This year’s Independence Day on 28 th October was celebrated with sport for the fifth time, and the event was greater again than last year. Thousands of people celebrated the founding of Czechoslovakia at the Sokol Run of the Republic at a total of 78 locations across the country and abroad this year. The favourable weather at most of the races, the participation of ambassadors
from among famous personalities not just from the world of sport, the original medals and T-shirts… all that added to the great atmosphere of this year’s Sokol Run of the Republic.
The biggest race on Prague’s Petřín Hill once again confirmed that celebrating 28 October by sport is popular and worth it: a total of 500 competitors set out from the start there. The colourful programme of the event at the Tyrš House, where the Czech Sokol community is based, started in the morning. Races for children, from the youngest to 14-year-old teenagers, started at 11 o’clock. Sports and arts performances as well as workshops were there for people who came to Kampa leading up to the highpoint of the celebration of the Republic – the main race at 2 pm. Thousands of runners started at the same hour at 66 locations across the country and a record 12 locations overseas, including the USA and South America.
As usual, the Sokol Run of the Republic in Prague was started by the mayor of the Czech Sokol Community Hana Moučková. “I enthusiastically applauded all the runners who took to the track today and celebrated the establishment of the independent Czechoslovak state through sport. I am very pleased that every year the number of participants in the Czech Republic and abroad grows and new locations are joining the traditional ones,” she said. Among the 500 runners in Prague, we could also see ambassadors such as slalom canoeist Lukáš Rohan, paracyclist Jiří Ježek or canoeist Radek Šlouf, and the original medals in the shape of the Czech Republic were handed out to runners at the finish line by beach volleyball player Kristýna Hoidarová Kolocová.
A great added value of the Sokol Run of the Republic is the good deed, which runners from all corners of the country and the world did not forget about this year: during registrations, they contributed CZK 127,000 to fourteen-year-old Anetka, who suffers from amblyopia and her family is in a difficult situation, but she still competes in twirling. This sport, which combines dance and gymnastics, is demanding in terms of spatial orientation, which Anetka is now training in thanks to the Sokol Run of the Republic. And that’s not all, people who came to the Prague race raised further CZK 50,000 by cycling on an energy hand bike in the ČEZ Energy Zone, which will go to the Emil Foundation supporting, for example, the Czech national ParaDance team.
The hundreds of organizers, partners and competitors, without whom this unique event with an unforgettable atmosphere could not have taken place, deserve a big thank you. The celebration of the Republic through sport is over this year, but it is never too late to remember that, as the Sokol members say, the world moves to where our strength is directed – so keep directing yours into sports and good deeds. We’re looking forward to seeing you next year at the start of the Sokol Run of the Republic!
