UKRAINE. Our #KickCancerThon Kyiv Marathon last Sunday was very hard, emotionally and physically, writes Paul Hogan*. But as a measure of just how tough it is for Kyiv’s three million citizens, there were four air raids during the run, including cruise missiles at lunch time for the second day in a row.
And as my son Max and I came towards the finish and our last of many lengths of the Khreshchatyk (which rates as one of my favourite main streets of the world), there was a very loud explosion, just a few blocks away. But we joined the citizens of Kyiv and just carried on running.
{Paul & Max Hogan and friends stride out on the streets of Kyiv}
It was a gloriously sunny mid-October day. The well turned-out citizens of this stoical society were indeed carrying on with their lives, noisily packing out the city’s very many open-air cafés. Many were seemingly taking a much greater interest in the two out-of-place Englishmen and their large #KickCancerThon banner, than they were of the constant barrage.
As active air raids have climbed to last for over 12 hours per day this month, less than 5% of Kyiv citizens now regularly bother to shelter. One new local running mate explained it to me: “If I sheltered every time, I’d be underground for 15 hours a day, and then I’d soon die for sure, I’d rather take my chances outside.”
Please, travel retail stakeholders (including Paul’s fellow B2B media), support Tabletochki, Paul, Max and of course little Ivan (pictured below) by donating here. It does not have to be a large donation but please let us show our renowned travel retail generosity and solidarity by supporting this brave and life-affirming initiative.
As I reported previously on The Moodie Davitt Report, we were in town to run #KickCancerThon’s ‘Putin can’t stop our Kyiv Marathon but we can stop child cancer’ because the city’s own ‘Unbroken Marathon’ – so called because it has still taken place every year despite the war – had finally been thwarted by the logical impossibility of staging the event under constant air raids.
So, with just two weeks to go, it was moved 300km westward.
But as we’d already raised over US$10,000 in travel retail backing for our run for Tabletochki – Ukraine’s largest child cancer charity – and because we wanted to see things in Kyiv for ourselves, we decided we’d do it anyway … with a little help from our Kyiv friends.
So last weekend, after arriving from the Polish border on the cleanest train I have ever been on, Max and I headed along the Khreshchatyk towards our unpopularly tall (due to its vulnerability), but keenly priced hotel.
As we passed the Nike store, we saw a coach with a group of runners. Typically Max decided to wander up and say hello.
“Ah you must be Maxim!” – in a moment of pure Hollywood in a city a fair bit bigger than Rome, Max had managed to bump into Andrew Marenko, the person from the STRAVA community he had reached out to ask for help with our marathon route.
Andrew introduced us to the Lypovyi Run Club – the name is sophisticated Ukrainian slang for ‘a real running club for fake runners’ – which doesn’t do it justice at all.
Lypovyi’s 50+ runners welcomed us with open arms, allowing us to bolt their 10k Sunday run onto the front of our marathon.
The Lypovyi runners took us around St Sophia’s Cathedral, the stunning modern Glass Bridge and its sweeping views of the mighty Dnipro River, and once again along Khreshchatyk to Maidan Square and its devastatingly tragic Heroes Memorial. near to which we halted to observe the daily nationwide minute of silence.
Then, after sharing our last stocks of Jack Link’s Beef Jerky and SAMHA camel milk chocolate from Al Nassma (70% dark with almonds), we set off on our own.
Andrew had helped us create a route which remained close to the city centre, albeit with some impressive hills including the 170-metre climb to the Mother Ukraine memorial which we ascended three times.
This climb, along with a lot of other gradients, gave our Kyiv Marathon a total elevation gain exceeding 1.2km – the marathon might have been unbroken, but I nearly was. By comparison, the London Marathon has a total elevation of just 75 metres.
Normally the crowds along the marathon route drag you along, but we didn’t need that – instead we had the awesome people of Kyiv who instantly recognised what we were doing and universally loudly applauded and called us out, even stopping us several times for selfies and Instagrams.
There may have been four air raids – but this was a cheerful, upbeat activity.
All the same, the planned finish at the Heroes Memorial in Maidan Square was highly emotional – seeing the evidence of so many beautiful young people lost forever, people who will never see the truly great, talented country which will emerge from the inevitable victory.
At the completion of our private marathon we prayed for them, and for our lost brave warriors.
For Sinead Moodie (the creator of #KickCancerthon, who passed on 1 February).
For Brontë ‘Bron’ Hogan – my daughter and Max’s sister.
And for Ivan, the 8-year-old boy from Kyiv, just one of 400 Ukrainian children with cancer who utterly depend on Tabletochki in a country whose child cancer care has been vilely decimated by Russian war crimes (President Trump’s ‘gift’ to Putin of the diesel deal during our stay was received with universal repulsion).
We then took turns to place the ‘Bron’s Medal’ around our necks – her school running medal which always accompanies us on all our marathons, including Kyiv, my nineteenth. ✈
*Paul Hogan is the Founder & Owner of PPS Publications and Publisher of The TFWA Dailies. He lost his daughter Brontë (‘Bron’ 1998-2011) to childhood cancer and has been an avid and inspirational supporter of cancer causes since.
GTR product sponsors show their commitment to the causeOur lead sponsor from the global travel retail (GTR) community was Sekonda. While I had intended to marathon-test the just-launched (at TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes) Smart Fitness Ring, it transpired that Kyiv is the worst city in the world to trial a GPS device because the authorities jam the GPS signal, so it can’t be used for targeting drones. However, it still recorded a 60,000-step count for the day and, after wearing the ring for a month, I have become obsessed with measuring my every motion and lack of motion. At around US$85 in duty free it gives market entry to a product ordinarily served by US$500++ alternatives.
We also need to thank:
It’s a sad reflection that these goods should now be stocked in Ukraine’s previously burgeoning travel retail shops – Kyiv’s airports were handling 22 million passengers in 2019 and experiencing +20% growth. It is not unreasonable to estimate that traffic approaching 40 million could have been reached by now. We, Tabletochki, and the families of 400 poorly children all thank our global travel retail (GTR) sponsors. Please buy their fine products.  We are all also very grateful for the great many generous individual donations. Should you feel inclined to ‘buy us a pint’, there is no shortage of love for Ukraine’s child cancer sufferers; but there is an acute shortage of resource. The JustGiving link (see below) remains live and the #KickCancerThon campaign will roll on for as long as it takes to win… …talking of which: Slava Ukraini (‘Glory to Ukraine’). |
