account due to bad financial work and thus lose this brand,” the mayor said.

“The municipality of Ohrid was fully ready for the technical organisation [of the marathon] because the marathon is a big worldwide promotor of our town,” he added.

The cancellation was announced just weeks before the competition was about to happen, in late August.

To add insult to injury, the annual marathon was cancelled in the year in which it was to celebrate 60 years since its establishment in 1962.

Much of the anger about the cancellation was targeted at President Pendarovski.

The opposition VMRO DPMNE party MP and former Foreign Minister Antonijo Milososki wrote on Facebook that the marathon “is an international sporting brand of Macedonia for six decades. It was organised in better and in worse times because no president and government ever thought that giving up was an option.”

Milososki added that “this year the famous Ohrid marathon drowned in the incompetence of President Pendarovski as patron, the government and the Agency for Youth and Sports”.

The Ohrid Swimming Marathon, part of the annual event program of the International Swimming Federation, FINA, is a staple of North Macedonian sport.

Established in 1962 when the country was part of Yugoslavia, the marathon had international ambitions from the outset.

In its inaugural year, Egyptian swimmer Abdel Latif Abu Heif, a world legend both in the pool and in open waters, took the gold. William De Vreng from the Netherlands came in second and legendary Macedonian and Yugoslav swimmer Diki Bojadzi won the bronze. In the women’s competition, Atina Bojadzi, Diki’s sister, was the gold medallist.

But the next year, in 1963, the marathon was cancelled due to the devastating earthquake that hit the capital Skopje that summer. It then faced another prolonged cancellation from the late 1960s.

Since 1992 the marathon has been taking place each year without interruptions.

Swimmers each year take the 30-kilometre-long ‘Klime Savin’ route, beginning the race at the St. Naum of Ohrid monastery and hitting the finish line in Ohrid’s town harbour, cheered by thousands of sports fans.

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