RSU marathon runners surpass previous records

The Lattelecom Rīga Latvian Centenary marathon, held on 20 May had a record number of participants – over 37 thousand runners – and the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) team can pride itself with an all-time record number of runners who reached the finish line – 223 marathon runners. The RSU team – the largest Latvian university team — had representatives from 16 countries and was the most internationally diverse group this year, with the best place-getter – Faculty of Medicine student from Finland Jaakko Nieminen, who came second in the 10 km run with a time of 0:31:36 in the overall assessment.

Jaakko Nieminen also earned the silver medal last year in the Rīga marathon 10 km race and he only fell 9 seconds short of the gold medal. “Jaakko silver medal is the result of very focused effort that led to this achievement. We are proud of his achievement and will make every effort to support him on his path to even greater success,” shares RSU Sports Club leader Laura Ritova. RSU team member Kristaps Starts, had the second best time — in the 21 km run, finishing with a time of 1:25:02, and came sixth in the overall assessment. Of the 11 RSU full marathon runners, Medicine student from Germany, John Volkenandt, achieved the best result, running the 42 km in 3 hours and 1 minute.

Over the past few years the RSU marathon team has grown rapidly. If in 2016 a total number of 2000 km was totalled by the marathon team, then last year the number had reached 3117 km and this year all four runs together totalled a distance of 3377 km. This year the biggest group of runners registered in the 21 km run, with 89 participants taking part, while 77 team members took part in the 10 km run.