From August 24 to September 25, the All-Ukrainian race “I honor the soldiers, I run for the Heroes of Ukraine” took place, timed to the Day of Memory of the Defenders of Ukraine (August 29). For security reasons, the event took place in different places in Ukraine. Anyone who wanted to could join him and run a distance of 2, 5 or 10 km for any of the Ukrainian soldiers who died in the Russian-Ukrainian war. This year, the event was held abroad for the first time, in particular in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Hungary, France, and the Czech Republic.
The patriotic run united more than 2,500 participants throughout Ukraine and beyond. Each of them had a number with the name of a Ukrainian soldier who gave his life for Ukraine. Both adults and children ran in memory of the fallen defenders. Relatives of fallen heroes, volunteers, and military personnel also took part in the race.
Due to the initiative of the Reserve, the runners became participants in the All-Ukrainian race “I respect the soldiers, I run for the Heroes of Ukraine”. On the platform of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, 24 participants of the campaign from the city of Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi were registered, who had to overcome a distance of 2 km. They were mainly students, pupils, teachers of educational institutions of the Korsun-Shevchenkivska OTG, where the fallen heroes studied.
On September 10, the patriotic race “Let’s Run for Victory” was held on the sports ground of the Complex Children’s and Youth Sports School of Korsun-Shevchenkov City Council, dedicated to the 990th anniversary of the city’s founding and on the occasion of the Day of Physical Culture and Sports. At the same time, the participants of the All-Ukrainian race “I respect soldiers, I run for the heroes of Ukraine” covered a two-kilometer distance. They ran for natives and residents of the community who died in the war.
The event began with the commemoration of all the Heroes-Kursun, who gave their lives for Ukraine during the Russian-Ukrainian war. These are Oleksandr Bardalym, Serhii Biloushenko, Oleksandr Vedilin, Serhii Hondyuk, Oleksii Kovtun, Yuriy Kupreev, Ivan Lyash, Maksym Marynenko, Petro Marochkanych, Serhii Morenko, Serhii Moroz, Viktor Ponomarenko, Vadym Protsenko, Oleksandr Slupskyi, Roman Sokurenko, Viktor Khomenko.
Among the participants of the race were relatives of Ivan Lyash, wife and son of Viktor Khomenko. The participants of the race were also employees of the Reserve – head of the scientific and methodological department of educational work Galina Davydenko and junior researcher of the department of nature protection Kateryna Loyenko, who ran with her five-year-old son Yaroslav. He was not a step behind his mother.
Rainy weather did not prevent the participants of both races from covering the distance. The sports event became a tribute to honor and memory of Ukrainian soldiers who gave their lives for Ukraine.