Bartan Marathons – A Company Tradition Where Personal Limits Are Surpassed

Our marathon history began in 2010, when the first bartan – Marek – tried out the track. Since then, more than a decade has passed and participation in MMM has become a company tradition, which, apart from running on the first weekend in October, also includes joint trainings or a marathon team building. Often we see relay runners just filling the places turn into half-marathoners or marathoners and this progress also motivates us to move on. For example, even to pacemaker positions.

In this article, we decided to summarize the history of bartan marathons, point out interesting facts and reminisce about the best experiences. This year, we’ll stand on the starting line again and we believe it’ll be worth writing into our company history book again.

2010

The first marathon was run by our CEO alone with a time of just over four hours. And although this is far from a bad result, he wanted to achieve more.
And he did – in the last Košice marathon, in 2021, he crossed the finish line an hour earlier.

 

Marek „MMM is what Košice can rightly be proud of from a global perspective. Every Košice resident should run some MMM discipline at least once. Whether it’s a minimarathon, a relay or a whole marathon. I ran my first one in 2010 and I’ve been a part of it every year since. Each completed marathon has its own peculiarity and story. It isn’t only about the time on the finish line, but mainly about preparation, conditions for training and people around.“ – Marek

2011

A year later, there were two bartans on the track. Marek kept his marathon time and lured his wife Katka to the track. Mišo ran his first half marathon that year.

 

 

Michal „I don’t like to remember my first half marathon because I didn’t meet the goal that I set for myself – to run it under 2 hours. But I didn’t give up on it. On the contrary, I trained and I have successfully reached my goal in a year. I like to remember my last half marathon in Košice, when I was slowly discovering that running isn’t exactly for me. Nothing was at the stake and maybe that’s why I enjoyed it the most. But I have the strongest experience from the half marathon in Banská Bystrica. On a hill at the end, a 70-year-old gentleman patted me, absolutely drained, on the shoulder and warned me that it was a running race, not a walking race. I stopped running when training wasn’t for joy and a reward anymore, but pure hard work. Now I do other sports, such as 3D archery. But I still have my running shoes, because you should never say never.“ – Mišo

2012

We put together the first relay, in which Erik, Mirka and our client, the owner of Crossuite, Joris represented us for the first time. Mišo has achieved his resolve at the half marathon!

Erik „They were missing the fourth runner in the relay, so I joined in. Before the marathon itself I went running about 3 times – together I trained about as many kilometers as my section was in the relay. My expectations weren’t high, but I’m glad that I didn’t disappoint the team and finished it. And one more finding – from the Amphitheater to Watsonova street, it’s uphill. You won’t find that out in a car or walking, you have to run it.” – Erik

2013

The previous relay motivated Mirka to do her first half marathon, which she ran in just under 2 hours.

2014

Mirka tried her first marathon! This was the moment when she fell in love with running and this love continues to this day – even in the form of ultra-runs!

Mirka I ran my very first marathon in Košice. No other place was even considered because I wanted to enjoy this experience at home. I went into it with humility because I had no idea what was coming. Marek was already doing one marathon after another, but no talking will prepare you for the 30+ kilometer. My goal-oriented nature also said that I don’t want to just run the marathon, but I will try to finish it in good time, under 4 hours. I managed to meet the goal, even more than 2 minutes earlier. And although in the end I could compete in color with white plaster, positive emotions were stirring in me.“ – Mirka

2017

Historical year with great participation of bartans on the track. In addition to marathon runners Marek and Mirka, we have assembled 3 relay teams – Crossuite Team, Upper Floor and BNSF.

Viktor I like to remember my first and last relay run, half of which I walked, but I managed the 9 km in the time that my colleagues set for me. The curiosity was that when I happily arrived for the hand-on, no one was waiting for me there – for 15 minutes I was looking for Matúš to pass him the baton.“ – Viktor
Kamil Meanwhile, Matúš was squeezing his way through the fans on the main road and he couldn’t get to the track 😀 I was running the last stretch of the relay on Watsonova street and I was thinking,”just a moment and I’ll pass the finish line!” An elderly gentleman was running next to me and we talked, within our respiratory capabilities. I thought that, like me, he was running the last section of the relay and that he was running out of energy. However, after a longer debate with him, I also learned that he has an artificial hip and that he actually likes to run this section every year as part of the whole marathon. I guess I don’t have to define the expression on my embarrassed face.“ – Kamil

You can find more experiences in the MMM 2017 blog..

2018

Once again, a strong lineup and three half marathon runners had their premiere! Šafo and Martin took last year’s relay to the next level and they both ran 21 km! In addition to them, Dominik and our traditional marathon runners Marek and Mirka also represented Bart.sk on the track.
Relay runners with the MLaToK team didn’t do bad either.

Martin I ran for the first time during the Košice Night Run in 2013. I think Mirka and Mišo were there, too. They and Marek were the biggest motivators for me and thanks to them I ran a bartan relay and 3 half marathons (Košice, Vienna, Lago Maggiore) ? The Vienna half marathon was great – when I was running up to the finish line, all the people were cheering on me tremendously, incredible atmosphere, accompanying cars, motorbikes… Then I realized that the first woman was actually finishing her marathon with me ? The Košice half marathon holds a special meaning for me because my son was born the Friday before ?.. – Martin

A detailed report from Šafo and a large photo gallery can be found in the blog.

2019

A total of 10 bartans on the track! In addition to Marek and Mirka on a 42 km run, Šafo took to the half-marathon track again, with an 8-minute improvement. Dominik also significantly overtook his shadow. Together with him, two then-colleagues ran the 21 km route and the team Barťania also joined in. Relayer Alexander wrote down his experiences in detailin the.

Dominik I didn’t take the runs before 2019 in a “sporty” way, but rather as a social event. I didn’t care for systematic and long-term training. On the contrary, in 2019 I took it a little more seriously and prepared myself fairly well. I was motivating myself. I figured there was enough wiggling around, and 1:45 might be a nice, real time to train for in two months. Since I’m more of a cyclist than a runner, it was also a challenge. I believe that this year I’ll be able to at least repeat it.“ – Dominik

2020

Covid has shrunk the number of runners on the track to a bare minimum. Among approximately 160 marathon men, however, Marek found his place and tried the position of a pacemaker for the first time. He led ten runners to the finish line in order to reach the time of 3:30.

2021

Again in full force and with a record number of bartans on the track. Majka and Luky tried the half marathon for the first time. We had three teams represented in the relay discipline: IT BOYS, FOSEBEŠI and IT SEALs.

Pali In the team, I stood in for my colleague Lucka at the last minute. Well, on Wednesday, September 29th, five days before MMM, I broke a toe. The surgeon warned me it was impossible to put into a cast and that it would take a long time to heal. But I was determined not to disappoint the team and so I “taped” it myself, I tried running on a spot at home for 5 minutes to see if something was going to break, and since nothing broke, I stood on the track the next morning. I ran 9 km in an hour and 2 minutes. This year I’m going for the relay again, I believe that it’ll be with better time and without broken bones!” – Pali

Marek took up the position of a pacemaker again and Mirka had her premiere as a pacemaker – she led the runners with an ambition of 4:00 to the finish line.

2022

Just like after every MMM, in 2021 the bartans set new goals – half marathon runners started training for a marathon and the relay runners for a half marathon. They have kept their promises, thanks to the support of their colleagues, and today they have their registration numbers for the first Sunday in October in their pockets. So, once again, we have a strong year ahead of us. How will it turn out? We’ll write about it for sure.