Swimming Marathon

According to hearsay, the first massive swimming competition in the Lake Ohrid took place in 1924. Similar contests were organized in 1927 and 1928. There is also a record of the establishment of the first water sportssociety in 1932 - The Swimming and Rowing Club "Ohrid". In those days, the best swimmers were: Slave Bitrak, Dio Bogdan, Lambe Bido, Boris Filipce, Viktor Boev, Stefan Momir, and others.

In the Post-War period eight swimmers competed in the first swimming marathon that took place in 1954 along a 2.5 km route "Gorica-Ohrid". The winner was Niko Nestor. The next two marathons were organized in 1956 and 1957, and the winners were Diki Bojadi and Goko Cudov respectively. Also women took part in the above two contests, and the respective winners were Sneze Grupceva and Sonja Dumbaloska. After that, there was a period when the marathon was not organized.

The first real marathon contest along the route of village Pestani-Struga-Ohrid (36 km) took place in 1962, with 22 participants from 12 countries. The following year, due to the disastrous earthquake in Skopje, the marathon was cancelled. In the subsequent years (1964,1965,1966) the Ohrid Marathon hosted about a dozen swimmers each year. After that there was a lapse in the continuation of this swimming marathon.

it should be mentioned that, regardless of the lapses in the organization of these two marathons, the spirit of subduing the water did not vanish in Ohrid. Niko Nestor, Diki Bojadi, Risto Bimbiloski, Jonce Nasteski, as well as Atina Bojadi, and many others among the women swimmers, achieved excellent results on the worldwide-appreciated marathons such as the Capri Marathon in Naples, Italy.

In 1983 "the small" marathon Gorica-Ohrid was reestablished and is organized to the present day.

In 1992, on the initiative of the sports magazine "Skok", the Ohrid Swimming Marathon was reestablished. Each year, in the second half of August, the swimming elite throughout the world gathers in Ohrid and, starting from the monastery St. Naum, they swim along the Lakeshore to the town harbour, approximately a 30-km route.

Since 1998 the Ohrid Swimming Marathon has entered in the World Swimming Club of the 12 worldwide held marathons under the patronage of FINA-The World Swimming Association.