APEX Future Travel Experience Director runs Kyiv Marathon

“The Kyiv marathon had been on my bucket list for over 20 years – I’ve done it now; so what do you give to the man who has everything? The answer is more! – I’m hoping the APEX Future Travel Experience community will take us well on the way to $12,000.”

Paul Hogan, one of the original shareholders in Future Travel Experience who is still on the Board as an adviser, ran a marathon in Kyiv with his son Max on 11 October, raising $10,800 for Tabletochki, Ukraine’s biggest child cancer charity. You can donate on JustGiving.

“Child oncology has been devasted by Russia’s deliberate targeting of hospitals. Having fought our own battle in which we lost our daughter and Max’s sister – Brontë ‘Bron’ Hogan (1998-2011) – words fail to describe the horrors Ukrainian families have to face with fighting a war on two fronts, in fact one mother told me that she was so absorbed with the difficulties of caring for her poorly daughter that she had entirely forgotten that the shooting war was taking place,” said Hogan.

Originally Paul and Max were scheduled to run the ‘Kyiv Unbroken Marathon’, so-called because it has taken place every year despite the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. However, with a ban on any large gathering due to the increased air raids, even the many veterans and serving heroes who take part have had to concede to a postponement and the move of the marathon 300km westward to Khmelnytskyi.

But the Hogans were determined to run on the streets of Kyiv on the original date. So they took a 24-hour plane-train-auto trip arriving in Kyiv in time to run “An Unbroken Kyiv Marathon” – their very own downtown 42.2km marathon routing planned in association with Max’s “STRAVA friends”, Andrew Marenko, and the Lypovyi Run Club. “Lypovyi’s 50+ runners welcomed us with open arms, allowing us to bolt their 10k Sunday run onto the front of our marathon before we set off separately taking in the sights including several lengths of the Khreshchatyk [which rates as one of my favourite main streets of the world], St Sophia’s Cathedral, the stunning modern Glass Bridge and its sweeping views of the mighty Dnipro River, and then once again along Khreshchatyk to Maidan Square and its devastatingly-tragic Heroes Memorial, near to which we halted to observe the daily Nationwide Minute of Silence.” You can donate on JustGiving.

Just 10k to go – pausing at the Mother Ukraine memorial after ascending the 170-metre climb for the third and final time. The marathon route also took in 1,000-year-old St Sophia’s Cathedral – itself damaged by drone damage.

The route also took in the 170-metre climb to the Mother Ukraine memorial which the pair ascended three times. This climb, along with a lot of other gradients, gave their Kyiv Marathon a total elevation gain exceeding 1.2km; by comparison the London Marathon has a total elevation of just 75 metres.

“Our marathon was very hard, both emotionally and physically, but as a measure of just how tough it is just now for Kyiv’s three million citizens, there were four air raids during the run, including cruise missiles at lunch time for the second day in a row. Then, as Max and I came towards the finish at the Heroes Memorial in Maidan Square, there was a very loud explosion, just a few blocks away. However, we joined all the other citizens of Kyiv and just carried on running.”

Running on the Khreshchatyk: “it rates as one of my favourite main streets of the world.” Paul and Max were welcomed with open arms by local running groups, which helped plan the 42.2km route and ran with the pair for the first 10k. (No GPS was available as the signal is jammed and spoofed to prevent its use for targeting drones.)

While active air raids now span 12 hours per day this month, less than 5% of Kyiv citizens now regularly bother to shelter. One new local running mate explained it very well: “If I sheltered every time, I’d be underground for 15 hours a day, and then I’d soon die for sure, I’d rather take my chances outside.”

It was a gloriously sunny mid-October day, and the well-turned-out citizens of this stoical city were indeed carrying on with their lives, noisily packing out the city’s very-many open-air cafes, and seemingly taking a much greater interest in the two out-of-place Englishmen and their large banner, than they were of the constant barrage. You can donate on JustGiving.

The planned finish at the Heroes Memorial in Maidan Square was highly emotional: “There is just a sea of photos of beautiful young people lost forever, brave young lives who will never see the truly great, courageous and talented country which will ultimately emerge from the completely inevitable victory.”

In this large country of 40 million people aviation is another business on life support – Kyiv’s airports were handling 22 million passengers in 2019 and experiencing 20% growth. “It is not unreasonable to estimate that traffic approaching 40 million could have been expected by now,” comments Hogan. “We are all also very grateful for the great many generous individual donations, but while there is no shortage of love for Ukraine’s child cancer sufferers, there is an acute shortage of resource, the JustGiving link remains live – we don’t expect riches – you’d probably buy us a pint if you saw us in the pub, so why don’t you do just that – just five bucks will go a long way in Ukraine in helping the 400 families currently supported by Tabletochki.”

You can donate on JustGiving.