Our regular feature, brought to you in association with Duty Free Global from Ireland, celebrates memorable scenes, moments, launches and campaigns related to the global aviation and travel retail sphere.
UKRAINE. Today’s images, part of a running (in multiple senses) series we are featuring in coming days, are courtesy of TFWA Dailies Publisher and PPS Publications Founder Paul Hogan, writes Martin Moodie.
As reported, Paul and his son Max are this Sunday (11 October) running their own version of the ‘Kyiv Unbroken Marathon’ – so-called because it has taken place every year despite the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Due to a ban on any large gathering in Kyiv due to increased Russian air raids, the official event has been moved 300km westward to Khmelnytskyi.
However, Paul, Max and friends are running their own marathon in Kyiv, as part of a #KickCancerThon initiative to support Tabletochki, Ukraine’s biggest child cancer charity, which is operating under the huge duress of constant attacks on the city.
The Hogan family lost their beloved daughter and sister Brontë ‘Bron’ Hogan (1998-2011) to cancer.
Please, travel retail stakeholders (including media), support Tabletochki, Paul, Max and of course little Ivan 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.
#KickCancerThon is the travel retail cancer research fund-raising and visibility campaign begun by the late Sinead Moodie, formerly Chief Operating Officer of The Moodie Davitt Report, who passed from cancer on 1 February, the very day her campaign kicked off. It is designed to fund cancer research and support organisations around the world.
Paul and Max will carry Bron’s and Sinead’s names on their running shirts, alongside others – some loved and lost, some still fighting a struggle, several well-known to the travel retail community (Linda Hopkins, Thom Rankin, Lucy Rayner, Malcolm Gray, Joe Miranda) – alongside that of an eight-year-old boy called Ivan, pictured above.
Ivan is being treated for blood cancer at Okhmatdyt, the main children’s hospital in Kyiv. His family lives close to a large thermal power plant that is frequently targeted in Russian attacks.
His mother, Maryna, says they are constantly frightened, even at the hospital which should rightly be protected by international convention.
Paul and Max flew this morning to Krakow, Poland, where they will drive to the Ukranian border and take a night train to Kyiv.
It’s an incredibly brave initiative by them, though Paul dismisses such praise. “We are not in any shape or forms heroes,” he says. “People live their everyday lives in Kyiv with toddlers. We’ll be there 36 hours.”
To me, however, Paul is a hero. He was a hero from the day I heard him speak at Bron’s funeral way back in 2011. He was a hero in the way he supported Sinead and me with moral support throughout her illness. He is a hero for the way he has never given up his determination to make something good come out of the most terrible loss a family can face.
And, whatever, he might say, he (like Max)is a hero in running his own marathon in Kyiv, not Khmelnytskyi, this weekend. And if you doubt my claim, listen to this: “I’m slow these days, personal best 3.37 but I was only 49 then,” he says. “I’m not going to run Kyiv fast as we will stop and talk to people. And there will be air raids. There were about 20 last Sunday.”
Our initial story helped boost funds raised to US$10,315 (as I write), just over Paul’s US$10,000. But Tabletochki and the child cancer patients of Ukraine deserve – and need – much more than that. Please help. ✈
Other sponsors include, writes Paul Hogan:
- Links Snacks – Jack Links’ Mr Beast Beef Jerky is the #KickCancerThon Kyiv Marathon official protein snack (following our #KickCancerThon 52km Ultra Marathon in February).
- Travel Blue is the supplier of the official travel neck pillows – much appreciated on our 24-hour plane-train-auto London-Kyiv transfer.
- Al Nassma – As far as we are aware, we will be the first sporting team anywhere on earth to have an official camel milk chocolate. We love it and will happily take selfies devouring our camel milk chocolate-coated SAMHA dates on the blessed streets of Kyiv.
