The oldest participant is 63 and the youngest one - 24;

Six men and one woman will cover the whole distance of 1000 km;

The initiator of the marathon, the CFO of UniCredit Tiriac Bank, Mr. Stanislav Georgiev will be one of the participants;

Almost 80 people have enrolled in the charity marathon 1000 Balkan Charity Challenge from Bucharest to Sofia and back. The oldest participant is 63 and the youngest one - 24; The initiator of the marathon, the CFO of UniCredit Tiriac Bank, Mr. Stanislav Georgiev will be one of the participants. Before continuing his career in UniCredit Tiriac Bank, he held the same position in UniCredit Bulbank. Stanislav Georgiev has traditionally been committed to different social causes.

Stanislav, together with five more participants, including one woman, will cover the entire 1000-kilometer distance of the marathon. The remaining participants will cover different sections of the route. One of the participants who will accept the challenge to run for charity is Mr. Elenko Elenkov, the founder of Begach sports club. Elenko has participated in marathons in New York, Stockholm, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam and other cities.

The impressive Romanian participants include 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.

You can see the profiles of all the participants on the marathon website: http://1000balkan.com/en/challengers.

The 1000 Balkan Charity Challenge marathon aims at collecting donations in support of more than 15 causes. The initiative 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Magdalena Ivanova, Phone: + 359 2 9232 528, nbhebmfob/jwbopwbAvojdsfejuhspvq/ch