One of the most recognizable brands of Ohrid is the Ohrid Swimming Marathon. A tradition that has been going on since 1962 and which for marathoners from all over the world is as important as the Olympics or the World Championships is dying out.

Yesterday, the President of the Swimming Federation, Goran Stojanovski, and the President Stevo Pendarovski, announced with a smile that the marathon will not take place this year.

The reason is the bad financial situation of the Federation and frozen situation. To be honest, the situation in the Swimming Federation is really chaotic, but that is not an obstacle to holding the event.

To make the irony even bigger, the patron of the marathon is the institution of the President of Macedonia. With that, Pendarovski becomes the first president of “North” who will not award the cup to the winner.

And the winners of the marathon are legends of marathon swimming such as Atina Bojadži, Niko Nestor, Teodora Raptis, Edith van Dijk, Petar Stojcev, Tomi Stefanovski, Evgenij Pop Acev…

All this can remain a history that we will remember. The Ohrid Marathon, founded in 1962, was resumed in 1992 when wars raged around. It was not held only in 2020 when there was a global pandemic and this year when SDSM and Stevo Pendarovski are in power.