Important notice: The shuttle buses from Istanbul are now full. Only participants who have received a confirmation from us will be able to benefit from the buses; new participants should arrange their own transportation to the event venue. We thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

If you won't be using the free transportation option and prefer to drive your own car instead (the parking space may be limited depending on the weather conditions). From the Istanbul-Ankara highway take the BOLU East exit, then continue on E-5 until the Kartalkaya turn. Follow up the road to Kartalkaya until Sarialan. From there you need to reach to "Il Ozel Idare Tesisleri"  (the yellow sign at the Sarialan turn). There will be festival signs to guide you to the start area. Please don’t forget to bring your snow chains; on the Kartalkaya road there are also local people who offer to help you attach (and rent) snow chains for a certain fee.

Weather condition: MAY BE COLD. Don’t forget to bring extra dry cloths.  

Anatolian Ski Marathon, the first and the only ski marathon in Turkey, is celebrating its third year!

This event is being organized by Anatolian Marathon Association with the support of Estonian Embassy in Ankara under the patronage of Bolu Governership and the contributions of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Municipality of Bolu. Efes Pilsen, Coca Cola, Isuzu, Bolca Hindi, Beypiliç, Powerade, The North Shield Ankara-Guvenlik will be the main sponsors.

Preparations are well underway for Anatolian Ski Marathon 2010 which will take place in the Bolu province on February 7, 2010. Due to snow conditions, this year the event will be in the form of a "Cross-country Ski Festival" and all cross-country skiers are invited!

Registration is now free, but the number of participants will be limited. Make sure that you register early!

Click here to register!

The transportation to the event venue from Istanbul or Ankara will be free of charge, and food and beverages will be available at the start area. The exact schedule of buses will be announced later. Please note that the priority for transportation will be given to the participants of the marathon.

Venue: Bolu Sarialan "İl Özel İdaresi Tesisi"
Date: February 7, 2010 Sunday.

Anatolian Ski Marathon 2009 has taken place, on the 8th March 2009, at Sarıalan (Bolu). This activity which was organized by Anatolian Marathon Association with the support of Estonian Embassy in Ankara under the patronage of Bolu Governership and the contribution of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The maraton was sponsored by Efes Pilsen, Coca Cola, Isuzu, Bolca Hindi, Beypiliç, Powerade, The North Shield Ankara-Guvenlik, NTF İnşaat LTD, Deha Ozalit and Ali Aytemiz.

400 spectators have followed the marathon in which more than 100 skiers from Turkey and abroad (Estonia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Canada, U.S.A and France) participated. Isuzu provided free transportation from Ankara and Istanbul, Municipality of Bolu has put at the disposal of attendants shuttle services between center of Bolu and Sarıalan. Efes Pilsen, Coca Cola, Beypiliç, Bolca Hindi and Powerade served beverages and sandwiches a gogo. All these made possible to reach the record number of participants and spectators who enjoyed the event in an atmosphere of snow festivity.

At first the tracks were fixed as 40 km, 20 km and 10 km, but due to the unexpected increase of temperature, followed by a partial melting of snow, the tracks were shortened to 18, 10, 5 and 3.5 km. Two days prior to this event eight wooden bridges whose lengths varied between 18.5m and 1.5m were constructed. Thirty volunteers from METU Subaqua Society (ODTÜ SAT), ITU Mountaineering Club (İTUDAK), METU Mountaineering and Winter Sports Club (ODTÜ DKSK) and ORDOS worked hard night and day during four days to achieve this amusing festival.

Besides introducing and popularizing skiing in Turkey, this event was also aimed to bring to the world attention Turkey's potential for it.

Cross-country skiing can be practiced, in all fields, which are fit for bicycling and jogging, and covered with snow. This sport which needs a minimum of infrastructure is also most world widely practiced winter sport. If one considers that each year over 100.000 skiers participate in various cross country skiing marathons, we can safely predict that Anatolian Ski Marathon will turn into a world scale marathon, due to the fact that thousands of skiers of 15 major marathon events are looking for new fields to practice this sport.

We have already started our preparations for the next year's event and we will work harder for it's greater success and increased participation.

In addition to above, we would like to extend our thanks and gratitudes to below mentioned persons and entities for their kind contributions and strong support:

H.E. Mr. Murat Başesgioğlu, State Minister Responsible for Sports,
H.E. Mr. Ertuğrul Günay, Minister of Culture and Tourism,
H.E. Mr. Halil İbrahim Akpınar, Governor of Bolu,
H.E. Mr. Alaaddin Yılmaz, Mayor of Bolu
Mr. Özgür Özaslan, Deputy Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture and Tourisme,
Mr. Cemal Yıldızer, Vice Governor of Bolu,
Mr. Mustafa Masatlı, Head of District of Gerede,
Mr. Abdullah Öztürk, Deputy Mayor of Bolu,
Mr. Özer Ayık, President of Turkish Ski Federation,
Bolu Regional Forestry Department,
Bolu District Environment and Forestry Directorate,
Bolu District Administration,
Mr. Ömer Külcü, Bolu Youth and Sport Department Deputy Chief,
Mr. Emrah Ömer Demir, Culture and Tourism Ministry Expert,
Mr. İsmail Şentürk from Bolu Municipality,
Mrs. Canan Doğan, President of Bolu Branch of Republican Women's Association,
Bolu Sportif Association.

Anatolian Marathon Association