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Du Motion: Dubrovnik's record-breaking sports project
Date From:
04.05.2017
Head of Department for Education, Sports, Social Welfare and Civil Society of the City of Dubrovnik Miho Katičić; Director of Dubrovnik Tourist Board Romana Vlašić and General Secretary of the Dubrovnik Sport Association Alen Bošković held a press conference presenting the results of this year's sports event Du Motion.
Du Motion: Dubrovnik's record-breaking sports project
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On behalf of the City of Dubrovnik, Head of Department Miho Katičić thanked the Du Motion team lead by the Race Director Alen Bošković for having done an excellent job, stating that the success of a race is not measured only in financial terms but also by looking at the smiles of the volunteers involved in it.

“The best compliment for him and his team is the fact that certain colleagues thought this was actually the 15th race in a row. I would like to thank all the volunteers, more than 500 of them, who participated in all the stages of this manifestation. People who have experience in organizing such events have told me that a race can be considered a success when the volunteers involved in its organization have smiles on their faces. Therefore, I can say that this was an extremely successful race, as both volunteers and competitors were smiling,” said Head of Department Katičić who also thanked all the people of Dubrovnik for considering this event as something which belongs to them too.

“That is Dubrovnik. I also wish to thank all those who participated in the 5K race for little-big Nevio. The sum of 74.000 kuna which we raised is impressive. Let us remember that last year the funds raised went to Karla Sentić who is – thank goodness – doing well now and who joined us as a volunteer this year. This is not just a beautiful sports story, but also a warm human story,” Miho Katičić pointed out, adding that this year's sports event Du Motion was also affected by temporary funding.

“I am proud that we have managed to secure 150.000 kuna for this project even in the period of temporary funding. I am certain that, once the budget has been voted, this financial support will be even greater as this project must be worth at least two million kuna, considering the amount of time volunteers have devoted to it and the donations given by the sponsors,” said Katičić.

The Director of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board Romana Vlašić said that the Tourist Board had recognized the value and potential of the project already last year and that, as part of the wider team participating in the organization of Du Motion, the Tourist Board was proud for the event to have become a five-star event recognized worldwide.

“This valuable event has placed Dubrovnik on the world map in yet another segment of our tourist offer. The research conducted by the University of Dubrovnik states that as many as 78% of participants in the race are planning to return to Dubrovnik for a vacation and that more than 97% of them would recommend Dubrovnik to their family and friends,” said Vlašić, pointing out that Dubrovnik had excellent, record-breaking tourist results in April.

General Secretary of the Dubrovnik Sport Association and Race Director Alen Bošković emphasized the support provided by the City of Dubrovnik and the Dubrovnik Tourist Board across all segments of the execution of the project.

'The support of the City of Dubrovnik and the Dubrovnik Tourist Board has been indubitable since the very beginning and it has helped raise this event to a world-class level. I say world-class because this year there were runners from 45 countries participating in the race,” said Bošković. He also added that the participants in the Du Motion race had 1.500 arrivals and approximately 6.000 overnight stays during the manifestation.

“We cannot emphasize enough that each runner who came for the half-marathon or some other race, is also a guest in this city. According to the results of our research, the participants stay in Dubrovnik for approximately four nights, whereas a part of these runners, i.e. guests stay in Dubrovnik up to ten days. We are also happy to know that there have been 1.500 arrivals and 6.000 overnight stays because this information confirms the international significance of this race and its tourist potential,” said Alen Bošković who also thanked all citizens of Dubrovnik, volunteers and everyone who contributed to such a successful execution of this project.

“I shall seize this opportunity to thank all the citizens of Dubrovnik who participated in this project in any way. I wish to thank everyone who showed their support for the fund-raising race for Nevio, the volunteers, but also the parents who raised their children in such a way so as to help and volunteer in their city and thus participate in its development,” Bošković concluded.

Du Motion is a joint project of the City of Dubrovnik and the Dubrovnik Sport Association in cooperation with the Dubrovnik Athletic Club, Dubrovnik Tourist Board and sister city Monterey.

Last year, sister cities Dubrovnik and Monterey won Sister Cities International’s (SCI) 2016 Economic Development Award for the preparation and organization of the Dubrovnik International Half-Marathon Du Motion in the category 'Innovation: Economic Development' for cities with a population less than 100.000.

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