President Petr Pavel fired the starting shot at the Prague International Marathon in May, and now his wife Eva Pavlova has joined his efforts to support sport in the Czech Republic. The First Lady has granted patronage over the 23rd edition of the adidas Women’s race 5 km, which takes place this Saturday at 18:00 in the centre of Prague. “It is a great honour for us that Mrs. Eva Pavlová is supporting this purely female race. We really appreciate the fact that the first couple contributes in this way to the promotion of sport and, in our case, especially running,” said Carlo Capalbo, President of the RunCzech Organizing Committee, whose team also organizes the Birell 10K Race, which starts at 19:30, as part of the traditional Grand Prix Prague.
Eva Pavlova will not take part in the race itself due to her busy time commitment, but she is keeping her fingers crossed for everyone from afar. Already in May, at the Prague Marathon, her husband said that sporting events of this kind are a huge opportunity to show our country to the world. At the same time, the Czech President is very aware of the problems of growing childhood obesity. “We will continue to look for ways to show children and young people that sport is a wonderful thing that helps prevent all kinds of health problems,” Pavel stressed in May. “Running in particular is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to do something for yourself. And we can all do it,” he also pointed out in the spring.
Up to 7,500 runners are expected to take part in the two Prague Grand Prix races. The big names of world running will join the event. For example, twenty-one-year-old Ethiopian Tadese Worku, who has already completed the 10k road course in 26:56, or Kenyan Alexander Mutiso, winner of this year’s Prague International Marathon, or Isaac Kibet from Uganda. Jiří Homoláč, Damián Vích and Martin Zajíc, the leading Czech athletes from the RunCzech Racing Team, will also appear in the field.
The charity partners of the race are Pink Bubble, supporting young people with cancer, and Cesta za snem (Journey to a dream), focusing on organizing sporting events involving people with disabilities. Both organisations can be donated during registration for the race or you can purchase a registration package directly through their online shops.
Last registrations are available on www.runczech.com.
