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The Nation Race

On May 17, 2015

A few weeks ago my colleague Yana wrote an article about a new race that will take place near Kyiv, modelled on the famously hard ‘tough mudder‘ races from the UK. The pointlessly patriotically-named ‘Nation Race’ puts participants through various physical challenges during a run around a very hilly and quite muddy course which covers part of a dirt-bike race track on the outskirts of Kyiv.

After publishing the article, Yana then declared that she would enter the race and ‘give it a go’, bravely declaring that she didn’t care if it defeated her because it would be fun. This inspired me and a week later I also declared that I would run. We could run together and support each other as two totally unprepared but enthusiastic novices.

5 days before the race I attempted the first ‘run’ of this year and covered 3km without dying. On Thursday I did 5km and it almost died. Then I hobbled to work and first Yana called to tell me she was sick and couldn’t race and then Anastasia (who booked my ticket) came to confess that she had booked me on the ‘Elite’ race!

In one day I went from being part of a ‘have-a-go’ team, to being the most un-elite ‘Elite’ athlete who’s ever entered a race.

“F**k that!” I said. “I’m not doing it”.

However, over the next two days we hatched a plan which would allow me to enter the ‘standard race’ (albeit unofficially) and so I decided to give it a go. I warmed-up with a hotdog and a coffee and at 9:30 on Saturday morning I was running around a muddy obstacle course on a hill outside Kyiv. It was hard (as expected) but not impossible and amazingly I survived the full race with only one penalty (30 burpees) for not climbing a rope. About an hour later I jumped through some fire and ran through a large muddy puddle to the finish line accompanied by a girl who had travelled from Russia to participate.

My reward: a free t-shirt, a banana and an Obolon beer.

Nice touch!

I gave the banana to Anastasia and drank the celebratory beer.

Kyiv Life. Bombs, Babushkas and Sunshine

By Ian Bearder

On May 9, 2012

In Bearder, Ukraine

Bombs

On the 27th April, a series of bombs exploded in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk. The bombs were planted in dustbins around the city and whilst nobody were killed, many people were injured including a number of children. As far as I know, the blasts haven’t been claimed by any group and nobody has been arrested or charged over the attacks. Living in Kiev, the strangest thing for me was the complete absence of any security operation here. OK, something may have happened behind the scenes but I walked past the presidential buildings on the evening of the attacks and there was almost no security. If bombs went off in Birmingham, I’m sure the response in London would be considerable.

Oh, and for the record, Dnipropetrovsk is not a host city for the EURO 2012 finals. The international press seemed to have a problem with this.

Storms without rain

The weather this month has been amazing. We bounced from penguin weather to +30 almost overnight, and it has really put a smile on the face of the city. Ukrainian men swapped their flat-caps for gangster-esque sunglasses and the girls swapped their high-heels for summer high-heels.

Since Thursday we’ve had more rain and while the sunshine is still here, so are the thunders storms.

In the UK we get thunder about twice a year, you never see fork lightning and storms always bring rain. Here its a whole different ball game. Last Thursday I stood on a hill in Podil which overlooks half of the city and watched lightning flashes closed in from both sides of the river. We decided to move, but as the storms blew-over our heads we stayed outside for the rest of the evening in nothing but a light sprinkle of rain.

The same happened on Friday as I walked home from Pushcha Voditsa. Lots of noise, large cracks of lightning and no rain.

Trams and tramps

I went to Pushcha Voditsa because I need to do a serious amount of walking before I walk around Mt. Blanc at the beginning of July, and as the walk home is 50% forest paths, it’s the perfect place to do it. On the tram there, a round-face babushka who was wearing a baseball cap sat-down next to me and did what all good Ukrainians do when the suspect you’re a foreigner – she asked my the time. I told her in very bad Russian and she looked smug because she had ousted me. Maybe she learnt this in a communist youth camp or something, but when I said I was from Great Britain her boyish face lit-up like the sun. She gave me two thumbs-up and said it was a great country. Ukraine, she said, was awful and then she made a fist sign with one thumb stuck between her index and middle fingers. She looked mischievous and said something unpleasant about President Yanukovych. “Write about it” she said, after hearing that I was a journalist, and then she repeated the same thing again, this time in reverse (bad words about the president followed by the fist and thumb).

By the time we arrived at the edge of the city, she was involved in an animated conversation with a middle aged man and a 20 year-old Ukrainian boy who she thought was my friend.

I looked out of the window and another babushka was pulling the ear of a drunk tramp who had fallen asleep next to a bus shelter with his head on a rock. The guy sat-up and looked confused while the old woman told him to get up and kept pulling his arm. He didn’t look like he was going to move, but she looked equally determined to make him.

I didn’t see how it ended because the tram crawled off into the forest, but I wondered why Ukrainians do this. I saw it before outside my office when a guy in a suit climbed out of his expensive car and started laying into the tramp that was sleeping on the bench. Shouting at tramps seems to be fair game in Ukraine.

For the rest of the journey I answered the usual questions out not having a wife, the beauty of Ukrainian girls and the location of my parents etc. I climbed off the tram as we arrived, said goodbye and then walked off into the forest. They looked at me like I was a weirdo.

Book

On Monday 7th May I finally took delivery of my first ever book. I can officially call myself an author.

English?

There are adverts all over the Kyiv metro advertising a language school called Speak Up. If you’re Ukrainian and want to learn English, I seriously recommend you don’t study there. The single sentence on the poster in English, is incorrect. It’s quite incredible that a school advertising English classes could be that stupid, but there you go.

Kiev is better than Moscow

Dnepr river in Kiev (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Saturday my Italian friend came to visit for three days. She’s been working in Moscow for a year and before she left on Monday, she confirmed what everyone always tells me when they come here from Moscow – Kyiv is so much nicer. The people are friendlier, the air is cleaner, the city is nicer.

Running Babushkas

I was working the night-shift this week and this means I take the metro home early in the morning. Every time I do, I stare in amazement at the running babushkas (grandmas). Nobody has been able to explain why, but if you stand in Klovska metro at 6am, you’ll see 70 year-old women running (even sprinting) between the metro stations. Would it be wrong to film it and post it here?

Guys with guns

This week there appears to be more police standing at each metro station. There’s always been at least one, but now there’s almost always four or five. I’m not sure if this is meant to make me feel more secure, but it doesn’t. For those who are unfamiliar with Ukraine’s boys in blue, they mostly stand around looking bored/shifty, wearing uniforms that are slightly too big and smoking. They’re not unlike naughty schoolboys except they have guns.

Running in Kyiv won’t kill you

By Ian Bearder

On April 18, 2012

In Bearder, Ukraine

After six days of eat-all-you-like holiday laziness last week, I woke up in Kyiv this morning in a panic. In just 19 days time I am supposed to be running the 15km road race at the Kyiv Marathon, and I’m about as healthy as chicken kebab with cheese and double mayonnaise.

I need to get running, but where?

Kyiv is a wonderfully green city but that doesn’t always translate into ‘nice for running’. There are many reasons for this: the roads and pavements (that’s a side walk if you’re American) are wide but they’re often in bad condition, the drivers drive with little or no consideration for pedestrians (and even drive on the pavements), and the stray dogs take great delight in chasing and terrorising anyone they see exercising.

In short, jogging in Kyiv isn’t very popular and it isn’t always jolly. However, it definitely is possible. In fact, it is an incredibly good way to see the city and to explore the hidden back streets and curious courtyards which you would otherwise never pass.

The city is also quite hilly, so depending on your mood and/or level of fitness, you can also run up and back down some steep slopes.

Anyway, as I lay on my bed to consider my dilemma (where to run?) I logged into couchsurfing.com and as if by magic, someone had posted a link to an article in the local press: ‘The top 10 routes for jogging in Kyiv’

I don’t know who wrote the original, but afisha.tochka.net has the article in Russian along with some useful maps to help you on your way.

I decided to use it for this article and below is an English version which I ‘ran’ through google-translate and then tweaked to make it readable. At the end I’ve also included a couple of my own routes.

If you have any other advice, or if you know any other nice places to run please let us know by leaving a comment at the end.

Top 10 places to run in Kiev, in reverse order

Number 10. The Park at Babi Yar

Its quite a large park, but instead of tarmac/asphalt it has slab paving which can be a nuisance. I’ve never run there, but if you don’t mind running on the grass, and you’re not put off by its history, then give it a try.

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209867726182148322643.0004bd8fc3e447c490e22&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.485692,30.441055&spn=0.038228,0.109863&z=13&iwloc=0004bd8fc783de2a78c86&output=embed]

Number 9. The “Spartak”stadium

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209867726182148322643.0004bd8fc3e447c490e22&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.486893,30.488777&spn=0.019114,0.054932&z=14&iwloc=0004bd8fcf0bbc0ba2ab3&output=embed]

Stadium running seems to be the most popular form of running in Kyiv (perhaps because of the aforementioned problems), and if you want to exercise like a Spartan warrior, try the Spartak stadium. The stadium is equipped with a rubberized running track, which according to the original article ‘is very pleasing to the races’. You wont get killed by an Oligarch in a Range Rover here, but you won’t see much of the city either. The nearest metro is probably Petrivka.

Number Eight. Solomensky Park

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209867726182148322643.0004bd8fc3e447c490e22&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.433126,30.495729&spn=0.019135,0.054932&z=14&iwloc=0004bd8fd2a8f38fec8d3&output=embed]

Like many other routes, this route is also quite far from a metro stop, however the park has may hills and winding trails which will give your legs a god workout.

Apparently there are also several stadiums nearby, but you’ll have to find them yourself.

Number 7. Palm Lake Waterfront

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209867726182148322643.0004bd8fc3e447c490e22&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.493719,30.517187&spn=0.019111,0.054932&z=14&iwloc=0004bd8fd642cff7a16fb&output=embed]

This sounds like it should be in Miami, but apparently its in Obolon and its advisable to choose a route on the other side of Moscow Avenue because it will be quieter. Its also advisable to run early in the morning or late in the evening otherwise you’ll have to run along with the traffic and trucks.

A good alternative to the Palm Lake neighbourhood is the Obolonska embankment. It runs along the side of the Dniper (the big river that splits Kyiv in two) and its a great place for running, walking and cycling.

Number 6. The Rusanovsky channel

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209867726182148322643.0004bd8fc3e447c490e22&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.452804,30.592461&spn=0.038255,0.109863&z=13&iwloc=0004bd8fd9dc4f4c6b52c&output=embed]

This is the first route on the wrong bank, sorry I mean left bank. Its a picturesque place for a morning jog and it is not far from the subway. If you run near the water, you can relax afterwards and feed the ducks who live near the bridge. You can run both on the road parallel to the channel and along the boulevard that separates the artificial island.

Number Five. The Path of Health

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209867726182148322643.0004bd8fc3e447c490e22&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.422956,30.699577&spn=0.038279,0.109863&z=13&iwloc=0004bd8fe834df527693b&output=embed]

With its appropriate name, this route is in a historic part of Kyiv which has long been used for fitness. The route begins in the park of Partisan Glory in the Red Farm. The trail goes through the entire park and ends in the woods.

Be careful of the two railway lines and a road that cross through the route.

Number 4. The National Botanic Garden

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209867726182148322643.0004bd8fc3e447c490e22&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.419019,30.555897&spn=0.038282,0.109863&z=13&iwloc=0004bd8ff33ca251b57a6&output=embed]

This old Kyiv park (founded in 1918), with its massive trees and rough terrain is a great place to run and it is open from September to April from 8:00 am until dark, and in the summer – from 8:30 to 21:00. The closest metro (Druhzby Narodiv) is about 10 minutes away, but annoyingly you’ll need to take some money with you as the admission fee is 5 or 10 UAH.

If you get tired of running, checkout the greenhouse gardens and the butterfly house. Both are wonderful.

Number 3. Park avenue

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209867726182148322643.0004bd8fc3e447c490e22&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.452422,30.536499&spn=0.009564,0.027466&z=15&iwloc=0004bd8ff33cbe7037225&output=embed]

This one is very good if you’re in the city centre. The route goes along the ‘green zone’ on the slope that overlooks the Dnipro River and ~~wrong~~ left bank of Kyiv. It is no accident that the Kiev Marathon incorporates this route as part of the marathon route.

Number 2. Taras Shevchenko park.

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209867726182148322643.0004bd8fc3e447c490e22&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.443158,30.513668&spn=0.009566,0.027466&z=15&iwloc=0004bd8ffe13392de58ff&output=embed]

Of course, Taras Shevchenko had to appear somewhere in this guide.

Located in the heart of the city TS park is one of the best kept parks in the city. Its convenient location in the centre has obvious advantages, but it has its disadvantages: an evening run around the park can be very difficult because of the large number of people. It’s also not very big, so you’ll need to run quite a lot of laps if you want a good workout.

There’s a fountain in the park which you can drink from – a great little bonus.

Number 1. Mariinsky Park

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209867726182148322643.0004bd8fc3e447c490e22&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.447612,30.53607&spn=0.009565,0.027466&z=15&iwloc=0004bd8ffe13565b876c5&output=embed]

With its central location, well kept paths and absence of cars – Mariinsky Park is a favourite with walkers and joggers alike. If you get tired of running around at the Mariinsky, then you can go down to the stadium “Dynamo” or run the other way – in the Park of Glory which goes all the way to the Motherland statue.

All-in-all, the combined parks and monuments that line the river on the right bank offer some of the best and safest places to run in the city.

Bearder’s Bonus Routes…

Here are a few of my own favourites.

Bonus A. Trikhaniv Island

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=207614664960824099481.0004b1a0f426062925c00&hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.459253,30.536671&spn=0.052456,0.109863&z=13&output=embed]

I’m amazed that this didn’t make the top 10. Perhaps someone is trying to keep this secret for their own running pleasure? Anyway, you reach the island by crossing the footbridge near Poshtova Ploscha Metro station and once you get there, you have endless possibilities. You can stay on the roads, run through small forest tracks or even run along the beach. Despite the fact that you’re right in the city centre, you’d never know it because all you can see is forest. Also, if you take some money and you run in the evening, you can relax and enjoy a post-run beer at one of the bars near the footbridge.

Bonus B. Druhzby Narodiv hill.

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=207614664960824099481.000493fce27004c288089&hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=50.413878,30.535469&spn=0.052507,0.109863&z=13&output=embed]

I used to run this route when I lived in the area and its for those who don’t mind running on the pavements/sidewalks.

The route runs along some main roads, but the pavement is wide, clear and easy to run along and half of the route takes you through quiet residential areas. Its not a very long run, but almost exactly half of it is down hill and the other half uphill so its a great workout.

Ian

Have any other suggestions? Please let us know.Also, if you’re interested in running the Kyiv Marathon, don’t forget to register here. It takes place on the 6th May.

Tag: running

The Nation Race

Kyiv Life. Bombs, Babushkas and Sunshine

Running in Kyiv won’t kill you

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