An athletics race in honor of the 79th anniversary of the Great Victory started in Derzhavinsky | 04/26/2024 | Tambov

An athletics race dedicated to the 79th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War has started in Derzhavinsky. Participants – more than 40 teachers and students of Derzhavinsky – run 42 km along the route: Tambov – Malinovka – Chernyanoye – Goreloye – Troitskaya Dubrava – Viryatino – Sosnovka.

“I am participating in the track and field race for the fourth time, this is an important and necessary patriotic event.“says Elena Gorodkova, a 4th year student at the Faculty of Physical Culture and Sports of Derzhavinsky. “It gives you the opportunity to come into contact with living history and feel the full weight of that time. For me, this is a great honor and responsibility to our veterans. At such moments you feel proud of your Motherland.”

The participants of the run have prepared a festive program, which will be shown in all settlements along the route. The students performed their first concert numbers at the starting point – Derzhavinsky’s Walk of Fame.

“I have always been a participant in the race, from the very beginning, back when I worked at the Department of Physical Education at Derzhavin University“recalls veteran of patriotic runs Vladimir Vasilyevich Timoshenko. – We drove up to some settlement along the route, and organized a concert program there, sang songs of the war years. I accompanied and also performed. Local residents always greeted us very warmly, some with tears in their eyes. They expressed great gratitude. This was a very big event for local residents, and especially for war veterans, of whom there are fewer and fewer every year. Today Derzhavinsky’s students are doing a great job. With their participation in the race, they leave a mark on the history of our university and our country. Similar events are held throughout Russia. And it’s very nice that we are touching this greatest event.”

The first propaganda march took place in 1980, the year of the 35th anniversary of the Victory, along the route Tambov – Osino-Gai – to the homeland of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Since 2000, May runs on Victory Day have become traditional. Over the years of the project’s existence, more than 1,000 people have taken part in the runs.

photo © Daria Godkina

Arina Orlova