Figures collected from more than 270 locations around Slovenia show that at least 33,500 school children took part in the country’s largest-ever mass participation running event, which was organised on 10 April to coincide with the European Athletics Congress taking place in Bled the next day.
Officially titled Otroci Tecejo - Najbolj mnozicen otroski tek v Sloveniji (rough translation: 'Kids Run - The biggest children’s running event in Slovenia”), the event was staged at schools and kindergartens across the country as a joint initiative of the Slovenian Athletics Federation and the Olympic Committee of Slovenia.
According to the organisers, the main aim was to promote physical fitness, a healthy lifestyle and the Olympic spirit to the young participants.
“We are really pleased with the results and I would like to thank everyone who helped at both the national and local levels,” said federation Director Luka Steiner.
“It was certainly a national record for involving children in athletics on the same day in our country and I think it could be a model for other countries.”
Olympic Champion Primo…¾ Kozmus and other national star athletes including Martina Ratej, Marina Tomić, Ro…¾le Prezelj and Luka Jane…¾ič assisted by appearing at some of the locations.
Runs in the towns of Kranj and Radovljica were designated as central events and attended by IAAF Vice presidents Sergey Bubka (UKR), Sebastian Coe (GBR) and Dahlan al Hamad (QAT), who were in Slovenia for the European Athletics Congress.
They and other top guests of the Congress signed a special certificate of recognition for all the participating schools, giving the event an international dimension.
National VIPs in attendance included federation President Gregor Benčina and the leaders of the Slovenian Olympic committee, President Bogdan Gabrovec and Vice President Iztok „Œop.
Pointing out the key role of volunteers in the project, Steiner said that he hoped the event would also promote the European Athletics Young Leaders Community.
“A number of the teachers and local volunteer teams prepared their events as projects to be shared on the Community’s web platform,” he said.
“I am expecting that there will be some new members in the Community who register the hours they put into this project and other work for the sport to get the European Athletics-UNESCO certificates.”
For more information on the European Athletics Young Leaders Community click here.
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