Moscow, Russia - At the zero kilometer, Resurrection Gate at the Red Square in Moscow, the Junior Athletics marathon "Children against Drugs - I Choose Sport! Towards the Universiade 2013" began on June 1. Each year, the Universal Peace Federation is a co-organizer of the marathon.The Marathon is organized with the support of the Russian Athletics Federation and the Russian Federal Service for Drug Control.
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After the anthem of the Russian Federation, Sergei Suprunyuk, the chairman of the organizing committee of the "Marathon - For a Healthy Lifestyle," addressed the participants of the marathon. He was followed by Galina Frolova, Deputy Chief of the Office of the Federal Service of Drug Control in Moscow; Vladimir V. Usachev, Vice President of the Russian Athletics Federation; and Andrey Novak, President of the fund "Healthy Nation."
The Secretary General of UPF-Eurasia Konstantin V. Krylov also addressed the participants of the marathon during the opening ceremony. He congratulated them with the start of the marathon and said that, along with the International Children's Day, which is celebrated in Russia on June 1, the United Nations declared the International Day of Parents on June 1.
Also a small concert was organized as a part of the program. Some winners and laureates of "Mr. and Ms. University" of Russia over the past several years presented their performances to the audience and were welcomed very well.
Marathon participants, children from 10 to 17 years old, will run through such cities as Sergiev Posad, Pereslavl, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Rybinsk, Ivanovo, Palekh, Chkalov, Volga, Gorodets, Nizhny Novgorod, Lyskovo, Cheboksary, Volzhsk.
The length of the marathon is 1,200 km, and it will finish in Kazan. After that, they will pass the baton to the next group who will continue this marathon to Paris!
"The main slogan of this marathon is "Yes to Sport; No to Drugs," said the chairman of the organizing committee of the "Marathon for a Healthy Lifestyle," Sergei Suprunyuk.
[Also in honor of the Global Day of Parents, UPF organized a seminar on June 1 in Novosibirsk on "The Family as the School of Love and Peace."]