International UCI cycling race in Betanija on Sunday

In the city park Betanija on Sunday, October 4, 2015, an international UCI mountain bike race is planned, organized by the Mountain Bike Club “Puls” in cooperation with the Centar Municipality, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

On this occasion, a press conference was held today at the premises of the Centar Sarajevo Municipality, where representatives of the „Puls“ club and the Cycling Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina presented the most important details regarding the announced cycling race „Salcano MTB Cup Sarajevo“.

Amar Njemčević, race director and president of the Mountain Bike Club “Puls”, thanked the mayor of Centar Municipality, Dževad Bećirević, for his overall support in organizing this race.

- This is the first time a race of this type is organized in the very center of Sarajevo, and we are very pleased that we managed to bring such an event to our city. So far, we have 66 registered competitors from seven countries (Macedonia, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, England, Russia, and BiH), and we expect that number to increase to around 80 on race day. It is a great honor for us that our best female cyclist, Lejla Tanović, is competing in this race, and we hope she will enter the top 80 on the world cycling ranking list - said Njemčević.

Zlatko Berbić, president of the Cycling Federation of BiH, stated that the main goal of organizing such races is to have active Olympic participants in five years.

- In Sarajevo, we are organizing a mountain bike race like this for the fourth time, and thanks to the Centar Municipality, we will organize a race in the very center of the city on Sunday, which has not been the case until now - Berbić emphasized.

Vladimir Kuvalja, sports director of the Federation, stressed that Sunday's race is important because it carries UCI points, i.e., points for the Olympic Games, qualifications for world championships, and other regional games.

In Betanija, competitors will be divided into two categories: hobby and elite for women and men. The start of the competition for the hobby category is at 10 a.m., and for elite riders at 1 p.m.

The World Cycling Federation (UCI) will send a chief referee from Poland for this race. Among today's participants at the press conference was Lejla Tanović, who is the highest-ranked cyclist from Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is the winner of two silver medals at cycling championships held in Greece and Macedonia, holds the best-ranked position from BiH on the World Cycling Federation (UCI) list with five medals won in races, and was last year declared the athlete of the year in the Fair Play category.

The organizers have provided cash prizes for the participants. The most famous name in cycling that will participate in the race in Betanija is Jovana Crnogorac, who is the 14th female rider in the world.