Participants in the Walk for Piotr, held on Saturday, January 12, ran for Piotr Kołodziej, a resident of Iwiny who has suffered from SMA (spinal muscular atrophy) since birth.
Dariusz Pachnik, one of the event organizers:
Saturday will go down as an important and commendable event in the life of the local community. Many people from our municipality worked to prepare the event, and even more took part in it. In fact, it is the only open mass sporting and recreational event in our area.
This year, 243 people completed the race in total (46 in the children's races and 197 in the main race). We did not count how many of them were “our own,” but it was already clear at a glance that the number was certainly around 70, plus just as many spectators!!!
And he immediately added:
The sporting and recreational value of the event is not insignificant. The most important thing, however, is achieving its goal: helping Piotr Kołodziej and his family, who have been dealt a difficult hand in life. This is not about pity, because that is what they need least. It is simply material support and showing them that they are not alone and can count on our help.
You were very generous. You won most of the items put up for auction!!! The shirts brought by our friends from Lubin, including the training shirt of Poland national team player and world champion Łukasz Kaczmarek, were bid for very enthusiastically. One of our middle-school students, Daniel, really wanted the shirt. He kept bidding until he ran out of money and had to give up. However, after the auction, he came over and donated to Piotr the money he had intended to spend on the shirt (PLN 300!!!).
There were many more donors. Piotr and his family were present throughout the entire event; some helped run the competition, while others took part in the race. At some point, emotions probably overwhelmed everyone and left them speechless. It is not for us to judge the competition, but it seems it went really well and we rose to the occasion.
Organizer:
Thanks to the Regional Sports Center in Lubin for its professionalism in conducting the competition, and especially to Zbyszka Harendarza for coordinating the work of both the RCS and our team. Markowi Dłubale – the father of the Running Grand Prix of the Copper Basin – I would like to thank you for ten years of cooperation and for providing items for the auction.
To Mr. Mirosławowi Kopczyńskiemu, director of the Municipal Cultural Center in Warta Bolesławiecka, for his support and understanding regarding our expectations and requests. To Ms. Elżbiecie Koryluk-Sowie, head of the School and Kindergarten Complex in Iwiny, for making the school available. To Ali and Anieli from the school staff for cleaning up after the event. To Bożenie and Agnieszce – for the wonderful pea soup. To Dorocie Krawiec – for her involvement in the preparations and help in financing the trophies for the winners.
To the women councillors from Iwiny: Ewie Kulik and Józefie Świtaniak for paying for the trophies. To Jumping Frog from Lubin – for providing passes to its classes. To Wojtkowi and Małgosi Pachnikom – for designing the poster and certificates and working at the competition office. To Anecie Sołtysiak – for providing medical support. To the parents of our children – for baking delicious homemade cakes. To Mr. Arkadiuszowi Saramie – for the photographic documentation.
Special thanks to the volunteers, the students of our middle school. I thank everyone who contributed to organizing our event, and I apologize to those whose first and last names I did not mention because of gaps in my memory (that is what age does!).
The “Walk for Piotr” is one of the stages (the sixth stage) of the Running Grand Prix of the Copper Basin. Ten competitors from Iwiny and Lubków are taking part in the entire series and... they are doing great, taking top places in their categories. Their results can be followed on the RCS Lubin website or at www.feniks-timing.pl.
The results of the Walk can be found here: https://feniks-timing.pl/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Wyniki_GPZM_IWINY_OPEN_6km_2019.pdf.