Balkan Championships 2024: Endurance Championships held in Greece
The Balkan Endurance Championship 2024 took place last week at the Kilkis Equestrian Club, Kilkis Greece.
This was the most successful Balkan Championship in the history of the event, taking place for the second time in Greece and Kilkis. Five Balkan countries, Greece, Türkiye, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia, competed with 24 riders and horses.
In the Team Competition, the Turkish team won for the first time, ahead of Bulgaria and Romania.
In the individual competition, the Turkish athletes led the way, taking the top places. Sakir Tarik Cakir on Camuz Devrani took the championship title and in 2nd place Omer Faruk Ozer with Cabrican. The two athletes completed the 102km in times of 5:07:42 and 5:07:57, respectively. The bronze medal went to the Bulgarian Denis Furlanski on Pavel, whose horse also won the important prize of "best condition".
The BEC Endurance 2024 was honored with their presence of the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Polyani and Kilkisiou Mr. Vartholomeos and the Mayor of Kilkis, Mr. Dimitris Kyriakidis, who declares the start of the BEC during the opening ceremony of on Friday, October 4.
The Vice-President of the European Equestrian Federation and General Secretary of the Greek Equestrian Federation, George Dimaras, handed over the Balkan flag to the Croatians (the President Smiljka Selanec), who will organize the next Balkan Championship in their country in 2025.
Speaking of the championship, George Dimaras said “This was the second time that the Greek federation have organized the EEF Balkan Championship Endurance in Kilkis in Northern Greece. With 5 full teams from Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Croatia and Greece, we achieved the largest number of teams in the Championships history. The CH was combined with a CEI1*, a CEI2* and national classes bringing the total number of participants to more than 80.
Thank you to the organizers in Kilkis, the officials and volunteers for their excellent work, and the City of Kilkis for their support. We are very proud to have hosted this amazing event, which is, by all accounts, the most successful Balkan Championship Endurance in the institution's history thus far.
It proves that Endurance has a great future in Greece and in the Balkans, and it also shows how mutually beneficial the EEF’s patronage of the Balkan Championships is. The National Federations of the Balkan Equestrian Council have a history of working together and the future of equestrian sports in this region looks very promising.”