Team RSU ready for Lattelecom Riga Marathon

In recent years an active lifestyle – jogging in particular – have been gaining popularity and the number of running enthusiasts at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) increases with every year. In the traditional Lattelecom Riga Marathon, to be held this Sunday 20 May, RSU will be represented by a team of 258 runners, outpacing last year’s participation rate. In terms of the number of participants, RSU is among the ten largest local teams, whereas in terms of international coverage, with 16 countries represented, our team is taking the lead. 

In previous years the majority of RSU runners have chosen the 10 km distance, this year, however, 95 RSU team members will compete in the 21 km race, 19 will attempt to conquer the classical marathon distance of 42 km, 88 running enthusiasts will run 10 km and 56 are planning to complete the 6 km race. 

“Being a university that educates prospective healthcare specialists, at RSU promotion of a healthy lifestyle with plenty of movement is in the blood. The Lattelecom Riga Marathon is just one form of expression. We maintain the idea of an active lifestyle and encourage movement via different possibilities made available to our students, academic and administrative staff by various RSU sporting teams and activities, team tournaments, contests in individual sports, sports days for freshmen and incoming  Erasmus+ students,” head of RSU Sports Club Laura Ritova emphasises the importance of an active lifestyle at RSU. 

In addition to the wide local participation, in this year’s race our students from the following countries will be representing RSU colours: Albania, South Africa, France, Greece, India, Italy, Israel, United Kingdom, Portugal, Finland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Hungary, Germany and Sweden.  Last year our student from Finland, Jaakko Nieminen, was the 2nd fastest in the 10 km race.