In the midst of the running season, more and more large-scale sports events, races, marathons are held, and our colleagues traditionally take an active part in them.

The employees of the Metropolis Moscow office of have already proved themselves at the Moscow Half Marathon on May 14, but now our colleagues from St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod took part in a number of races, demonstrating a strong spirit and achieving excellent results.

Nizhny Novgorod

On May 21, 2023, the ninth charity half-marathon "Run, Hero!" took place in Nizhny Novgorod. This is the largest race in the region with more than 10,000 people attending, and part of the registration fees go to charity, sports and social projects. Moreover, in 2020 and 2022 "Run Hero!" took first place in the rating of the All-Russian event "ZaBeg.RF" and brought Nizhny Novgorod the title of the running capital!

The race offered participants 3 distances to choose from: 21.1 km, 10 km and 5 km. The route passed through the bridge, three embankments and the central square of the city, and the finish was at the Nizhny Novgorod stadium.

Our colleagues from the Nizhny Novgorod office of Metropolis took part in this race: Dmitry Kokoshnikov, Power Supply Lead Engineer, Anton Kharitonov, HVAC Design Engineer, and Alexander Fedotov, Chief Specialist of Automated Control Systems.

The results of the colleagues:

1. Dmitry Kokoshnikov
   Time: 01:57:02
   Distance: 21,1 km
2. Alexander Fedotov
   Time: 00:47:33
   Distance: 10 km
3. Anton Kharitonov
   Time: 00:55:28
   Distance: 10 km

And on June 4, the VII All-Russian Half Marathon "ZaBeg.RF" started in 85 cities across Russia. This is the largest half marathon with a synchronized start on 4 distances - 1 km, 5 km, 10 km and 21.1 km. For the first time this year, other countries joined the race - China, Armenia, Belarus, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

In Nizhny Novgorod, the half marathon brought together more than 2,000 participants. The route passed along the Nizhne-Volzhskaya embankment, starting at the boat "Hero".

Metropolis at this race was represented by a whole team of 9 people who tested themselves at distances of 5 and 10 km. Here are their results:

1. Alexander Fedotov, Chief Specialist of Automated Control Systems
   Time: 00:49:38
   Distance: 10 km
2. Sergey Khalezov, Communication and Signaling Systems Team Leader
   Time: 00:56:52
   Distance: 10 km
3. Dmitry Ermakov, Communication and Signaling Systems Lead Engineer
   Time: 01:03:59
   Distance: 10 km
4. Dmitry Kokoshnikov, Power Supply Lead Engineer
   Time: DNF
   Distance: 10 km
5. Nikolay Akhromeev, Lead Engineer of Water Supply, Sewerage and Fire-Fighting Systems
   Time: DNF
   Distance: 5 km
6. Anton Kharitonov, HVAC Design Engineer
   Time: 00:24:19
   Distance: 5 km
7. Sergey Akhromeev, Structural Design Engineer
   Time: 00:34:39
   Distance: 5 km
8. Anastasia Belikova, Lead Structural Engineer
   Time: 00:38:37
   Distance: 5 km
9. Polina Gorokhova, Architect
   Time: 00:40:10
   Distance: 5 km

St. Petersburg

On June 4, the All-Russian half marathon “ZaBeg.RF” took place, and it is especially popular in St. Petersburg. In 2021, this city was recognized as the running capital in the ZaBeg rating, and in 2023, 18,000 runners of St. Petersburg took part in it, which became the record of ZaBeg in all cities!

Our colleagues from the St. Petersburg office participated in this event. Natalya Zasukhina, Communication and Signaling Systems Lead Design Engineer, and Tatyana Nikiforova, Lead Structural Design Engineer, ran the 5 km distance, Pavel Yamov, Communication and Signaling Systems Team Leader, made his debut in sports races right away with a distance of 10 km, and Mikhail Utkin, HVAC Chief Specialist, covered the distance of 21.1 km!

Pavel and Mikhail, along with the rest of the participants at the distances of 10 and 21 km, were caught in a heavy downpour, but this did not prevent them from showing excellent results, moreover, it added vivid memories, and also significantly refreshed the runners.

The results of our colleagues:

1. Mikhail Utkin
   Time: 01:41:14
   Distance: 21,1 km
2. Pavel Yamov
   Time: 00:50:20
   Distance: 10 km
3. Natalya Zasukhina
   Time: 00:29:11
   Distance: 5 km
4. Tatyana Nikiforova
   Time: 00:35:18
   Distance: 5 km

On June 11, the White Nights marathon also started in St. Petersburg. This is an event with a rich history, since the first marathon took place back in 1990, and its distinctive feature is the late start time, which allows not only to avoid the heat of the day, but also to enjoy the views of the Northern capital during the white nights, which gave the race its name.

Traditionally, the participants had two distances to choose from: 10 km and 42 km. The start of the 10 km race was given at 9 p.m., the marathon and relay started at 10 p.m. The route of both distances started from Petrovskaya Embankment and ended at Palace Square.

Three of our colleagues took part in the 10 km race: Natalya Zasukhina, Communication and Signaling Systems Lead Design Engineer, Ilya Kuzmin, Communication and Signaling Systems Chief Specialist, and Ksenia Klepova, HVAC Design Engineer.

The results of our colleagues:

1. Ilya Kuzmin
   Time: 00:47:47
   Distance: 10 km
2. Natalya Zasukhina
   Time: 01:07:53
   Distance: 10 km
3. Ksenia Klepova
   Time: 01:18:49
   Distance: 10 km

The scale of this event was not inferior to the half marathon a week earlier - 16,000 runners came to test themselves and enjoy the beauty of the white nights.

The next sporting event in St. Petersburg took place a week later, on June 15, as part of the SPIEF-2023. The morning race "We are together" for a distance of 5 km started at 6.30 a.m. at St. Isaac's Cathedral and passed through the historical center of the city.

1,500 guests and participants of SPIEF 2023 came to the start of the race. This year, for the first time, a sightseeing mode was introduced for those who want to hear about the places of interest and iconic objects along the course.

Before the start of the race, at 6:10 a.m., the opening ceremony of the SPIEF Sports Games took place, which brought together competitions in 18 sports disciplines this year. The ceremony was attended by Minister of Sports Oleg Matytsin, three-time Olympic winner in Greco-Roman wrestling Alexander Karelin and People's Artist of Russia Vladimir Mashkov.

Tatyana Nikiforova, Lead Structural Design Engineer of Metropolis, took part in this race and showed an excellent result - 00:32:10.

And on June 24, the Baltic trail "White Nights" took place. This event from the organizers of the Tsarskoye Selo marathon takes place in Sestroretsk during the white nights season and, like the marathon of the same name, starts at a later time.

Races for 21.1 km, 10 km, 5 km and a fun pajama run for 1 km were available for participation. The routes of all starts went along the sandy beach along the Gulf of Finland.

Our colleague Ilya Kuzmin, Communication and Signaling Systems Chief Specialist, took part in this trail, having tested himself on the longest distance. It was his first half marathon!

1. Ilya Kuzmin
   Time: 02:11:13
   Distance: 21,1 km

Congratulations to all the colleagues who took part in these races and demonstrated a real sports spirit, wishing you more sports victories further on!