The unique initiative will take place between 10 and 19 November;

The registration deadline for those who want to join the marathon is 5 November;

The participants will run and ride a bike for 1000km - the distance from Bucharest to Sofia and back, crossing the Danube and the Balkan mountain range;

The donations collected from the cross-border marathon will help orphans, children with disabilities and elderly people from nursing homes in Bulgaria and Romania.

The charity marathon – 1000 Balkan Charity Challenge – which aims at collecting donations in support of more than 15 causes, will take place between 10 and 19 November. The participants in the marathon will cover the distance of 1000km from Bucharest to Sofia and back, collecting funds, which will help disadvantaged children, children with disabilities and elderly people in nursing homes in Romania and Bulgaria.

As the name suggest, the marathon will pose a real challenge to the participants, who will have to cross the Danube and Stara Planina twice, going through areas between 0 and 2000m above sea level. According to the plans of the organizers, the first part of the marathon, between Bucharest and Sofia, will be covered by bikes for three days, which means that the participants will cover 150 km per day. On their way back, the participants will run for 7 days, 65 km a day.

They are expected to arrive in Sofia on 12 November, around 16:00 h. at Sveta Nedelya Square, in front of UniCredit Bulbank Head Office. The team will head on their way back to Bucharest on the morning of 13 November.

During the marathon all companies which wish to donate between EUR 100 and EUR 3000 will be able to do so via the website of the initiative: http://1000balkan.com.

Each of the participants will also choose a specific cause to support and during the ten days of the marathon will try to encourage as many of their acquaintances, friends and supporters to donate for it.

All enthusiasts who wish to participate can register until 5 November at 1000balkan.com. For a small fee, they can take part in the whole or a part of the marathon.

The causes relating to Bulgaria were proposed and administrated by Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation. They include: Daycare center for children with disabilities St Mina, scholarships for orphans and semi-orphans with excellent grades and Aleksandrovska Nursery Home for Elderly and Daycare Center (Bankya).

For more information on all causes, included in the marathon, you can visit the charity website at: http://1000balkan.com.

On the website during the marathon itself, there will be pictures of the participants overcoming the challenges and the amount currently donated for every one of the causes. Citizens will also be able to donate via the same website, supporting the mission of the participants in the charity cross-border marathon.

Among the participants will be Andrei Rosu, who has run in 7 ultra-marathons on 7 continents for 1 year, and Gabriel Solomon, who is 8th in the world for marathon running in a hall, covering 208 km for 24 hours on a treadmill in a mall in Bucharest.

The initiator of the innovative idea was the CFO of UniCredit Tiriac Bank, Mr. Stanislav Georgiev, who said: "This initiative is really special and I am glad that I have the opportunity to actively participate in its organization." He also pointed out that"charity and sports are two areas which naturally attract people and make them sympathetic." "We hope that this formula – the combination of riding bicycles and running for collecting donations for the chosen causes – will reach the hearts of people and will help not only for the popularization of the causes but also to stress how important it is for every one of us to be engaged in charity initiatives. The route crosses two countries – Romania and Bulgaria, which a symbolical stress on the event, highlighting the cooperation between the two countries", Georgiev said.

Before continuing his career in UniCredit Tiriac Bank, Stanislav Georgiev was the CFO of UniCredit Bulbank.

As a leading European bank group, UniCredit supports the initiative via its banks in Bulgaria and Romania – UniCredit Bulbank and UniCredit Tiriac Bank respectively, which cover the organizational expenses.

The marathon will be organized with the logistic support of two running sports clubs – the Bulgarian Begach and the Romanian Ro Club Marathon.

More information for media:

UniCredit Bulbank, Identity & Communications Department

Viktoria Blajeva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 993, wjlj/ebwjepwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Ekaterina Ancheva, Phone: + 359 2 9264 963, flbufsjob/bodifwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch

Begach Sports Club

Elenko Elenkov, fmfolpAcfhbdi/dpn, 0887347658, www.begach.com