Barać Forest Trail – 300 competitors ran through the forest near Plitvice!

Another spectacular forest edition of the Barać Forest Trail race was held today in the beautiful surroundings of Barać’s caves, which brought together about three hundred brave runners from Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The race, which is organized for the fourth year in a row by the Barac Caves Public Institution in cooperation with the Plitvice Athletics Club, is the final round of the most popular trail league in Croatia, the Kontinenttrail League, and interest in it grows year after year because it is a very exciting forest race. Thus, the popular ZERCA trail gathered the largest number of runners this year, the more experienced ones chose the ŠIŠMIŠ trail, while the bravest chose the longest trail known as BUNIKA.

Dragan Narančić from Sports Club Otočac won the ZERCA trail in tense races, Mateo Ledinski from Athletic Club Bjelovar won the ŠIŠMIŠ trail, while Luka Špehar from Sports Association Lastavica won the BUNIKA trail.

“The Zerca trail was run along a 7.5 km-long landscaped footpath with an ascent of 173 meters, which corresponds to one lap. The 15 km long Bat Trail has an ascent of 346 meters, while the bravest ran as much as 22.5 km and overcame a height difference of 528 meters. The track was completely trail or off-road, which means 100% nature,” explained the president of the Plitvice Athletics Club and co-organizer of the race, Leopold Špehar.

All tracks of the Barać Forest Trail are completely forested and runnable from start to finish, which is why this trail is extremely attractive to runners and nature lovers.

“Runners increasingly recognize this race as an event that should definitely be included in the annual race plan. Of course, it is important for tourism and economic contribution for the municipality of Rakovica, which supported this event together with Karlovac County. We thank everyone for their support and we promise that every year the race will be better and better and will continue to serve the promotion of our region,” said Tihana Oštrina, director of the Barac Cave Public Institution, as co-organizer of the race.

The gathered were addressed by Martina Furdek-Hajdin and the mayor of Rakovica municipality Mihovil Bićanić, who greeted the runners and wished them luck.

Rich start packages have been prepared for all runners, and additional facilities at the picnic area have been provided for visitors, fans, families and friends. The fastest competitors won rich prizes along with experiences that they will take with them forever, and the youngest participants, who ran in categories according to age, were not forgotten either. Three girls and three boys from each category were awarded with medals and rich gifts.