We congratulate our Bulgarian team who organized the first Nature Triathlon “Free Danube”. It was held in the city of Ruse, Bulgaria, on the 29th of June. Nearly 70 participants, residents and visitors of the city of Ruse, took part in this green adventure.

The hot weather in the first days of summer did not affect the participants’ enthusiasm and they went through the different stages of the Nature Triathlon – cycling, kayaking and running, to cover altogether the distance of 70 km. The fastest among them managed to finish the picturesque, but rather challenging route in 5 hours and a half.

The emblematic WWF panda was the one to mark the start of the triathlon at 9 am, beginning with the cycling stretch of the competition from the central square of Ruse called “Svoboda” (in English Freedom).

Triathlon along the Danube and “among the sturgeons”

The air was charged with loads of positive vibes, good mood and adventurousness since the entire activity was aimed to promote responsible behaviour and awareness raising towards the world’s most endangered species – the sturgeons. This triathlon route has never been done before and it was sign-posted specifically for the day, guiding the cyclists through the areas “Sredna kula” and “Dolapite”, followed by the beautiful scenery of the river Rusenski Lom and the villages Basarabovo, Krasen, Bozhichen and Mechka. The participants were also given the chance to experience the local heritage sites like the rock-hewn churches of Ivanovo.

The event itself did not intend to have a competitive character, but it was a way to get together environmentalists, sports clubs, local fishing communities and all nature supporters in order to highlight once again the importance of protecting the Danube, its riparian forests, the sturgeons and the other species living in or around the river. Gathering and sharing knowledge about the sturgeon, their amazing migration journey and the importance of rivers connectivity is central for the “MEASURES” project." The project experts' team spent a lot of days in the spring and summer of 2019 in the river mapping crucial habitats for these ancient fishes that should contribute for their more efficient conservation in future.

„Today’s challenges that sturgeons face are dams on the river that prevent them from reaching up their spawning habitats, strengthening and channelisation of the river, water pollution and overexploitation, which is the most damaging among all negative effects,” shared Konstantin Hristov from WWF Bulgaria. “To re-enact the sturgeons’ difficult situation and make it easier for the participants to understand what is happening with these ancient fish, we had a number of symbolic obstructions on the triathlon route.”