Registration for the 6th PKO Charity Run has begun, which after a three-year break will start on September 24, 2022, in athletics stadiums of 12 Polish cities. The goal of this year’s event, organized by the PKO Bank Polski Foundation as part of the “Let’s Run Together” campaign, is to support psychological and psychiatric care in orphanages and childcare centres.
The PKO Charity Run is a nationwide initiative that popularizes a healthy lifestyle and the idea of charity. Participants in this year’s edition of the run will start in Katowice, Koszalin, Zielona Góra, Łomża, Biłgoraj, Stalowa Wola, Zakopane, Rypin, Ostróda, Sieradz, Sochaczew and Polkowice.
Ambassadors of the 6th PKO Charity Run are, among others, prominent Polish athletes Sofia Ennaoui and Joanna Jóźwik. Other leading athletes such as Artur Partyka, Paweł Januszewski, Sebastian Chmara and volleyball player Witold Roman have also joined the campaign.
“PKO Bank Polski supports sports, as well as activities related to CSR. The charity-run project combines these areas. It is the only run in Poland in which everyone can participate, even children from the age of one, at a distance adapted to their abilities,” Robert Lubanski, director of PKO BP’s Brand Management and CSR Department, says.
As Sofia Ennaoui, the 2018 European vice-champion, this year’s bronze medalist at the European Championships and fifth runner at the World Championships, emphasizes, running gives a lot of satisfaction and is the easiest carrier of positive emotions.
“Sport has toughened me up. It has given me a lot of positive qualities that I use every day: great courage, the ability to work hard and not to give up even in difficult moments,” Ennaoui argues.
The run will feature five-person relay teams, which will run laps of the stadiums for one hour. Each relay participant must run at least one lap. The main run will be followed by the PKO Youth Charity Run, in which children under the age of 13 will take part, covering distances of 100, 200 or 400 meters, depending on their age.
In return for the participants’ involvement, the PKO Bank Polski Foundation will provide the beneficiaries with funds to support psychological care where the need for it is particularly high, i.e., in orphanages and foster care centres.
Registration for the 6th PKO Charity Run has been running since August 24 at www.pkobiegcharytatywny.pl. The start is guaranteed by assigning a starting number, which is assigned after the entry fee is posted. The minimum fee for a team’s start package is PLN 50, which is donated to the charity of the run.