OREANDA-NEWS. September 24, 2008. ROSNO’s Siberian Directorate has sponsored a traditional Novosibirsk sporting event — the Siberian Running Festival, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

The 11th Siberian Running Festival — Novosibirsk Semi-Marathon by Alexander Raevich is a major sporting event. It is held on an annual basis with active support of the Novosibirsk city administration and the government of the Novosibirsk Region. This year, among its participants were over 15,000 world-renowned sportspeople from Russia, Kenya, the USA, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Germany. The running-track was traditionally located on the city’s main street and square, gathering about 150,000 spectators.

This year, the organizers decided to assemble all sport-loving people under the auspices of this festival. Along with the semi-marathon races, the event’s program included the ВМХ bicycle freestyle competition, street dance festival, demonstrations by the leading masters of martial arts, paintball games, sporting sauna, and arm wrestling.

ROSNO’s representatives gave a start to the 21,097.5 m men’s run and awarded valuable prizes to the sportspeople winning the first three places in various runs. The insurance company ROSNO has also conducted an action for the spectators: any person could receive a special coupon entitling the holder to receive as a gift an accident insurance policy in case of purchasing a MOD policy.

Mr. Viktor Kochetov, deputy director and executive director of ROSNO’s Siberian Directorate, noted: "We are very proud to act as an official sponsor of the competition of this scale. For ROSNO, supporting sports is one of the top social policy priorities. Our company has insured the largest sporting clubs and professional organizations. For many years, we act as an official partner of the Russian Olympic Committee. With this year being no exception, ROSNO was an official insurer of the Russian Olympians. And for the city of Novosibirsk, the running festival is not only a sporting event, but also a perfect city festival. We hope that our participation in this festival will become a good tradition".