In the women’s “Hollister” half-marathon event, the strongest Lithuanian runner Loreta Kančytė triumphed. The 29-year-old athlete covered a distance of 21.098 km in 1 hour. 15 minutes 37 sec. and broke her own five-year competition record (1 hour 16 minutes 2 seconds). By the way, the World Championship participant decided to run in Kaunas just a few days ago.
“I’m kidding, I’m getting old, my teeth are slowly decaying, I had some health problems, but nothing. I didn’t really know how the marathon recovery would be, how much my legs would take, so I thought I’d give it a try. Kaunas is its own city, it’s always fun to participate, even though you have to get up early. This year we still managed to improve the course record and win, which I am very happy about,” commented L. Kančytė.
Photo by Roko Lukoševičius/Kaunas Marathon. Loreta Kanchyte
At the beginning of April, the resident took part in the Paris Marathon, where she took a high 11th place among the elite participants (2 hours 33 minutes 53 seconds).
“I really wanted a much better time in the marathon distance. I am happy to have reached 11th place, having participated in the Paris Marathon, where many elite marathoners run. To this day, I can say that I am happy to have gone there and taken such a place, it’s a shame maybe because of the result, but you have to enjoy it too”, said L. Kančytė.
The second place among women was taken by Meda Repšytė (1 hour 20 minutes 12 seconds), the third place by Laura Vaitkevičienė (1 hour 21 minutes 39 seconds).
In the men’s half-marathon competition, the best result of the Lithuanian season was recorded by Lukas Tarasevičius, who covered the distance in 1 hour. 6 minutes 58 sec. Second finished 1 min. 27 sec. Ukrainian Vitaly Kuznetsov, who fell to the winner, third – 4 min. 56 sec. Edvinas Vyzas, who ran slower than the champion.
“The first few kilometers looked aggressive as the pace was good despite the slight uphills and headwind. After 10 km, I saw that the result was really good and I needed to keep that pace. At the beginning, the Ukrainian and I ran together, but later we managed to work together and break away. Maybe we couldn’t keep that pace at the end, but everything went very well in the first half”, commented L. Tarasevičius.
By the way, the former best result of this year’s Lithuanian season was recorded by the runner three weeks ago in the prestigious Berlin half-marathon, characterized by an extremely smooth and fast course. L. Tarasevičiis managed to surpass Berlin’s result in Kaunas by 23 seconds.
“Maybe I would like to take back my words right away, because I underestimated Kaunas a little bit. The track is really flat and really very good: in the second half, when you want that lightness and you want to go out for a quick run, Kaunas allows you to do exactly that. The track is very favorable for me, only I lacked strength or training a little at the end. The highest goal today was the course record, I aimed for it and at the same time I wanted to improve my personal record”, L. Tarasevičius taught.
Excellent results were also recorded in the women’s marathon: the first two runners who crossed the finish line broke the previous course record (2 hours 50 minutes 34 seconds). Ukrainian Marija Radko became the champion, covering the distance in 2 hours. 47 minutes 52 seconds, while last year’s winner Gitana Akmanavičiūtė finished second with a new personal record of 2 hours. 49 min. 38 sec. The third place was taken by Laura Šeškienė – 3 hours. 5 minutes 8 sec.
Photo by Roko Lukoševičius/Kaunas Marathon
Paralympian Kęstutis Skučas, who rode a wheelchair, probably won the Kaunas “Acropolis” marathon – in 2 hours. 16 min. 44 sec.
“Actually, it was really fun to participate after such a break, especially in Kaunas. Of course, there were all kinds of obstacles when riding a wheelchair, but it’s great that I overcame it, it’s a very fun atmosphere – congratulations on this beautiful holiday. Kaunas Marathon is a great event and I am very happy to participate here, – commented K. Skučas. – There were times when I ran 2-3 marathons a year, both abroad and in Lithuania. It’s just a challenge to overcome the distance, overcome yourself.”
Among the runners, Modestas Dirsė, who defended the winner’s title, was the fastest. The runner surpassed his last year’s result by almost 3 minutes and covered the distance in 2 hours. 25 minutes 49 sec. Andrius Jakševičius finished second (2 hours 28 minutes 6 seconds), Andrius Šipkinas third (2 hours 36 minutes 17 seconds).
“It was probably more difficult to win the title than to defend it. This year I ran right away and felt pretty safe. I knew that Andrius, the winner of the second place, was running, that there were foreigners, but I did not think about the competitors. I didn’t compete for a place, I wanted a result, that’s why I immediately chose that pace so that it was quite fast and I didn’t have to run alone – I ran with half-marathon runners”, M. Dirsė shared the strategy.
Photo by Roko Lukoševičius/Kaunas Marathon. Modest Dirse.
Having become the winner two years in a row, the man from Vilnius is happy to exchange popular marathons abroad for running in Kaunas. The reason for this is the support of relatives.
“This year there are many marathons in Europe during the week and I didn’t see the need to go. There is a pretty good marathon in Lithuania, plus the support of all relatives and friends – it’s another motivation to try, which you wouldn’t have abroad. Maybe there isn’t as much support here on the track, but family support really means a lot,” said M. Dirsė.
During the Kaunas “Acropolis” marathon, “LKU credit union group” 1.5 km and “Activus” 400 m competitions were also held. Andra Tamašauskaitė (17 min. 58 sec.) and Rimvydas Alminas (15 min. 39 sec.) triumphed in SDG’s 5 km race, while Diana Banienė (37 min. 20 sec.) and Remigijus won in “Forvia’s” 10 km run. Torment (31 min. 14 sec.).
“I chose 10 km instead of a longer distance because it was only two weeks after the Hanover Marathon. In addition, I am preparing for the European Off-Road Championships, so the preparation itself is a little different. For example, I have been communicating with mountains all week now. As we can see from today’s result, it is possible to match. 10 km was a safe option, because I don’t feel as recovered as I would like,” said R. Kančys, who won the Kaunas “Acropolis” marathon in 2019 and 2022.
5 thousand people participated in the 12th Kaunas “Acropolis” marathon. running enthusiasts from half a dozen countries. Olympians Eglė Balčiūnaitė, Rokas Guščinas, world record holder Aleksandras Sorokinas, singer Vaidas Baumila and others covered various distances at the event.
