Ukrainian Running Club Members Will Find Strength and Solidarity at the RBC Brooklyn Half
As war has raged in Ukraine this year, members of the Ukrainian Running Club have been in close touch with family and friends in Ukraine. For many members, running has been a source of strength and solace through these challenging times.
The RBC Brooklyn Half will bring members together in strength as they share with one another and the world their solidarity with the Ukrainian resistance to an unjustified and unlawful invasion of their sovereign nation.
The Ukrainian Running Club has a GoFundMe fundraiser to donate funds to families affected by the war through several service organizations. Learn more and donate here.
Running to Be Visible
Dmytro Molchanov, a captain of the Ukrainian Running Club, moved to Brooklyn from Ukraine seven years ago when he was 25, and ran the Brooklyn Half as his first race here. He’s run the event every year since, including running the Virtual Brooklyn Half in 2020 and covering the course on his own last year. Dmytro, a registered nurse, has run 49 NYRR races to date, has a half-marathon best of 1:09:01, and is an AbbottWMM Six Star Finisher.
On race day, he plans to wear a Ukrainian running singlet and paint his face with the Ukrainian flag and the words “NO WAR” as he runs as an NYRR Pacer for the 1:20 group.
Dmytro has led the club’s efforts to raise donations for Ukraine and awareness of the war. “Every day I have woken up the past couple of months, I have been grateful to learn that my mother and grandmother back in Ukraine are both still alive to see another day,” he said.
Running to Recover
Andriy Herasymchyk has lived in the U.S for 16 years; many members of his family is still in Ukraine. Though he fell last winter while running on the Coney Island boardwalk and suffered a serious arm injury, he ran the United Airlines NYC Half in March and will run the RBC Brooklyn Half, having run it virtually last year. Workouts with the Ukrainian Running Club have been a form of therapy for Andriy.
After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Andriy’s sister, Holovko Asiia, also a runner, fled from her home in Kyiv to Poland when shells struck near her home. She is now in New York with Andriy and will run the RBC Brooklyn Half.
Running to Connect
Born in Kyiv, Irina Medvinskaya came to the United States in 1989. She began running in 2019 at age 43. During the pandemic she joined NYRR Group Training workouts in Prospect Park to help relieve stress.
At the beginning of the war in February, she joined the Ukrainian Running Club to connect with people from her home country and feel support and solidarity. She speaks on the phone every day to her aunt, uncle, and cousin in Kyiv.
“They have food, water, and phone reception, but they will often receive mobile notifications that they need to go below ground, and had often been spending the nights sleeping in the parking garage underneath their building because of expected shootings or blasts,” she said.
Look for Dmytro, Andriy, Holovko, Irina, and about 40 other Ukrainian Running Club athletes at the RBC Brooklyn Half on May 21.
Photo at top by Kevin Wilson; used with permission.