Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 17 September 2023, on the initiative of the Minister of Ecology Aziz Abdukhakimov and the founder of the running school Prorun.uz Andrey Kulikov, a sports event was held to draw attention to the ongoing environmental disaster of the Aral Sea.

As part of the event, the famous American ultra-marathoner Dean Karnasis, together with Andrei Kulikov, ran a marathon at a distance of 42 km 195 m on the territory of the dried-up Barsa-Kelmes tract, located 60 km from the Aral Sea and which is the result of massive exploitation of water resources in the region.

The goal of the marathon is to attract the attention of the world community to the environmental tragedy of the Aral Sea, as well as to support and strengthen discussions at the upcoming UN General Assembly 2023, which will be held from September 19 to 23 and will be devoted to current global environmental problems.

Uniting people under the banner of sportsmanship and environmental awareness, this marathon was unprecedented in its format and message, a beacon for the global community calling for action to live harmoniously with our planet.

According to the results of the marathon, which lasted 4 hours 51 minutes and 18 seconds, the sum of Dean Karnasis’s steps was 43,420, Andrey Kulikov’s - 44,860, which gave a total of 88,280 steps.

In 2022, Andrei Kulikov ran 42 km 195 m along the bottom of the Aral Sea in 4 hours 9 minutes. The marathon in the Aral Sea attracted significant attention to the environmental situation in the region.

This year, Dean Karnasis, a world-famous American ultramarathoner and writer, joined the sports event. He is known for amazing achievements in the marathon world, including running 350 miles (560 km) in 80 hours and 44 minutes without sleep in 2005. His participation underscores the seriousness and global significance of the event.