The Ministry of National Defence and the Region of Attica hosted the 14 kilometers long public race, titled “Race of Memory and Honour: Block 15 (Chaidari Camp) – Skopeftirio – Kaisariani” on Sunday 15 October 2017. The hosting of the event is part of the cycle of activities and events under the general title “Liberated Athens”, on the occasion of 12th October, the day Athens was liberated in 1944 from the Nazi occupation troops.
The Alternate Minister of National Defence Dimitris Vitsas gave the go-ahead for the race to start, at 08:30 in the morning, in front of the Block-15 building of the prisoners sentenced to death in the KARAISKAKI A’ Chaidari Camp. The race finished at the site of executions in Skopeftirio – Kaisariani, in front of the National Resistance Museum, following the usual route of the prisoners sentenced to death, chosen by the German trucks to transport the rebel fighters. After the race had finished the participants visited the site of executions and laid flowers.
360 runners participated in the race, including many students from military academies as well as cadres of the Armed Forces. In total 360 runners finished the race in Kaisariani, meaning all of the runners who started the race from Chaidari.
The first three runners in men’s category were: First, Sergeant Ioannis Zervakis who finished the race in 50 minutes and 17 seconds. Second, Nikolaos Tsidonis student of the Officers’ Academy of the Hellenic Police who finished the race in 53 minutes and 52 seconds. Third, Efthimios Zablakos student of the NCOs School who finished the race in 56 minutes and 31 seconds.
The first three runners in women’s category are: First, the student of the Hellenic Military Academy (Evelpidon) Kalliopi Gavra who finished the race in 1 hour, 7 minutes and 17 seconds. Second, Maria Kalaitzi student of the NCOs School who finished the race in 1 hour, 8 minutes and 10 seconds. Third, Sergeant Major Efstathia Orfanidou who finished the race in 1 hour, 9 minutes and 56 seconds.
The race’s technical support was managed by the Secretariat of the Supreme Sports Council of the Armed and Security Forces in cooperation with the Region of Attica. The runners were bearing messages thrown in the street by the prisoners sentenced to death while on the German trucks, which were imprinted on their runner’s shirt along with their participation number.
The following officials attended the ceremony for the start of the race in Chaidari and the ceremony at the finish line in Kaisariani:
The Alternate Minister of National Defence Dimitris Vitsas, the Alternate Minister of Citizen Protection Nikos Toskas, the Alternate Minister of Rural Development and Food Giannis Tsironis, the Head of the Region of Attica Rena Dourou, the MP of SΥΡΙΖΑ Eleni Avlonitou on behalf of the Hellenic Parliament, the MP Anna Karamanli on behalf of the New Democracy party, the MP of SYRIZA Chara Kafantari and other representatives of parties and the local self-governments. Furthermore, the Special Secretary of the Hellenic Ministry of National Defence Kalliopi Papaleonida, Lt General Konstantinos Floros Deputy Chief of HNDGS, Lt General Nikolaos Manouris Army Inspector General on behalf of the Chief of HAGS, Rear Admiral Panagiotis Lymperis on behalf of the Chief of HNGS, Brigadier General Georgios Fasoulas on behalf of the Chief of HAFGS, from the National Council for the Claiming of Reparations owed to Greece by Germany Manolis Glezos, Stefanos Lineos and the retired Lt General Dimitris Alevromagiros.
The Alternate Minister of National Defence Dimitris Vitsas while addressing the attendants during the start of the race ceremony in the Chaidari Camp stated the following:
“We have before our eyes a living thing. The fact that this race has become an institution, for which we will be proud because we contributed in its establishment. I am also even prouder of you, the participants. You, who bear the messages of the Greek men and women patriots who were sentenced to death, have turned this event into an institution.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Armed Forces military academies, which contribute along with the citizens to the establishment of this institution. We prove once more that nothing was given to us, the men and women of Greece. On one hand we earned our sovereignty and our independence and we allow no one to call that into question and on the other hand we show our decisiveness to transfer what was given to us by people who shed their blood for freedom, to the next generations, with the same courage, firmly, the same pride which they preserved in different conditions, establishing a climate of security, democracy and bearing the torch of freedom for all generations.
We begin here from Block 15, where people who were sentenced to death were held. We bear with us their messages. Each of the participants along with his/her number has a message of a Greek patriot on his/her way to execution with the head held high, with the power of the soul, bearing the history and the desire for the freedom of future generations.
The fact that even now we are able to have our political disputes and conduct a great democratic conversation, is owed to these people, because they have established the conditions for us to act thus and find, as a country, the way to march forward together.
So let us begin and let us keep in mind that the Ministry of National Defence and the Region of Attica, whose initiatives and decisive contribution to the prominence of that spirit I greatly appreciate, hold this kind of events not solely to pay homage to the fallen ones, but mainly to relive that memory and transfer it to our modern history”.
