Profsoyuzy (Trade Unions) A team gets A+ for the relay
Participants and spectators of the 75th traditional Garden Ring relay enjoyed the unseasonably warm and sunny weather, which descended on the Russian capital over the holidays. Three clear-cut favorites, Profsoyuzy A and B teams and “Dynamo”, began juggling the lead early in the race. Profsoyuzy A, which had won the race in its seven previous editions, and was composed of the Moscow “Luch” club members, saved its best for the later stages of the relay consisting of the total of 30 legs. Both Profsoyuzy B, which for the most part enlisted the services of “Luch” Yekaterinburg runners (only eight athletes came from other Russian cities), and “Dynamo” decided to put up a fight, and not without success, as Profsoyuzy A found themselves lingering in third or fourth position early in the race.
Things picked up as an uncompromising contest ensued between the reigning European 1500 m Champ Yekaterina Puzanova, who got the hand-off first from her “Dynamo” teammate, Yulia Kosenkova and Irina Mistyukevich, who left the exchange zone at the same time, and Svetlana Cherkasova, who started in fourth and was not able to improve. Two-time European Cup winner Irina Mistyukevich, however, not only pulled away from Kosenkova, but also outsprinted the fading Puzanova over the final meters of this electrifying leg.
Yuriy Borzakovskiy took center stage at the next, 5th, leg and did just what was expected of him, propelling “Dynamo” back into the lead with a powerful surge. Then it was Profsoyuzy B in the limelight, claiming the lead, while the A team moved into second right behind them over leg 7. This status quo did not change until one of the central stages of the relay, the Znamenskiy brothers memorial leg. Andrey Zadorozhniy erased the lead, then managed to drop Roman Koval before their duel was over. From then out, Profsoyuzy B watched their A team counterparts pull farther and farther away. The gap widened when the pursuing team produced a less-than-perfect exchange at stage 21. At that point in the relay it became clear that the baton handled for Profsoyuzy A by some of Russia’s finest runners, Sergey Kozhevnikov, Vyacheslav Shabunin, Dmitriy Golovastov and Boris Gorban, would cross the finish line first. And so it did, in a time of 34.52,4. It is worth noting here that the same team crossed the finish line in 35.01 in winning last year’s edition of the relay, and only needed to run a full minute slower to take the title in 2000. Profsoyuzy B claimed second place almost 50 seconds behind the winner with a time of 35.39,2, improving two notches from their 4th place finish last year. “Dynamo” ended up in third in 35.51,6.
The following individual awards were presented at this year’s edition of the Garden Ring relay:
Znamensky brothers award – Andrey Zadorozhniy
Nikolay Karakulov award – Yuriy Borzakovskiy
German Kolodniy award – Olesya Zykina
Yevgeniya Sechenova award – Natalya Ignatova
Aleksandra Chudina award – Marina Kislova
Nikolay Pudov award – Andrey Fedorenko
Aleksandr Pugachevskiy award – Dmitriy Onufrienko
Things picked up as an uncompromising contest ensued between the reigning European 1500 m Champ Yekaterina Puzanova, who got the hand-off first from her “Dynamo” teammate, Yulia Kosenkova and Irina Mistyukevich, who left the exchange zone at the same time, and Svetlana Cherkasova, who started in fourth and was not able to improve. Two-time European Cup winner Irina Mistyukevich, however, not only pulled away from Kosenkova, but also outsprinted the fading Puzanova over the final meters of this electrifying leg.
Yuriy Borzakovskiy took center stage at the next, 5th, leg and did just what was expected of him, propelling “Dynamo” back into the lead with a powerful surge. Then it was Profsoyuzy B in the limelight, claiming the lead, while the A team moved into second right behind them over leg 7. This status quo did not change until one of the central stages of the relay, the Znamenskiy brothers memorial leg. Andrey Zadorozhniy erased the lead, then managed to drop Roman Koval before their duel was over. From then out, Profsoyuzy B watched their A team counterparts pull farther and farther away. The gap widened when the pursuing team produced a less-than-perfect exchange at stage 21. At that point in the relay it became clear that the baton handled for Profsoyuzy A by some of Russia’s finest runners, Sergey Kozhevnikov, Vyacheslav Shabunin, Dmitriy Golovastov and Boris Gorban, would cross the finish line first. And so it did, in a time of 34.52,4. It is worth noting here that the same team crossed the finish line in 35.01 in winning last year’s edition of the relay, and only needed to run a full minute slower to take the title in 2000. Profsoyuzy B claimed second place almost 50 seconds behind the winner with a time of 35.39,2, improving two notches from their 4th place finish last year. “Dynamo” ended up in third in 35.51,6.
The following individual awards were presented at this year’s edition of the Garden Ring relay:
Znamensky brothers award – Andrey Zadorozhniy
Nikolay Karakulov award – Yuriy Borzakovskiy
German Kolodniy award – Olesya Zykina
Yevgeniya Sechenova award – Natalya Ignatova
Aleksandra Chudina award – Marina Kislova
Nikolay Pudov award – Andrey Fedorenko
Aleksandr Pugachevskiy award – Dmitriy Onufrienko
Календарь событий
