10,000 take part in Warsaw Rising Run
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
27.07.2014 12:32
10,000 people took part in a run through the capital on Saturday evening in remembrance of the Warsaw Rising, the doomed 1944 insurgency against the Nazi German occupiers.
Contestants in the 24th Warsaw Rising Run. Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell
The 24th edition of the event, which falls just days before the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the insurgency, offered participants the choice of running 5 km or 10 km courses.
“The race has incredible scenery, and it's always accompanied by a special atmosphere,” commented contestant Kamil Dabrowa, director of Polish Radio's First Programme.
Photo: PAP/Tomasz Gzell
“We just run and give it our all, like those that gave everything having decided to take up arms and fight the occupier,” he added.
Among the runners were several of the actors who starred in Jan Komasa's forthcoming movie Warsaw 44, which is due to be premiered on Wednesday evening at the National Stadium, in the lead-up to the anniversary of the outbreak of the rising on 1 August.
At the outbreak of the insurgency on 1 August 1944, Polish partisans were equipped to fight for about a week unaided but help from supposed allies the Russians was not forthcoming, in spite of earlier pledges.
The uprising lasted for two months before the insurgent command capitulated. Some 200,000 Poles died (mostly civilians) in the conflict, and a Soviet-backed communist regime was ultimately installed in Poland after the war. (nh)
Source: IAR