The team of Ural Plant of Deicing Materials took part in the 76th city-wide relay race in Krasnokamsk. The district administration and Krasnokamskaya Zvezda newspaper are the constant organisers of the sports event.
The first relay was held back in 1944 under the slogans "For the Motherland!" and "For Victory!" There were five teams and 65 participants at that time. After the war, for a long time there were no competitions in the city, and only in 1950 the "Molodaya Gvardia" newspaper offered to revive the popular relay race. The "Krasnokamskaya Zvezda" newspaper took over the baton from the organisers at a later time.
In the 1950s, amateur runners trained under the guidance of Valentin Makarov and Leonid Ozhegov. It was thanks to these remarkable athletes and teachers that Krasnokamsk became known as a sports town in the entire Perm Krai. In 1959, Makarov's apprentices set a Prikamye record in the 4x100m relay, which has stood for a full 25 years!
Another record was set in 1964: the relay in Krasnokamsk brought together 400 sports enthusiasts, turning the sporting event into a real town festival.
Valentin Fedorovich Makarov has been the permanent judge of the relay for 34 years.
This year's event attracted 20 teams from schools and organisations of the district. The relay race took place at the stadium of School No. 5 and along the central streets in two stages: first the novice athletes from general educational institutions, second the representatives of businesses and organisations.
The team of Ural Plant of Deicing Materials took part in the relay race for the first time and showed good results. However, they did not manage to take the podium this year - representatives of the Sports School of Olympic Reserve in sambo and judo were the undisputed leaders.
"This is the first time we have taken part in the relay and we are enjoying the sports excitement, a celebration of spring and health," commented Svetlana Volchkova, UZPM's warehouse logistics manager. "Our team did not train in advance, which may be the reason why it did not manage to achieve outstanding results, but we tested our endurance, speed and... teamwork. We will definitely take part in the relay next year, as many of the plant's employees love sports and practice an active lifestyle."