CMK Metallurgists - Again on the Highest Step of the Medal Podium
May 2, 2024
The 72nd traditional athletic race dedicated to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War was held on May 1 in the city of Stupino. Among the participants were 24 athletes from CMK. In support of our teams, a young team consisting of 12 children of metallurgists - a total of three teams representing the Company - also entered the competition.
Five hundred sprinters
37 teams started the relay race, divided into 12 stages of different levels of difficulty. The sports competition was fierce, the passion among the fans was off the scale, and the desire to win was boundless.
Yulia Kalinina, deputy head of the district, welcomed the participants of the competition: "According to a good tradition, we are holding a relay race. I wish you vigor of spirit, health and may the strongest win", - said the officer.
The guest of honor at the sports fest was Evgeny Rodionov, who for more than 50 years gave the start to the participants of the relay race. On the day, he passed this right to the young, and some of the representatives of the metallurgists' team took the chance to be photographed with the honored athlete and coach.
The first start of the relay race in honor of Victory Day was given in 1952. At that time, only schoolchildren participated in the competition. Then the leading enterprises of the city - CMK and SMKPP - joined the annual competition. By the way, this year the CMK team became the most numerous. And in the past CMK team was the winner among the teams of labor collectives with the result of 9 minutes and 38 seconds.
Conquering meters
The relay route, like in the previous year, was one small circle, so that everyone could try their luck on the distance. The largest number of fans gathered at the first stage of the relay - the athletes started on the Central Square of the city. However, the route was designed so that the finish line ended near the Lenin monument.
Nevertheless, the fans had time to disperse to all stages to support the participants of their teams. And with their heated support, the central streets of the city turned into a real arena of almost Olympic-level competitions.
Yulia Sharoshkina, a leading engineer for preventive maintenance of the Chief Power Engineer Department, shared her impressions about participation in the relay race:
- I participate in the event every year, starting from 2019. I joined the Company at the end of 2018, and immediately joined not only the working life, but also the sporting life of CMK. I started the relay race from the most different stages. The most difficult, of course, was the first one: it was not about physical preparation, but about emotional tension, because the margin that you gain at the start gives the whole team a huge chance to win. I coped, but since then I've been asking only short distances for myself, giving other athletes who want to compete the race the opportunity to prove themselves at the start," says the athlete.
Stepping on the toes
The young participants of the relay race ran the distances without scoring. However, this does not lessen the merits of the twelve children who took to the starting lanes on the first morning of May to defend the honor of the enterprise where their parents work.
12-year-old Egor Razumov stood up for CMK on May Day for the first time. The young athlete is involved in soccer and athletics, and, of course, shared his impressions with the CMK "Re:mark" newspaper correspondent:
- It was a big stage. But I overcame it relatively easily - I don't train for nothing. I'm glad I gave my parents a good time.
By the way, the young hero's mother - Svetlana Egorova - works as a leading engineer of the production department, and his father - Mikhail Razumov - is an apparatusman of UZDK of Shop No. 40.
Together with other young participants of the relay, Egor received gift certificates of a famous sports store from the hands of Mikhail Kakovin, Chairman of the Council for Work with Youth and Sports, on behalf of Andrei Zavrazhny, CMK Managing Director, and is full of plans to replenish his athletics equipment for new achievements.
Keeping the bar high
The awarding ceremony for the winners and medalists took an hour. After all, the results were summarized among schools, higher and specialized secondary educational institutions, sports schools, and, finally, labor collectives.
The emotions were running high.
So... The third place in the race dedicated to the 79th anniversary of the Great Victory was taken by the team of TPP 17, which showed a time of 10 minutes and 43 seconds. The second place went to SMPP, whose team covered the distance in 10 minutes and 16 seconds. And, finally, on the first, highest step of the podium with the result of 10 minutes 00 seconds - CMK!
It remains to add that the success of the team depended largely on the coaching talent of Vladislav Grachev, the mentor of our national team. For several years the master of the heat engineering department of shop No. 580 has been actively training our athletes, which, of course, affects the results. The CMK Youth and Sports Council and all the participants of the Company's athletics team express their gratitude to our voluntary coach and wish him not to lower the set bar.
Because metallurgists are leaders in everything!
