History

The race history
The Wine Halfmarathon of Pardubice – history and present days

          The present wine halfmarathon of Pardubice follows more than 40-year old tradition of organizing mass running competitions. Till the early 90s the run was organized as „Liberation Run“ on traditional date of the 9.th of May, on the track 25 kilometres long between the towns of Pardubice and Chrudim plus back to Pardubice. From that time to 2005 the track between Pardubice and Chrudim was fitted for the length of traditional halfmarathon, so that oficial competions could take place on it and the times could be counted as in a regular athletic discipline – halfmarathon. In 2006 the track left the town of Chrudim and the run was organized just on the streets and neighbourhood of the town of Pardubice. For the all decades the run was held just because of selfless work of organisers from athletic club based in the stadium in the district of „Dukla“ in Pardubice, from the historical point of view called: „Rudá hvězda Pardubice“, „AFK SKP Pardubice“ and „Hvězda Pardubice“.

          For almost 40 years of history of the run a countless number of runners took part in the race, including the top Czech runners – men and women, but also many professional and amateur runners of both sex and all age categories. During the decade of 90s professional runners from abroad started to attend the race, a lot of them also won the run. In the period when the run took place on the rugged track between Pardubice and Chrudim the race was very demanding especialy in the way of running readiness. Giving up during the run was totally useless since the finish was back in Pardubice. Despite the good and long tradition of the run, excellent work by organisers and also big popularity among the public the run still remained for most runners „the lonely run of a cross-country runner“ on the roads between the two towns.

          Since the year 2003 a hotelier Oldřich Bujnoch has participated on the organization of the run, which also gained the attribute of wine. At that time also an idea of moving the run on the streets of Pardubice gradually came to mind of the organisers. They wanted the race to be a mass social and sport event of the city and to put the runners in the spotlight. This concept took place for the first time in the year 2007, when the runners ran through the centre of Pardubice. Since that time the race has become so popular that it also attracted attention of foreign runners – mostly sportsmen and sportswomen from Kenya, who confidently won last years of the race.

          The race in the centre of Pardubice has been very demanding on the organisers especially in the way of finances but on the other hand growing interest and growing number of runners have been really rewarding. Between the years 2007 and 2009 the hotelier Oldřich Bujnoch organized the run together with the athletic club AC Pardubice, since the year 2010 a newly formed sport club KPA Pardubice has been the organiser.

           The term in April is not only the halfmarathon run but it is also a part and a top of an important social and sport event of the town of Pardubice. The folk run for organized groups or even comers, the ride of in-line skaters and the Czech cup race of handbikes of handicapped sportspersons have been implemented to the programme of the race. A lot of cultural programmes and events take place in „Pernštýnské square“ during the race.

          In the year 2010 the run joined the three biggest sport events of this kind in the Czech Republic (also in Prague and Olomouc), when more the 1,000 runners took part in the race. The quality of the race was also awarded by ČAS (Czech athletic association) so in 2011 the Wine Halfmarathon of Pardubice was held as the Championship of the Czech Republic in halfmarathon of men and women and the number of participants grew up to 1,200 runners.

          The success and quality of the race were also proved in 2012 again as the Championship of the Czech Republic in halfmarathon. The aim of organisers is to attract the highest possible number of Czech professional runners to make the race mostly national sport event.

           In the year 2014 the race was extended by the race of scooters in halfmarathon. The reward for all of us is the ability to hold the Championship of the Czech Republic in halfmarathon also in years 2015 – 2016 – 2017.

Let our run develops also in the future.
Oldřich Bujnoch