Sanja Kavaz is an outdoor enthusiast who, in her free time, promotes activities such as trail running, snowshoeing or multi-day hiking. It all started 12 years ago when she started the blog “I Run Because I Stick Out”, where she shares texts about running to inspire others to get moving, as well as personal observations and views on the running community.
Along with starting the blog, she also organized the first BiH trail race, Jahorina Ultra Trail, which opened a chapter in trail running in our country and inspired many individuals and organizations to launch similar projects on other mountains. These races, of which there are dozens nowadays, bring together runners from our country, and increasingly from abroad, so those are events that, in addition to an active lifestyle, promote our mountains and the country as a destination ideal for active tourism. For the past five winters, she has been actively promoting snowshoeing and she is piloting a new project that gives tourists a unique content and experience of Jahorina in winter.
-It’s walking in deep snow with the help of snowshoes. Currently, it’s the outdoor activity that brings me the most joy, and there are several reasons for that. First, it connected me with great people who come to Jahorina and want to see parts of the mountain outside the ski resort. There’s always a great atmosphere on these trips, so we’re all satisfied and full of impressions at the end. Second, it took time to create a snowshoe trip as a unique tourist product so that the trip would bring the participants a complete and unforgettable experience. I organize the trips as a ‘rise and shine’ activity, daytime or nighttime content. You would think that it is just walking in the snow, but it really turned out to be just a starting point for much more than that. Thirdly, a special challenge for me is to present and promote this activity on social networks so during these excursions I create photo and video materials that I later share with great pleasure and enthusiasm, and which attract new excursionists to come to Jahorina or try snowshoeing during the winter. Now there are more and more of those who return for the second or third time, because each excursion is unique and different, which I am especially proud of – says Kavaz.
She emphasizes that she chose to promote this activity on Jahorina because of tourists who come in the winter and do not ski or those who ski but want a different activity for one day. There are also local excursionists who want to escape Sarajevo and spend a day on an active holiday on Jahorina or those who come from other BiH cities to snowshoe on Jahorina. Occasionally, she organizes snowshoeing for larger groups as part of teambuilding. The only prerequisite is that there is enough snow on the mountain. Being an executive director, Sanja organized five Jahorina Ultra Trail races, which were designed as a two-day trail running competition in four different formats, Mini, Midi, Maxi and Ultra, i.e. from 10 to 100 kilometers. After that, the project was taken over by the Jahorina Olympic Center. This year the race will be organized on July 26 and 27.
-In addition to my regular job, it was too demanding to continue independently organizing an event with more than 600 participants, so I was looking for a new organizer who would be an adequate replacement financially, logistically and in every other sense. After five years of their organization, I can conclude that the Jahorina Ultra Trail is still a unique event because it is the first time a 100-mile race is organized in our country. To clarify, in the world of ultra-trail running, some of the most demanding formats are races of 100 kilometers or 100 miles, so now we as a community and a country have such an event here. I would especially draw attention to that new format, the 100-mile race, which starts in Sutjeska National Park and finishes in Jahorina. Between the start and the finish line, the participants run through Maglić, Volujak, Zelengora, Treskavica and pass landscapes that can rarely be seen in any other race – says Sanja for Visit BiH.
Her work is an excellent promotion of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its natural beauty, as well as outdoor activities. This is obvious in the support and praise on social networks.
-Activities on social networks are an opportunity to present and promote an active lifestyle, specific activity or destination through creative content. I have to admit I enjoy it because I know how useful it is to find quality content detailing a climb, trip or gear needed for such a thing. Whenever I have the opportunity, I try to document and share content that deserves more attention on social networks so that it is available to everyone – she points out.
Given that she is a person with vast experience in outdoor and sports tourism, we asked her what our country’s potential is in these activities. According to her, Bosnia and Herzegovina has enormous potential. She points out that the problem is that communities and institutions do not recognize outdoor events that can bring domestic and foreign tourists, and do not get involved in their support and organization.
-I will explain this better through the example of trail races. Organizing a large trail race such as the Jahorina Ultra Trail or Vučko Trail in our country requires months of preparation. As soon as one edition is finished, the organizer has a break of month or two, maybe not even that long, and already starts planning and preparing the next edition. Funds are needed because these events cannot be financed from registration fees, so the local community and higher levels of government need to support such events with funds that will be reserved for them in the budget. Also, it is necessary to mobilize dozens of volunteers who will help to arrange, mark, clean these trails, deliver food and drinks to refreshment stations, provide assistance to participants during the race… which includes continuous community work, event promotion and the inclusion of new actors. Our mountains are a fantastic ground for outdoor activities and content that attract tourists seeking complete isolation”, she emphasizes.
Sanja has traveled outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region to numerous world destinations, and has conquered numerous mountain peaks. We asked her which destination thrilled her the most.
-I would especially highlight the multi-day hike along the „John Muir Trail“ through the High Sierra in California. The trail is 340 kilometers long and passes through fantastic landscapes that are under varying degrees of protection. The entire time you are moving through vast area far from civilization, so you carry everything you need for that period in your backpack. This is also an opportunity to say a little more about the activity itself called “thru-hiking” in order to connect it with our context. We also have such a trail. We call it Via Dinarica. It is a matter of great potential and an opportunity to include it in the world of “thru-hiking”. But for that to happen, there is a lot of work that we need to do. On my blog, there is a text about this experience, and on the YouTube channel there is a video for all those who want to learn more about this activity – says Kavaz.
Sanja points out that she is thinking about creating special content for women.
-It is nothing new, but a similar concept is happening and being promoted in our country as well. The difference would be that I would organize one such event during each season, but in the announcement and invitation I would not reveal details about the accommodation or the activity itself, because I believe that there is already a sufficient number of women who follow me and trust me and my choices, so they would register to participate without any prior information. A special challenge since spring is to teach my cat Bogi to hike with me – Sanja points out at the end of the conversation.
