Příběhy profesionálních běžců z The Battle of The Teams….

Praha 28. května 2021

Unikátní sportovní akce The Battle of The Teams se blíží a už 30. 5. v 6:20 to celé vypukne. Už jsme ukázali závodní trať, bodový systém, jednotlivé týmy a jejich kapitány. A dnes ti chceme blíže představit jednoho běžce z každého týmu ať víš, kde začínali a jaká byla jejich cesta až na vrchol.

Vít Pavlišta –  team Volkswagen

Vítek, syn biatlonistky a závodního lyžaře, který vystudoval jilemnické sportovní gymnázium a rozvíjel se v disciplinovaného sportovce. Zprvu působil v zimních sportech, ale přešel k běhu po zahájení studia na Technické univerzitě v Liberci, které navazovalo na dokončení střední školy a dlouhodobé rekonvalescenci z poranění Achillovy šlachy. Po dvou letech plných rehabilitací, studií, jízdě na kole, hraní ping pongu či horolezectví se konečně Vít mohl vrátit zpět k běhání.

Nyní je několikanásobným mistrem republiky v maratonu, 1/2Maratonu a rovněž šampionem na 10 000 m.

Aktuálně trénuje Vít 10krát týdně, kdy pravidelně naběhá vzdálenost mezi 150 až 160 kilometry.

Eva Vrabcová Nývltová –  team Mattoni

Eva se narodila v Trutnově v rodině, která podporovala sport a aktivitu, zejména její maminka, která dala Evě lyžařskou průpravu už ve dvou letech.

Eva, která se aktivně věnuje zimním sportům, dokončila základní a střední vzdělání, absolvovala obchodní akademii v Trutnově a později získala bakalářský titul na univerzitě v Hradci Králové – sportovní management. Ráda studuje a fascinuje ji fyzioterapie a fungování těla obecně.

Tato novopečená maminka, milující žena, milovnice psů je zkrátka žena plnící si své sny. Olympionička na ZOH v běžeckém lyžování, usilující o splnění kvalifikačních kritérií na OH v Tokiu 2020. Bronzová medailistka na Mistrovství Evropy v Maratonu v roce 2018, patří obsadila osmou příčku na Newyorském Maratonu a je držitelkou českého rekordu v 1/2maratonu.

S dcerou Adélou a fenkou Bellou má plné ruce práce. Kromě běhu miluje běhání, jízdu na kolečkových bruslích nebo jízdu na kole s rodinou a pro regeneraci využívá plavání.

Ruti Aga –  team Skupina ČEZ

Ruti je velmi silná a nezávislá žena, v které se během soutěží probouzí skutečná bojovnice. Mimo závodní prostředí vystupuje vždy příjemně a přirozeně.

Pochází z oblasti Guji v Etiopii, která se nachází v regionu Oromia a hraničí se “Somálskem”. Oromský lid z Guji považuje právě svoji oblast za kolébku celé Oromské kultury. Mezi obyvatelstvem Guji jsou stále uznávány a praktikovány obřady, rituály a tradice vycházející ze systému věkových skupin, známým pod názvem Gada. Kromě systému Gada je s Gujiiskou kulturou spjata pěstování kávy, která zde má historicky pevné kořeny, které jsou neotřesitelné. Oblast Guji je také proslulá výrobou medu.

Benson Kipruto – team Birell

Benson pochází z kmene Nandi, odkud pochází většina nejlepších keňských běžců. Začal běhat ve škole, ale jakmile dokončil studium v roce 2011, nemohl pokračovat ve výcviku, místo toho si musel hledat práci, aby se o sebe dokázal postarat. V letech 2011 až 2015 provozoval ve své vesničce malý obchod, prodával základní komodity a vydělával na živobytí. V roce 2015 ho běžecká vášeň přiměla zkusit štěstí a rozhodl se vrátit se ke tréninku. Na začátku roku 2016 se připojil k 2Running Club, skupině sportovců, která zahrnuje Amos Kipruto, Evans Chebet a Vincent Kipchumba.

Pod vedením trenéra Claudia Berardelliho absolvoval svůj maratonský debut v Aténách 2016 a v roce 2018 vyhrál Toronto Marathon – svůj první velký úspěch. O rok později, opět v Torontu, stanovil aktuální PB na 2:05:13.

Benson v září 2020 překonal svůj osobní rekord v rámci 1/2Maratonu v Praze na Letné v rámci závodu Prague Restart pořádaný RunCzech. Jeho domov je v Kapsabetu v Keni. S jeho osobákem 2:05:13 z roku 2019 a nedávným výkonem v již zmíněném půlmaratonu, je favoritem a lákadlem pro diváky.

Otec dvouleté dcery Benson je plně motivován pokračovat v objevování jeho atletického potenciálu, péče o rodinu a zlepšování jeho komunity.

Který z běžců je tvůj favorit? Je to jeden z českých reprezentantů? Nebo naopak fandíš zahraničním hvězdám?

Ať už je to jakkoliv nezapomeň se dívat na živý přenos The Battle of The Teams 30. 5. v 6:20 na ČT Sport, našem YouTube kanálu nebo na dalších streamovacích platformách.

Uvidíme se na The Battle of The Teams!

RunCzech team

A TROPHY SYMBOLIZING TEAM UNITY, 120 GLASS MEDALS AND 12 SMALLER TROPHIES MADE TO MEASURE AT THE LASVIT AJETO GLASSWORKS FOR THE BATTLE OF THE TEAMS

The LASVIT Ajeto Glassworks, which is part of the group of the Czech glass and de-sign company LASVIT, designed and produced a unique trophy symbolizing the unity of the team. It was tailor-made for the Prague race The Battle of the Teams. It will be taken home by only one winning team. In addition, the glassmakers in Ajeto also pro-duced one hundred and twenty glass medals and twelve smaller trophies for the indi-vidual fastest runners.

The unity of the team was the main inspiration for the production of the trophy for the Prague running race The Battle of the Teams, organized by RunCzech. „Running races are mostly individual, but in Battle of the Teams everyone fights for the team. The competitors want to achieve the best possible result that will help their team. Teamwork, which by the way is one of the values of LASVIT, drives us all to achieve success together. Unity, strength and ro-bustness are the common denominators of the team and of our trophy. Each article – each individual – is very important and if one falls out, the fragile skeleton of the team is disrupted. And it is same with the glass too. The glass trophy for this race is massive, but at the same time very fragile, „says Marek Effmert, a global glass icon and trophy designer who is current-ly working at the Ajeto Glassworks in Lindava.

„It is a great honour for us that such an important company as LASVIT has decided to sup-port our race The Battle of The Teams. This event is special also for the trophy ceremony will not only represent the individual spirit, but also the team spirit, as the winning team will re-ceive one beautiful trophy together. It will remain a memory not only of the race itself, but also of the atmosphere that all participants experienced during the preparations and the race it-self,“ adds Tomáš Coufal from the organizing committee of RunCzech.

The Battle of the Teams trophy weighs around ten kilograms and is approximately 35 cm tall. The glassmakers have also prepared one hundred and twenty original glass medals and twelve smaller trophies for the race, which will be awarded to the first three Czech runners (men and women) and the first three overall (women and men).

The Novoborská glass and design company LASVIT has been supporting sport for a long time. „The Ajeto Glassworks is producing RunCzech trophies for the several times in a row this year. In addition to running races, our glassworks has also created trophies for world tennis tournaments in the past, not only at home but also abroad. We also produce trophies for the world’s toughest cycling race, the Tour de France, in our Ajeto Glassworks, we sup-port the Czech Olympic Committee and for example, last month we supplied trophies for the international horse race in Velká Chuchle,“ says Leon Jakimič, owner and president of LASVIT.

The world-famous LASVIT Ajeto Glassworks in Lindava is located in a place considered one of the most important glass production centres in the world. The glassworks is also open to the public, and on weekdays visitors can watch the glassmakers in action and take a tour of the production facilities. In the adjacent Glass Tavern, which will reopen on 1 June, visitors can not only refresh themselves, but even try to do a little bit of manufacturing. Of course under local masters.

RUNCZECH BRINGS REVOLUTION MARATHON AS A TEAM SPORT? EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE

 Marathon was always perceived as an individual race. RunCzech wants to change this tradition and therefore brings a new revolutionary approach, which will offer more tension and drama than it is usual in long distance running. The Battle of the Teams will kick off on this Sunday, the very fist “team” marathon, where every runner and every time matters more than usual. The race will be over as soon as the last runner will cross the finish line. All this thanks to proud support of our partner adidas, which believes that Impossible is Nothing.

The historic centre of Prague will gladly welcome the 32 best world-wide marathoners on Sunday 30th of May, Czech athletes will not be missing and you can look forward to see Czech stars such as Jiří Homoláč, Eva Vrabcová Nývltová, Vítek Pavlišta or young prospect Moira Stewartová. “I didn’t underestimate my preparation and I went for training camp into mountains. I want to be in the best shape possible and perform as great as possible. I want to cross the finish line with a feeling that I left everything there” says Jiří Homoláč about the new concept.

Marathon as a team sport

It is not only about race; it is a brand new approach for running as itself. This approach is highly appreciated by long-term partner adidas, which believes that sport should be pushing boundaries and seeking new opportunities, while others might perceive challenges. This is also supports their latest campaign called Impossible Is Nothing. “The main purpose is to change the overall perception of marathon racing and bring more tension to the race” says Carlo Capalbo President of the Organizing Committee of RunCzech. Each runner matters, each second matters, the race tension will be ongoing until the finish. In order for the final composition of the teams to be clearly balanced, the RunCzech organizing committee divided the runners into performance pools according to their personal record over the last four years.

Eight-member teams, consisting of four women, four men and an ambassador from the ranks of Czech sports legends, some of whom will wear an adizero PRAG SINGLET created exclusively for RunCzech Racing. The singlet is PRIMEBLUE labelled, which means that at least 50% of the product includes Parley Ocean Plastic yarn, which is made from plastic waste intercepted on beaches, shorelines and costal areas, preventing it from polluting the oceans.

The dramatic race „The Battle of The Teams“, which will start on Sunday 30 May at 6:30 from Charles Bridge, will also bring the first performance debut by male athlete of the second generation of the fastest adidas ADIZERO ADIOS PRO 2 running shoes, which have broken several world records in recent months. Selected marathon runners will have them on their feet before the official launch on June 16th.

Kilometres for marathon and also for our planet earth.

We hope that The Battle of the Teams competition caught your interest, therefore we would like to invite you for one more battle and it is a battle with strong opponent, which is plastic waste. Adidas is for the 4th time connecting with runners from all over the world to stand together and help oceans, everything under movement Run For The Oceans. Together with o Parley organization they will remove plastic waste in exchange for ran kilometres. The “virtual” kilometres will be valid from 28th of May until the 8th of June. The only thing you need to do is download the adidas running app and then go for a run. You can get more information on https://adidas.com/us/runfortheoceans.

“Come with us to change the running world” invites the RunCzech team and its proud partner adidas.

THE AWAITED BATTLE OF THE TEAMS WILL START ALONGSIDE THE CZECH MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIP ON SUNDAY MORNING. RUNCZECH INVITES YOU TO A UNIQUE TV BROADCAST

On Sunday, May 30, at 6:15 on ČT Sport, the live broadcast of the team marathon The Battle of the Teams, together with the Czech Marathon, will start beginning from the Charles Bridge. The group of athletes arrived in Prague is very strong with professional runners coming from Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. Czech marathon runners Eva Vrabcová Nývltová, Moira Stewart, Vít Pavlišta and Jiří Homoláč, will be competing, not only for the title of the Champion of the Czech republic, but also to meet the last chance to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

So the TV broadcast promises a very exciting show until the very end. Interactive graphics will show to the spectators live which team is currently in the lead, and will constantly change depending on the current time on the track.

The organizers are very grateful to the capital city of Prague and the city district of Prague 1 for all their support in holding this spectacular running event, despite this current difficult pandemic situation, where the sports of the world are very limited and affected by many restrictions. „And despite all the rules and testing for Covid-19, we managed the preparations perfectly. We provide all runners with new PCR tests from Chromozoom, which are less invasive than regular PCR, as they are not introduced into the oral cavity, but work on the principle of gargling in the mouth. After testing all participants we are currently reporting only negative cases, for which we are extremely grateful, „says Tomáš Coufal from the organizing committee of RunCzech.

The athletes are already in full force and are looking forward not only to the attempt to break their personal records or fight for the Czech Champion title, but also to the team competition, which will be a unique novelty for them.

During previous weeks, ČT Sport broadcasted a Draft Show, where the team captains – Petra Kvitová, Zuzana Hejnová, Jiří Ježek and Katka Neumannová chose runners themselves and have put together their team. According to the feedback received, the athletes are completely satisfied with the composition of their teams.

Enthusiasm from the upcoming race, smiles and perhaps a little nervousness was visible on the runners‘ faces during today Media Day at the Hilton Hotel Prague.

„My primary goal is to run the limit at the Olympics, but at the same time I’m looking forward to the new team concept and it will definitely be an even bigger driving force for me to run for the team as well,“ Moira Stewartová declared during the press conference.

„We really appreciate all the athletes we have here, it’s a huge event for us, which we have been preparing for seven months and now we are approaching the finish line, it’s unbelievable that we managed to realize it. I thank all the partners, institutions and my team for the perseverance and energy they put into preparation, „said Carlo Capalbo, Head of the RunCzech Organizing Committee.

„Come change with us the running sport and watch the live broadcast of the revolutionary marathon The Battle of The Teams and the Czech Marathon Championship on Sunday at 6:15 on the ČT Sport program“ invites RunCzech

Broadcast will be available also on RunCzech YouTube channel and worldwide as well. List of international streaming providers is available here.

Michaela Šimeček

Prague International Marathon, spol. s r.o. / Tempo Team Prague s.r.o.