Odesa Half Marathon: A Celebration of Sport and Unity
The Odesa half marathon «INDEPENDENCE HALF MARATHON» brought together over 600 participants from all corners of Ukraine and the world.
The race route covered iconic locations in Odesa — Primorsky Boulevard, Deribasivska Street, Sabaneev Bridge, Gogol Street, Rishelievska Street, Lanzheronivska Street, and more.
Odesa's mayor, Gennady Trukhanov, welcomed the participants on Physical Culture and Sports Day, expressing gratitude to the organizers and the Armed Forces of Ukraine for enabling us to live, care for one another, and hold such essential competitions.
The mayor also highlighted the personal significance of sports in his life, calling a healthy lifestyle an axiom:
«Those who came here are already winners!»
The first participants of this major athletics event were veterans and individuals with mobility impairments.
Advisor to the mayor of Odesa and head of the NGO «Barrier-Free», Oleksiy Morozov, noted that the development of adaptive sports and rehabilitation programs continues in the city.
The «INDEPENDENCE HALF MARATHON» featured the following distances:
- Children's distances — from 60 m to 1 km,
- Adults — 5 km, 10 km, and 21 km.
Today, the marathon runners were united not only by sport but also by a noble purpose — raising funds for the prosthetics of patients at the Odessa Superhumans Center.
