Georgia Announces Wings for Life Goodwill Ambassadors
Wings for Life Georgia is an annual charity run in the eastern region of Kakheti, with all proceeds going to spinal cord research. Runs are held on the same day, at the same time around the world, creating, according to the Wings for Life foundation, the world's largest charity sporting event.
This year, the race will be held on May 5 and will start at the Lopota turning point.
Each year, the run has goodwill ambassadors. For 2019, the Georgian goodwill ambassadors were announced on Wednesday evening at an event at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia. The ambassadors are two members of the Georgian military, Besarion Ghudushauri and Giorgi Jabakhidze, a fire and rescue professional with the Emergency Management Service, Aleksandre Shukvani, and public school teacher Vladimer Apkhazava.
Lieutenant Colonel Besarion Ghudushauri served in the Georgian Army during the 2008 Russia-Georgia War and in Afghanistan in 2013-2014 as part of the NATO peacekeeping mission. He was Deputy Defence Attache of Georgia to the Baltic states won two gold medals at the Invictus Games in Canada and Australia. Corporal Giorgi Jabakhidze, a member of the 4th Mechanised Brigade of the Georgian armed forces who fought in the 2008 conflict and claimed two Invictus Games gold medals between 2017-2018. Aleksandre Shukvani saved a nine-month-old from a fire in Tbilisi last year and was hailed as a hero. Vladimer Apkhazava, won the 2017 National Teacher Prize in Georgia and was nominated for the 2018 Global Teacher Prize.
The event Wednesday evening was attended by Minister of Education Mikheil Batiashvili and British Olympic track and field champion Colin Jackson, International Sports Director of the World Run.
"It is a major honour to be a goodwill ambassador for the Wings of Life World Run. Promoting healthy lifestyle is crucial, particularly when it comes to charity. I encourage everyone to become part of this year's run," said Shukvani.
As Wings for Life describes the race, "The Wings for Life World Run is perfect for everyone, of every ability, because you set your own goals and you don’t head toward a distant finish line. Instead, the finish line catches up with you. A half hour after the race starts, a moving finish line, the “Catcher Car,” chases runners along the course, gradually getting faster until each one is caught. The first runners passed after a few kilometers are the first to celebrate their accomplishments, while the last man and woman to be caught are declared Global Champions. (92.14 km is the current record!)"
2019 will be the sixth year the race has been held in Georgia.
For more information on Wings for Life, click here.
By Samantha Guthrie
Photo: Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sport