IN BRIEF

Published: June 27, 2012 (Issue # 1715)

City Hosts Marathon

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The St. Petersburg White Nights Ergo Marathon will take place this weekend, beginning at 9 a.m. on Sunday on Palace Square. The event is expected to attract around 1,000 competitors and follows a route that takes in the main sights in the historical center of the city.

 The event will be the 23rd White Nights Marathon to have been held in the city and the race is being sponsored by the Ergo insurance company.

 The route runs from Palace Square to Vasilyevsky Island and then onto the Petrograd Side, before returning to the south side of the river and heading on as far south as the Hotel Moscow. The race ends back on Palace Square.

Grad Killed by Car

 ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — One girl was killed and her friend seriously injured when they were struck by a car while crossing the Lieutenant Schmidt embankment at 5.30 p.m. Thursday.

The two friends, Yekaterina Soboleva and Veronika Sokolovskaya, were on their way to celebrate the end of the school year with their class at the Osobnyak na Ostrov recreation and entertainment center, Moskovsky Komsomolets reported.

They were crossing the street at a crosswalk when an Audi A6, reportedly driven by a 31-year-old employee of a construction company, hit them.

The driver of the vehicle stopped. He said that the traffic light was green when he drove through it, Fontanka reported.

According to witnesses, the car was traveling at more than 100 kmph.

As a result of the impact, one of the girls was thrown onto a parked car. Soboleva died on the spot while Sokolovskaya was taken to the hospital in critical condition. She has been moved from the intensive care unit to a regular room.