Dzemal Kasumovic, a 70-year-old from Mostar, runs a half-marathon at his age. He has been actively running for 50 years, and even in his seventies he very often uses the opportunity to run from Mostar to neighboring places in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (HNC). In addition to running, he is known as a benefactor and a man who organizes or is the first to respond to city cleaning actions.
Marathon runner and volunteer Dzemal Kasumovic likes to start the morning with a run. This is the story of his first love, which he never neglected. Heading from Mostar to Citluk, Medjugorje or Konjic is no problem for him. He responds to all calls very gladly and without thinking.
“I really like it, when someone tells me “let’s go to Jablanica”, I just say “wait for me to change, and let’s go”. I can run even without major preparations, I proved that when I ran a half-marathon after a year’s break, although the result was sloppy. It’s a mentality, when a person has the right mindset, he can do a lot,” he said.
On the feast of the Assumption, he ran to Medjugorje, and from Mostar to Konjic, he ran the 74 km long section in seven hours. Desire and love, he says, are the main drivers in everything.
“I left Mostar at 1 am, and I arrived in Konjic at 8 am. This is an optimal average that ultramarathoners keep, it is 10 km per hour, not a bad time, although there are better results than that, this can also be considered a good result”, Dzemal points out.
In addition to running, he also has a great love for landscaping. With a vision to do something beautiful for the city, Dzemal devoted himself very actively and self-initiative to cleaning and decorating neglected green oases. He says that he works with pleasure to make the city more beautiful and organized.
“Now I’m cleaning Trim trails, I spend the whole day there and sometimes I work for 14 to 16 hours in the summer,” he adds.
Numerous awards and recognitions speak of his engagement and dedication. Although he does all this as a volunteer and without any compensation, the city authorities recognized his effort and contribution and, as a sign of gratitude, granted him an apartment for lifetime use. Dzemal experienced all this very emotionally because, with his modest income, he could not afford to buy an apartment by himself.
“My heart was full of joy. I said that my heart is like a marathon because it’s as big as a plate because I have a sports heart and I said that it’s full, because it’s full, it can’t hold everything. I have, I call it, an international pension of 382 BAM, I’m just kidding, it’s black humor at the expense of my income, but I’ve learned in life, give yourself only as much as you need,” he concludes.
The good spirit of Mostar, as many call him, is making his last efforts in his later years to make his Mostar cleaner and healthier, hoping that the citizens’ awareness of environmental protection will change, because by destroying nature, Dzemal says, the citizens are actually destroying themselves, N1 reports.
