In many ways Ivan Stanić is one of us, in fact he grew up with some of us. He was born and raised in a small Istrian village where children help parents with farming from an early age and try to find time to play soccer between those chores and on Sundays. Ivan learned to play soccer in the meadows of Tupljak, then joined the Istrian League club "Proleter" Potpican, until one day, at a local 10 km race in Buzet, he decided to pursue long distance running.

Today, at the age of 37 Ivan is one of the best long distance runners in Croatia. While helping his parents, working at the Plomin power plant, he practices in whatever spare time he can find. The rewards are few, but he loves to compete - the longer the race the better. Besides Marathons (42 km or 26 miles) Ivan runs double-Marathons (90 km), and mountain races.

Ivan Stanic je u mnogocemu jedan od nas, u stvari on je odrastao s nekima od nas. Djetinjstvo je proveo u malom istarskom selu gdje djeca vec od malih nogu pomazu roditeljima u poljskim radovima i pokusavaju pronaci vrijeme za nogomet u pauzama izmedju tih obaveza i nedjeljom. Ivan je nogomet ucio na poljanama Tupljaka, a zatim u klubu Istarske lige "Proleteru" iz Potpicna, sve dok jednog dana 1992. godine nije odlucio da se pokusa natjecati u jednoj trci na 10 km u Buzetu. Sada, u 37-oj godini zivota Ive je jedan od najboljih trkaca na duge staze u Hrvatskoj. Zaposlen u termoelektrani Plomin, Ivan trenira u ono malo slobodnog vremena sto ga moze naci izmedju posla i pomaganja roditeljima. Pored maratona (42 km) Ivan se uspjesno natjece na dvostrukom maratonu (90 km) kao i na brdskim trkama.