Four Bulgarian causes gather supporters through the duathlon. Donations for them can be made through platformata.bg.

The participants in the charity duathlon "1000km Balkan Charity Challenge" started from Sofia to Bucharest. The second phase of the challenge is running of 60 km a day on average. Their route passes through the towns of Botevgrad, Zlatna Panega, Pleven, Byala, Ruse and the Danube Bridge. The first four days were for cycling. For the 11 days of the duathlon, the participants will pass 1,051 km in total and will go back to the Romanian capital on 10th November 2015.

The big goal of the duathlon is to raise funds for 12 social projects – 4 from Bulgaria and 8 from Romania. The participants encourage also the healthy lifestyle and outdoor sports, as well as the active environmentally-oriented behavior by planting unique tree species along the route they pass.

Two outstanding young women will join the run:

Bogdana Manova – Buba runs for the cause of Dechitsa Foundation. She is joined in the challenge by her husband Plamen and their two children – Gogo, 11, and Mitko, 8 years old. They are supported also by two volunteers in the foundation - Petra and Nadin. Buba set herself the goal to raise the funds needed to cover the 4-month expenses of the club where she works with children raised in institutions. Even before the start, the donations for her cause exceeded her financial target of BGN 1,400. Friends keep donating money for more months of life in the little club.

Elena Stefanova is a medicine student and scholarship winner in the programme "Ready for Success". This is the second year she has been running for this cause. Ready for Success is a programme of Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation (BCAF) supporting top-performing students and 12th-graders who have lost one or both parents. On November 10th more than 100 annual scholarships will be awarded for the tenth time and Elena has set herself a goal to ensure another three.

The organizer of the duathlon Stanislav Georgiev runs for the cause "10 educational events for 200 children of Bulgarians and foreigners from all migrant communities" of Multi Kulti Team. Representatives of the organization welcomed the bikers from the first stage of the duathlon with tasty multi-cultural food and warm tea. The people of Multi Kulti team share a passion for cultures from all over the world in the broadest sense and help for the integration of everyone who stays in Bulgaria.

The fourth Bulgarian cause is "Sport for Disabled Children". It is a joint cause of Begach Club and DCAF, which for already four years supports financially the rehabilitation of children with physical disabilities through swimming.

The donations for the Bulgarian causes take place through the social network the Platform (platformata.bg) or at the website of the duathlon http://www.1000balkan.com/.

For Bulgaria the organizers are the Bulgarian sports club "Begach", and for Romania - Elite Running, Eyes-Open and Ro Club Marathon.

"Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation" and "HOSPICE CasaSperantei" are the partnering charity organizations.

UniCredit Bulbank is a main sponsor of "1000 km Balkan Charity Challenge".

Main sponsors of the "1000km Balkan Charity Challenge" initiative are UniCredit Bank, UniCredit Bulbank, EuroIns, O&A, Spetema and CaliVita. The event is supported also by UniCredit Leasing, UniCredit Consumer Financing, IsoStar, Toyota, CityGrill, Aventuria, Gingk.Org, Doppelhertz, Brevis, Diplomat Plaza, Djili Soy and Danone.

The complete route of the duathlon is available at http://1000balkan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/1000-Schedule.jpg

Official website of the duathlon http://1000balkan.com/

Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation Elitsa Barakova - + 359 888 95 75 13 Iva Petrova - + 359 88 573 1768 http://bcaf.bg