From 9 to 11 May, Ljubljana will be surrounded by runners and walkers for the 66th edition of the Trail along the Wire. This is one of the largest sports and recreational events in Slovenia, attracting around 30,000 participants every year. The main event will take place on Saturday, 11 May, when the triple race will take place, with 1,265 competitors last year.
Most of the participants gather for the march around Ljubljana, which is a reminder of the time when the Slovenian capital was surrounded by barbed wire during the Second World War.The march takes place every year from Thursday to Saturday around 9 May, when Ljubljana celebrates its liberation in 1945 and Europe commemorates the end of the Second World War.
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Hikes along the route of the wire have been taking place since 1946. In 1957, on the initiative of the Ljubljana District Committee of the Union of National Liberation War Fighters, the Partisan March along the wire of occupied Ljubljana was launched, which for the first year was a competition for teams of runners with rucksacks and rifles. Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
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In the following years, it became a mass phenomenon, called by different names. From 1964 to 1989, it was called the Partisan Ljubljana March, from 1990 to 1993 it was the Free Ljubljana March, from 1994 to 1996 it was the Embrace Our City March, from 1997 to 2004 it was the Ljubljana March, and since 2005 it has had its current name. Photo: Mojca Zorko/STA
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In 2016, the Ministry of Culture entered the Trail along the Wire into the Register of Living Cultural Heritage. Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA
35-kilometre route
The trail runs along a nearly 35-kilometre route, where the Italian occupiers erected a barbed wire fence along with more than 100 bunkers. In 2016, the Ministry of Culture inscribed the Trail along the barbed wire in the Register of Cultural Heritage.
According to the City of Ljubljana, the event has been associated with preserving the memory of Ljubljana's history since its inception and is one of the important building blocks of the city's identity. In addition to preserving historical memory, the annual march encourages people to live active and healthy lives, to socialise with each other and to take care of their environment.
Last year, more than 13,000 walkers and almost 4,000 runners took part on all days
The Triple run has no direct competitive significance and no comparison on a European or world scale. The key to the Triple Triple is cooperation and camaraderie, as it is the third, weakest member of the team whose time counts as the final achievement of the trio.
The triple run for primary and secondary schools will start at Galjevica at 9:00. Kindergarteners will join the march between 9 and 10 am at the most convenient place for them and will finish the march at the point they declared when collecting their cards. The finish line will be open until 13:00. At 9.20 a.m., the Teachers' Triathlon will start, which was a new feature of last year's event.
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The march is the biggest. No registration is required. Photo: Mojca Zorko/STA
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Participants register from 6am onwards at the entry checkpoints in Vič, Šiška, Bežigrad, Jarše, Polje, Fužine, Golovec, Rudnik and Livada, where they are given free control cards, which they use to collect stamps at the next checkpoints. Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA
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Last year's novelty is a run of threes for professors. Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
Date: 9. May 2024
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