I was lucky enough to take part in all-Ukrainian race "I respect the soldiers, I run for the heroes of Ukraine!", which was connected with the most tragic page of our modern history - Russia's military aggression against Ukraine. The event was held in memory of Ukrainian soldiers who laid down their lives for Ukraine, protecting its territorial integrity and freedom from Russian troops since 2014. Race in memory of the soldiers of Ukraine was held on August 28 in the capital and other cities of Ukraine, but I decided to stop my choice at the Kyiv start. This race was held here for the first time.
Aggression of the russian against Ukraine
Another russian-Ukrainian war began in 2014, when the armed forces of the russian, following the orders of the russian dictator treacherously, vilely and in violation of all international laws, launched an armed aggression against Ukraine and its citizens. During the war, 4150 Ukrainian soldiers died and from 9.5 to 10.5 thousand Ukrainian soldiers were wounded of various degrees of severity while defending the territorial integrity of Ukraine from the russian occupation forces.
Information about the race
Race "I respect the soldiers, I run for the heroes of Ukraine!" was started in 2018 by Oleg Durmasenko, the father of a fallen hero of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The first edition took place on August 25, 2018 in Kyiv. The competition brought together more than 300 participants, including not only athletes, but also participants in the hostilities in the East of Ukraine, their relatives, friends and comrades of fallen soldiers, representatives of British embassies, and the military attaché of the US embassy. George Lutz, the founder of the American organization "Honor and Remember" and the organizer of the all-American Run for Fallen Soldiers, was a specially invited guest of the race.
Registration
To register for the race "I honor the soldiers, I run for the heroes of Ukraine!" it was necessary to leave your application on the official page on Facebook, filling out a special google form and indicating your data, the distance that the participant wants to run. The organizers offered a choice of two disciplines, a 10- or 5-kilometer race. In addition, it was necessary to choose the name of a fallen soldier of Ukraine, whose memory the participant of the competition would like to honor. If you do not have a specific name of a warrior, then the organizers themselves can provide it to the participant. Participation in the race was completely free.
The route of the race for a distance of 10 kilometers consisted of two circles of 5 kilometers each (one circle for a distance of 5 kilometers) and passed through the central streets of Kyiv. The start and finish of the race was in the same place on the Independence Square of Ukraine.
Run
Get your starter pack everyone race participant "I respect the soldiers, I run for the heroes of Ukraine!" could a few days before the start in the "YARMIZ" center or directly on the day of the start on the territory of the starting town, which was located on Maidan Nezalezhnosti. Since I didn't feel like doing this on the day of the start, I got my start pack early the day before the race.
The start was scheduled for 10 o'clock on Saturday morning. Therefore, when I arrived at Independence Square, it was completely full participants of the race, who were waiting for the start. Participants of two different disciplines started separately from each other, first the participants of the 10-kilometer race entered the distance, and then, 5 minutes after them, the participants of the 5-kilometer distance.
Since it was more memory race, then each athlete ran to his own satisfaction. As for me, I covered the first 3 miles in 23 minutes and the whole distance in 53 minutes. The main feature of this race is the presence on the number of each participant of the name of a Ukrainian soldier who died during the Russian aggression and whose memory the participant honors during the race "I respect soldiers, I run for the heroes of Ukraine!". On my license plate was written the name of Yevhenii Reznikov - sergeant of the 25th OPDB, who died in the sky over the Luhansk airfield.
Yevgeny Reznikov
Yevgeny Reznikov was born in Kryvyi Rih and until 2014 worked as an assistant locomotive driver. With the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, he was mobilized to the 25th OPDB, where he held the position of platoon commander. And on the night of June 14, 2014, the fighters of the three Il-76 aircraft brigade were sent on a rotation to the ATO area. While landing at the Luhansk airfield, the plane carrying Yevhen Reznikov and 39 other fighters and 9 members was shot down by the russian military.
Impression
There are no special impressions, the main thing is that I want to note that in the race "I honor the soldiers, I run for the heroes of Ukraine!" every Ukrainian should take part in order to honor those Ukrainian soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom and life, so that "russian peace" would not come to Ukrainian cities.
