The Capital City Day is marked in Tajikistan on the third Saturday of April and this year, Dushanbe will mark the Capital City Day on April 19.

A number of sports and cultural activities are expected to be carried out in Dushanbe’s parks on this day.

This year, the half-marathon will feature athletes from Tajikistan and a number of foreign countries.

According to the organizers, the 21.0975 km race will start from the highway near Navrouz Palace (Navrouzgoh) and finish at Dousti Square, near the monument to Ismoil Somoni.

Dushanbe Mayor Rustam Emomali has reportedly allocated over 590,000 somonis from the Capital Development Fund for the organization of the event.

Prize money for male and female winners:

• 1st place — 38,500 somonis
• 2nd place — 33,000 somonis
• 3rd place — 27,500 somonis
• 4th place — 16,000 somonis
• 5th place — 14,800 somonis
• 6th place — 11,500 somonis

For amateur runners (5 km distance):

• 1st place — 7,700 somonis
• 2nd place — 5,500 somonis
• 3rd place — 3,300 somonis

The only exception was 2020, when the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the years, the best results by Tajik athletes in this competition have been 2nd place among women and 4th place among men.

At last year’s marathon in Dushanbe, the winners were Vitalii Shafa (Ukraine) among men and Azizakhon Mirzaakhbarova (Uzbekistan) among women.

The Dushanbe International Half-Marathon is the main event to celebrate the Tajik Capital City Day.

The first Dushanbe International Half-Marathon took place in April 2010 and athletes from 14 Dushanbe’s sister cities participated in that race.

In 2013, the Dushanbe half-marathon has been added to the calendar of games of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS)

It is to be noted that Dushanbe turns 100 years old last year.

Dushanbe is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan.  Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad, after Joseph Stalin.  Dushanbe is located in the Hisor Valley and has an elevation of 750–930 m.   The city is divided into four districts:  Ismoili Somoni; Sino; Firdavsi; and Shohmansour.  

Dushanbe was the location of a large bazaar that operated on Mondays.  This gave rise to the name Dushanbe-Bozor from Dushanbe, which means Monday in the Tajik language.

Dushanbe was proclaimed the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as a part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in October 1924, and the government started to function formally on March 15, 1925.

In 1929, the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, previously the Tajik ASSR, separated from the Uzbek SSR and its capital Dyushambe was renamed Stalinabad on October 19, 1929, incorporating the nearby villages of Shohmansour, Mavlono, and Sari Osiyo.

On November 10, 1961, as part of de-Stalinization, Stalinabad was renamed back to Dushanbe, the name it retains to this day.

On September 9, 1991, Dushanbe became the capital of an independent Tajikistan.