The marathon entered into the phase in which the participants will run for 65 kilometers a day;

The aim of the marathon is to raise money for a total of 18 charity causes;

Everyone can donate via the website of the initiative http://1000balkan.com, and the companies - via a direct transfer to a UniCredit Bulbank account

Starting today for the next 7 days the participants in the 1000 Balkan Charity Challenge charity marathon will run for about 65 kilometers a day, covering the distance between Sofia and Bucharest. The runners set off today from Sveta Nedelya Square in Sofia, personally seen off by the Chief Operating Officer of UniCredit Bulbank, Mr. Andrea Casini.

UniCredit Bulbank and the Romanian UniCredit Tiriac bank are supporting the charity causes in the marathon by covering all the organizational expenses of the initiative.

The purpose of the 1000-kilometer charity marathon, going through Romania and Bulgaria, is to raise a maximum amount of collections for 18 causes of organizations from both sides.

The causes relating to Bulgaria were proposed and administrated by Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation and are the following:

Home care for elderly sick people - Caritas Ruse

Daycare center for children with disabilities St. Mina

Ready for Success - scholarships for orphans and semi-orphans with excellent grades

Aleksandrovska Nursery Home for Elderly and Daycare Center, Bankya

Bulgarian Tourist Association - restoration of Bogdan hut which burnt down more than 10 years ago

Hippotherapy and aquatic therapy for children and youngsters - Bulgarian Association for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities, Pleven

Sport for children with chronic diseases

Maria's World

You can access the full description of the causes on http://1000balkan.com, where everyone can donate to support one or more projects.

All companies that would also like to donate can do that via a direct transaction to the account of Charities Aid Foundation with UniCredit Bulbank specifying in the grounds field which of the causes they are supporting.

IBAN: BG 54 UNCR 7630 10 07 11 02 07

BIC: UNCRBGSF

Bank: UniCredit Bulbank

Address: Sofia, 7 Sveta Nedelya Square

Name: BCAF

Grounds: donation (specify the name of the project you would like to support

or leave the allocation to BCAF)

The marathon is 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