Rain and hail are no problem

The team of Minsk became the winner of the republican cross-country for the prizes of the Belarus Segodnya Publishing House

About 650 participants gathered in Minsk to take part in the open Cup of Belarus, the finals of the Victory All-Belarusian Cross-Country Track for the Prizes of Belarus Segodnya Publishing House, relay race competitions in memory of the honoured coach Aleksandr Kitsenko. The races that took place at the Republican Centre for Olympic Training in Athletics on Kalinovskogo Stree turned out to be filled with struggle. Despite the rain and hail, the cross-country participants tried to do their best in order to be the first at the finish line.

This time, not only athletes, but also students of universities and colleges came to the start of the cross-country

When in 1998 our editorial board (then — The Sovetskaya Belorussiya [Soviet Belarus] newspaper, today — Belarus Segodnya Publishing House) decided to revive the glorious tradition of holding republican cross-country races, Boris Khrolovich was the head coach of the Minsk Region team. That year they won the competition, in 1999 they consolidated their success. Looking at the current cross-country participants, Boris Khrolovich said, “Now I root for the youth, for new talents to be found!”  There were a lot of them on the track. Let us remember that this year the final of the All-Belarusian Cross-Country Track for the prizes of our publishing house was held according to a modified format. If in the past few years it has been attended mainly by professional athletes, this time students and college students were allowed to participate. It was university students who ran the distance first: boys and girls determined the strongest in races of 1, 2 and 3 kilometres. Among the runners in this category, one could meet well-known athletes. One of these is biathlete Darya Kudayeva, who competed for Polessky State University. Although it was not possible to reach the podium, Dasha was satisfied, “In the summer we also run quite a lot, sometimes, depending on the load, we overcome 10-15 kilometres in training. It was unusual to run along such a route, but I liked it! Wow!”
This time, students from 24 universities and 12 colleges ran in the cross-country. Pavel Shesteren, Deputy Director of the Republican Centre of Physical Education and Sport for Pupils and Students, however, had no doubt that there would be even more of them next time, “We see how important this event is for both students and representatives of teams from cities and regions. This time only representatives of institutions of secondary specialised education from Minsk and the Minsk Region participated in the races, but next season, I think, all regions will want to participate in the traditional cross-country race dedicated to Victory Day.”
After the student starts, all attention was riveted on the main races — five kilometres. The girls were the first to leave. They were unlucky with the weather, to put it mildly. First it started raining. A few minutes later the hail began to fall. Entire patches of mud appeared on the track, it was especially difficult for the runners to overcome the turning meters. Anna Sparish from Minsk was the first to cross the finish line. 
“For me, this is the first victory in the cross-country Cup of Belarus. The vagaries of the weather are not terrible. True, it was not very pleasant to run into the city, it even hurt, but it’s okay — this is the real cross-country! I did not set any special goals for myself. Taking into account the fact that I competed for my university and at a kilometre distance, I didn’t know how I would feel. But everything worked out — I won both races!” the runner believes.

The competition ended with relay races

In the men’s five-kilometre race, a classic duel took place between two runners from the Mogilev Region — Sergei Platonov and Vyacheslav Skudny. Three years ago, Platonov won it. Two years ago, in order to determine the winner, a photo finish was required — Skudny was the best. Last year, an injury prevented Vyacheslav from defending the championship title, but this time the guys again competed to death on the track. Sergei Platonov, who won, told, “The rivalry has been good. We fought until the very end, only 200 metres before the finish line I managed to escape from Slava! In general, the competition went well. Perhaps the change of venue was even for the better. The track has changed, it was interesting. Another city — other emotions. The atmosphere today was reminiscent of the European cross-country championships: the same number of participants, the fight at a distance — everything is great!”
Minskers won in the team event. They managed to interrupt the triumphal series of runners from the Mogilev Region, which lasted six years, and now the main trophy — the cup, established by Belarus Segodnya Publishing House, will remain with the winners of this season for a year. 

By Tatiana Pastushenko
Photos by Aleksandr Kushner