Balkaniada is a mountain running race, that will take place for the fourth time in the heart of “Central Balkan” National Park. The park is situated in the center of Bulgaria – in the highest and most fascinating part of the Balkan Mountain. The diverse network of tourist routs make the place one of the most popular tourists, mountain runners, mountain bikers, and outdoor fans. Every summer hundreds of adventurers enjoy the iconic places in the Central Balkan Mountain, following the international tourist route E3 (Kom-Emine). Kiril Nikolov – Disl is the most successful mountain runner and orienteer during the last 20 years. Preparing for his most challenging and career-defining races he spend months and months in the region of Karlovo, training and developing his skills. The time spent in that area inspired him to organise a race that goes through the most iconic sites here. To be tough and challenging, but memorable and fascinating in the same time! Togather with Dimitar Zhelyazkov and XCoClub, Balkaniada will be organised for a 4rth time. Train well and prepare yourself because #therewillbe a lot from everything.
In 2021 in the city of Karlovo the first Balkaniada took place. The start/finish area are located in the city center, right at the beginning of the tourist routes that go to the Balkan Mountain. Two of the tracks (44K and 25K) challenged the athletes in the last day of July with it’s diverse weather conditions – a combination between sun and hot temperatures and a thunderstorm later in the day. The event was selected to be part of the National Skyrunning Series.
In the upcoming 2024 the team plans to organise the 4rth edition of Balkaniada on the 4th of August 2024. The start/final arena of the race will be again in the city park, across the Evlogy and Hristo Georgievy Factory and the runners will be able to chose between 3 distances:
10K course / 595m D+ – Start Karlovo town – Hubavets hut – Karlovo town finish
25K course / 1600m D+ – Start Karlovo town – Ravnets hut – Petolychkata – Vasil Levski hut – Karlovo town finish
44K course / 2700m D+ – Start Karlovo town – Dobrila hut – Botev refuge – Petolychkata – Vasil Levski hut – Karlovo town finish