The 20th Chestnut Run took place on Independence Square in Kyiv on May 27. The event is traditionally held on The Day of Kyiv. The race is charitable because the money runners pay for participation will be contributed to the Center for Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery of the Ukraine’s Ministry of Health. This year there were 51 teams on Maidan (each team had at least 5 members) and 156 individual participants – the total number of people taking part in the race was nearly 7,000. At first, children began the race then adults joined them and a little later a group of participants in wheelchairs set off too. If a child is under seven years an adult ran with him. The Day’s team also took part in the race. The first of our team to finish the race was marketing manager Maksym Shamenko, the second to finish was economic commentator Vitalii Kniazhansky, who has been running for many years now. Before the run a five-minute warm-up was held on the Independence Square – according to the organizers, it was the largest warm-up group that ever gathered in Ukraine. It was lead by Kateryna Serebrianska, absolute world champion in rhythmic gymnastics, nine-time champion of Europe, expert on healthy lifestyle. Thus, Ukraine’s Book of Records added another record – the most massive warm-up. The race distance for the athletes was five kilometers long. It should be noted that despite the competitive spirit the atmosphere of the event was absolutely positive – our team got the feeling of it and The Day’s photographer recorded tons of open and smiling faces (see the photo report of the event on The Day’s website www.day. kiev.ua). The youngest participant of this year’s race, Artem, is just one month old and the oldest athlete was 86-year old Vladelina. In 20 years of the race history it was attended by over 52,000 people and the organizers were able to gather 1,350,000 hryvnias which were used to purchase the medical equipments “artificial heart” – it’s the only one of a kind in Ukraine. With the help of this medical device Ukrainian doctors save over 2,000 little lives each year. Therefore, “team of dreams that came true” which consisted of the patience of the Center for Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery was the first to finish their symbolic distance.
Vitalii KNIAZHANSKY, economic commentator of The Day:
“Chestnut Run is a very good phenomenon for Kyiv that engages people in doing sports. I am very positive about it even though I have one unpleasant memory: about three years ago just at the beginning of the race somebody pushed me, I fell and hurt myself badly. But in sports, even such safe kinds of it like athletics, things like this happen sometimes. I enjoy running and have been doing it for nearly 30 years now. This distance was totally fine for me because usually I run three times as much. It is very nice to see that so many young people, the older generation, and children participated in the race. It was a real sports holiday. It is great that The Day’s team also ran – organizers noted it.”
Oleksandra MALIKOVA, student of Ivan Kotliarevsky Kharkiv National University of Arts:
“I have the most positive impressions after running the race. I had lots of fun. The event was organized very well. Besides, it was a pleasant surprise for me to see so many people who support healthy lifestyle.”
