YEREVAN. – An incident occurred at the starting point—at the Republic Square—of Saturday’s first-ever Yerevan international half marathon, which was run in the capital city of Armenia.

Hundreds of children between the ages of 12 and 15, and who were participating in the 2km children’s run, began running without waiting for the start to be given. As a result, those in the first row fell down, and the others fell on them.

President of the Armenian Athletic Federation Robert Emmiyan, who is the person behind the Yerevan international half marathon and also the unequaled long jump European record holder, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that several children had sustained minor injuries as a result of this incident. But an ambulance was called, and these children received medical treatment. 

“I personally asked the children numerous times to start slowly,” said Emmiyan. “But they all wanted to run with legendary Youri Djorkaeff, and that’s why they didn’t give way to each other, some of them ran faster than the others, and the incident occurred.”

About 4,000 runners took part in Saturday’s Yerevan international half marathon, which was held in various age groups.

At Robert Emmiyan’s invitation, world and European champion and French Armenian football legend Youri Djorkaeff also ran in this race.