In Pskov celebrated the 445th anniversary of the defense of the city sports and local history race

October 18 in Pskov for the first time held a mass local history race “Admiring Pskov: beautiful, like Paris!”. The event, which combined running, walking and studying history, was timed to the 445th anniversary of the heroic defense of the city from the troops of the Polish King Stefan Batory. The start of the race took place at the Pokrovskaya Tower on the embankment of the Great River. The route ran along Zapskov, the Finnish Park, Kuznetskaya Street, and then through October Avenue and Kalinin Street. The total length of the distance was almost 9 kilometers. Volunteers were welcomed along the route.

The organizers warned in advance about the seriousness of the distance and asked to soberly assess their strength. There were three categories to choose from: “Meteors” for those who are ready to race at speed, “Speeders” for lovers of fast stride or running with stops, and “Philosophers” for those who chose a measured walk with an audio tour.

According to the methodologist of spiritual and moral direction of the Pskov City Youth Center and the organizer from the youth center Marina Ivanova, more than 150 people took part in the action, mainly young people and middle-aged people - athletes.

“The main goal of the event was historical education through sports and active leisure,” the organizer noted. I wanted people to appreciate the scale of the fortress of the Okolnaya city, to understand why we were compared to Paris.

- What did the participants learn about their hometown?

- Those who chose the category “Philosophers” could go the distance for an audio tour. Its duration was 1 hour 16 minutes. The tour was built on two historical sources of the XVI century - eyewitness accounts from the Polish and Russian sides. Batory's army was huge. On the approach to the city, he took possession of the Red City, Opochka, and the Island without difficulty. Only Pskov was able to stop its expansion into our territories. It ended Batory's career. The importance of our victory in this case is difficult to overestimate, the methodologist stressed.

The name of the race refers to the historical comparison of Pskov with the capital of France. According to Marina Ivanova, in the XVI century the city really amazed contemporaries with its size and power.

- The city was very large, and the fortress was the largest in Russia and the most fortified. A medieval metropolis, you might say. Poles still wrote: in all of Poland there is not such a large and rich city as Pskov.

The event was implemented with the grant funds of the city competition of youth projects “There is an idea” with the support of the Pskov Youth Center and the Committee for Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs of the city of Pskov.