Spreca Maraton
Bosnia And Herzegovina
On the border that separates the two state entities into which Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided, the "peace marathon on the bridges of the Spreca" is held every year.
The line drawn almost twenty five years ago by the Dayton agreements divided the country into the Srpska Republic and the Croatian-Muslim Federation. That same line cut the municipality of Gracanica (canton of Tuzla) in two, placing Gracanica in the Muslim area, and Petrovo in the Serbian one.
The two municipalities are divided by a small river called Spreca and it is precisely on its bridges that the volunteers of the "Committee for support for forces and peace initiatives" of the province of Padua, supported by Bosnian and Italian local administrations, organize this short foot race which , brings several hundred competitors of all ages to cross an ideological boundary and to approach their "former neighbors". Many young people saw for the first time that on the other side of the river there were people like them, a way to bridge the mistrust and prejudice and to encourage the return to coexistence.
Bosnia and Herzegovina today still lives suspended between the past, with its divisions, and the future, hampered by the ordering of a state governed by three entities, which does not allow integration into Europe, and the development of its economy.
