Alexander Gordievskikh, Director of Yarche Tomsk Marathon

Alexander Gordievskikh

Born and raised in Tomsk, he got acquainted with the track early, but being a Siberian boy he naturally selected an ice-skating track over a running track first. He still finds speed skating pretty exciting but it was running that became the love of his life and his lifetime project. 

"Running is in our nature, this is what everyone is born with" — tells Alexander — "A toddler who has just mastered an upright position and made the first step immediately tries to run. And all kids are thrilled with that, running pleases them, they feel so happy! I love watching the kids running — they run with ease, they are so relaxed an almost tireless. And this is exactly what my philosophy is — natural running, running in harmony with the nature and without exhaustion."

Alexander’s kids are also athletes and already have some achievements of their own: 10 years old Stephania — in swimming and 14 years old Matvey — in running, like his father. Alexander is now doing his masters at Faculty of Physical Education of Tomsk State University. He is going to get a degree and become a professional coach soon but he already has a lot of coachees and adherers who are taking his course at https://GO-RUN.CLUB. Alexander’s sports career included a period of mountaineering. Beautiful and mighty — the mountains conquered his heart and he is not going to leave them at all now. Mountain tracks being his favorite, he loves skyrunning and trail running the most.

By now Alexander has run Promsvyazbank and Absolute Moscow Marathons several times, Omsk, Volgogradand Sochi Marathons, Space Marathon in Tomsk, White Nights Marathon in Saint Petersburg, 50 km ALTAI ULTRA-TRAIL, 80 km MARKOTKH TRAIL and 110 km Salomon Cappadocia Ultra-Trail!

"Canadian runner Ed Whitlock — this is my hero! At 73, he set a world record in the marathon for men 70+, running with a time of 2:54:48. What a persistence, what a will to win! And it was him who said once that you have to be insane enough to try to go beyond your limits. Doing the thing you love most — all your life — and making a great progress in it — that’s an objective worth pursuing and that’s what makes our lives meaningful".

Having travelled many cities, countries and tracks, one day Alexander felt it was the time to bring it all to his native and dearly loved city of Tomsk. We should thank veteran runners of Tomsk for supporting strong marathon running traditions of the city through many years. But this grand-scale, beautiful and spectacular event is, no doubt, a huge step forward.

Alexander is happy with the first Tomsk Marathon held earlier this year but he’s still been trying to learn from it to expand and improve — always wrapped up in work as preparation to the second Yarche Tomsk Marathon continues!

“Western Siberia is unique, abundant and welcoming land and Tomsk is its historical center. And this is where we hold our marathon with its amazingly pretty and scenic course going along centuries-old streets of our city. Enjoying its beauty, feeling the spirit of the old city, running past golden-domed temples by old cobble-stone pavement — are all good reasons to join Tomsk Marathon.

Runners of the world, we’d love to see you here! We’ll help you find a cozy hotel, introduce you to the city and to the course, we will treat you to some Siberian specialities and hope that you bring home some fond memories of this marathon — held off the beaten track in the very heart of Siberia!

The registration is open, can’t wait to see you on Tomsk track!”

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