The participants of the charity run, covering a total distance of 740 kilometers, donated sports shoes to more than a hundred disadvantaged children in the Transylvanian city.
The runners of the charity campaign, which started from Bonyhád on Friday and ended on Gyergyószárhegy on Wednesday, arrived in Cluj on Monday in the early afternoon, in front of the Szent Mihály Church in the main square. The four street runners were joined by a group of supported children on the outskirts of the city. They were received in front of the church by Dávid Viktor Kőrösi, senior consul from the Consulate General of Hungary in Cluj-Napoca, and Endre Bónis, head guardian of St. Michael's Parish.
"We belong here and beyond the border, because - as the name of the foundation shows - we are of the same blood," József Forintos, a staff member of the organizer We Are of Blood Foundation, formulated the message of the event, adding: the event that crosses the Romanian-Hungarian border is about the unity of Hungarians in addition to strengthening it, it also draws attention to charity and the importance of donating blood. Organized for the ninth year together with the National Blood Service, blood is collected at locations in Hungary.
In Transylvania, they help by donating sports shoes, which were bought with donations from Hungary.
In addition, on the closing day, a children's festival will be held for 500 disadvantaged children in Gyergyószárhegy, and a five-day sports camp will be organized in Magyarfülpös.
According to József Forintos, sports shoes are given as gifts because they are the basis of most forms of exercise, and if someone is not receptive to sports, they can also use them for going to school.
More than a hundred pairs of shoes were handed over to the supporters of four organizations in Cluj - children from St. Mihály Parish and Aksza Ház with a difficult fate, and university students from Cluj supported by Csaba Böjte and István Gergely (Tiszti). On the previous days, donations were handed out in Nagyszalonta, Nagyvárad and Zsobok, a total of around 300 pairs of shoes will be used.
Ultra runner Tamás Sperka said: he and his three companions complete the daily distance of about one hundred kilometers in relays, he ran 35 kilometers on Monday. "We don't run away from the problem, we run to where it is. We try to pass on the love of sport and exercise to the children," he said.
He added that they also try to show them by personal example that nothing is impossible.
"If you can run 740 kilometers in a couple of days, you can do anything, you just have to want to," he said. He explained: it is a great experience for the runners when local children and adults join them. "They also give us a guided tour and tell us personal stories, which really fills us up," he said.
Since the heat of 30 degrees Celsius is not conducive to running, they switch more often, only running distances of around ten kilometers at a time, so that they can regenerate faster. They try to avoid busy road sections and run on sidewalks, bike paths, and fields, but there are times when they have to drive next to cars. At such times, the majority of Romanian drivers are patient and pay attention to them, but there were instances when the police had to intervene, they were so violent, he said.
The charity run takes place over six days on the 740 kilometer route Bonyhád-Baja-Hódmezővásárhely-Gyula-Nagyszalonta-Nagyvárad-Zsobok-Kolozsvár-Magyarfülpös-Gyergyószárhegy.
Anita Herczegh, chairman of the board of trustees of the István Regőczi Foundation, and Csaba Böjte will welcome the finishers at the finish line on Tatárdomb in Gyergyószárhegy.
MTI
