On June 19th 2018 at 10:00 in Chelyabinsk, a festival of Peace dedicated to the 30-year anniversary of the Run for Peace will be held at the Victory Garden (Sad Pobedy), with a ceremonial meeting of the Western branch of the Peace Run Russian Torch Relay in Tyumen – Moscow – Stavropol.
At the opening ceremony of the international relay race near the UN headquarters in New York on April 10th, 2018, diplomats and famous athletes wished the runners from various countries good luck on the road. The Vice Consul of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York, Evgeniy Uspenskiy, gave kind words of farewell.
On Russia Day (June 12th) in Tyumen, the two main Russian branches were launched – the Western and the Eastern. 15000km will be run on Russian roads by volunteers whose hearts wished to carry the torch, a symbol of peace. The participants of the Western branch, having run past Ural lakes and the capital of our motherland, Moscow, over the steppes of the Volga region and the foothills of the Caucuses will finish in Stavropol on September 21st, 2018 on the International Day of Peace, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly as a day of refraining from violence and a cease fire around the world.
Among the main goals of the relay are to offer the chance for everyone to touch the torch of peace and express their wishes for friendship, harmony, and unity. Join the Peace Run, and you’ll become a participant in a surprising, creative event, the goal of which is the development and support of the culture of peace around the world!
During the torch run, millions of people – from children to elderly people, common citizens and world leaders – will unite. Every person who dreams of and truly hopes for the chance for peace in the world can strengthen the global wave of friendship and goodwill.
The goal of the Peace Run relay is to strengthen and develop peace and friendship between nations, mutual understanding, tolerance, harmony and unity, propagandize healthy lifestyle, and bringing people in to sports.
The Peace Run is an amazing and large social project from the Fund for Supporting the Development of Culture and Sport “International Relay of Harmony”, as the teams run simultaneously in various territories of Russia. The main participants of the Peace Run are teams of volunteers – sports enthusiasts, professional athletes and amateurs, who will pass the torch from hand to hand and heart to heart. The good example of the active lifestyle of runners is important, as is bringing children in to healthy lifestyles.
The program of the Chelyabinsk festival of Peace includes: concerts with performances by children’s groups, artists of national cultural centers, and bards; the welcoming of sporting officials and veterans; a presentation by the Peace Run team; releasing balloons with good wishes; games; contests; the Peace Run relay with the team; fun runs for children; the dance of friendship, in which everyone can touch the torch; pictures with the torch; and photos with the team.
Chelyabinsk residents, let’s support the team’s athletes. Peace Run gives them a unique chance to take part in a large event, expressing clearly and simply one’s desire for peace and unity on Earth by simply touching the torch. Every day in the world, there are conflicts in families. So it is good to strengthen our “inner world” and assert peace again and again. Who will care for the peace? We will, by joining and having fun together. In this relay, the most important thing is to take part. Every Chelyabinsk resident has a new chance to support the ideas of the relay and take part in moving the torch for peace along with the team around our city to Victory Garden and have their own small, but real impact on strengthening peace on Earth.
The festival is a bright, happy, sunny, inspiring, happy celebration of friendship. You can make your contribution to the cause of peace: sing, play, read poetries, perform, present drawings dedicated to peace and friendship and give them to the team. Any contribution of your soul and heart is important to us – we will be happy to see you. Everyone is invited. Everyone, no matter their level of training and age, can take part in the relay – for this you simply have to carry the torch for even a few meters or simply hold it in your hands, expressing in this way your good will.
The Peace Run is the longest torch relay in the history of many, in which participants run the distance and can be greeted on the road by looking at the path they take on the relay website.
The idea for the Peace Run torch relay was created by Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007) a famous public figure and humanitarian, athlete, and peace-bringer, who held many meetings in the UN headquarters dedicated to peace and harmony. The relay is named in his honor - Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run.
The total distance of the runs across Russia this year is 15000 km.
After overcoming the vast stretches and mighty rivers of Siberia, the runners of the Western branch will finish their run in Vladivostok on August 24th. The team of the Asian-Pacific region will cross the border of the Russian Federation on June 22nd in the Altai Republic and, overcoming the most mountainous section of the relay in our country, they will meat with the Eastern branch on June 30th in the Novosibirsk region. The Russian team will meet with the European team on the border of Poland and the Kaliningrad region on July 1st to run together across the easternmost region of Russia. The Smolensk branch also began on Russia Day and will finish in Bryansk on June 19th. The Crimea branch will begin their run along the coast of the Black Sea on September 14th and finish on September 18th in Kerchi.
In 2018, the relay will take place in the territories of over 100 countries, including Russia, European, African, and South-East Asian countries, Canada, USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico. The total distance of the relay will be more than 70 thousand kilometers.
You can send your support and well wishes for peace on Earth and carry the torch by joining the relay participants. You can find the schedule and more information at www.peacerun.ru.