Kyiv Marathon of Invincibility: 10,000 participants and 10 million hryvnias for charity

The Kyiv Marathon of Invincibility brought together 10,200 participants, of which 9,600 runners ran in Kyiv for two days. These are military, veterans undergoing rehabilitation, children, amateur runners and professionals.

"Run Ukraine already held the Kyiv Marathon in the 14th year," says Run Ukraine's partner Viktoriya Veremienko, "This race is a charity one, together with the participants, the general partner PrivatBank and all partners, we collected 10 million hryvnias, most of this amount will go to support the Forces defense For the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, a running event took place on the streets of Kyiv with a circle of 21 km - we are grateful to the city and the military administration, with whom we worked for many months on this. Sport is motivating, about 1,000 soldiers and military veterans took part in the event over the course of 2 days."

From the collected funds, 1,560,000 hryvnias will be directed to the "Defense" direction through the state fundraising platform UNITED24. And all the contributions of the participants of the 1.6 km distance - 193,000 hryvnias will be transferred to the Superhumans center, this is in addition to the 1 million that was collected as part of the Big Collection. One million hryvnias each for the Third Assault Brigade, the 24th OMBr named after King Danylo and the National Guard of Ukraine, the NextStep center. The Run Ukraine company specifically made several charitable goals, because there are many needs, and thanks to Bigozbor, they were able to be realized.

"In times of great trials, every step counts. Sometimes this step is not only a financial decision or support for the country's economic stability, but also a physical step in the race for invincibility. For the second year in a row, PrivatBank has been the general partner of the Kyiv Marathon of Invincibility, and this decision is conscious and strategic, not only from the point of view of social responsibility of business, but also as part of our corporate culture," said PrivatBank Board Member Yevhen Zaigraev.

Before the start of the main distance - the marathon, a symbolic starting countdown and a gunshot rang out to honor all those who gave their lives and will never make it to the start again. They are always in the first line.

The symbolic distance of 100 meters was also covered by military personnel undergoing rehabilitation at the NextStep and Protez foundation centers. Military soldier Dmytro Krasnovsky covered 42 kilometers in a cart with his partner. Dmytro was seriously injured and, as a result, suffered amputations while protecting us in the Kupyansk direction.

Rescuer Andrii Grechany dedicated his marathon to his colleague Mykola Nechiporenko, who died as a result of Russian aggression.

 "People should remember our work, the people who gave their lives to save others," said Andriy Grechany.

Tetyana Sysoenko ran a marathon together with her 3-year-old son David, who completed his first marathon in a stroller.

"I dared to do this for only half a day," says Tatyana, "I had two starting numbers: one for the marathon, the other for the half marathon. Today I ran 42 km. At night, the little one had a fever, and I thought it was a sign not to run. But in the morning I thought that the marathon is only once a year, so I decided to participate."

 

Runners from 35 countries of the world, who ran here in Kyiv, joined the Kyiv Marathon. For the Latvian Samantha Gatis, the Kyiv Marathon was the 90th this year and the 128th overall.

"I came to run a marathon. I love it and have never run a marathon in Ukraine. My goal in 2024 is to run 100 marathons. I am very happy that Ukraine became the 40th country in which I ran a marathon," Samantha shares her impressions of the race.

The Kyiv Marathon was run even in Antarctica. Ivanka Koturbash, who works at the Akademik Vernadskyi station, ran her distance online.

Mykola Davydenko became the winner of the country's main marathon for the second time in a row, and Maria Radko, who also won the Kaunas Marathon this year, became the fastest among women.

 "The track is great because we ran out into the city. There was good support from the fans and distance runners, which is really cool. What was the most difficult? As always, the 30th kilometer," Mykola Davydenko commented on his triumph.

It is symbolic that the last finisher of the Kyiv Marathon of Invincibility 2024 was Emilia Merenmäs from Finland. She crossed the finish line with the words: "I am running for Ukraine."

Winners at the distance of 42.195 km:

Men:

Mykola Davydenko — 2:27:43

Maxim Anenko — 2:31:14

Mykola Levchyk — 2:34:29

Women:

Maria Radko — 2:56:12

Olena Simonok— 3:03:29

Olena Shevchenko — 3:03:43

Winners at the distance of 21,097 km:

Men:

Mykola Nizhnyk — 1:08:49

Alexii Pisarev — 1:09:21

Artur Shchypanovsky — 1:11:08

Women:

Olga Nyzhnyk — 1:18:20

Diana Petruk — 1:28:11

Alina Kovalenko — 1:28:45

The organizer is Run Ukraine

The general partner is PrivatBank

Sports partner – Under Armour

Charity partner – UNITED24