THE HISTORY OF THE PHILIPS INTERNATIONAL HALF MARATHON
The relatively young history of the Piła half-marathon is closely connected to the event from the old days “Pilska Piętnastka”, that is the run along the city streets on the distance of 15km. The originator and initiator of the street run was the representative of our country at long-distance runs, and later an experienced marathoner, Henryk Paskal. Having vast sports experience, being a competitor of the greatest marathon runs around the world, he decided to gather several people with the intention of organizing in Piła a street run based on the European standards. Together with Marek Nowak and Zenon Piątek, activists of the District Association of Athletics in Piła (Okręgowy Związek Lekkiej Atletyki w Pile), he joined the organization “Pilska Piętnastka” in 1991. The initiative of promoting the city through the city run found recognition of the city authorities and local government, and that is confirmed by the fact that up till this day the event has been supported by the local authorities, and the poor means received at that time from the sponsors allowed the contest to be held on a very decent level. 162 competitors reached the finishing line of the first run, and the year after a group of more than 490 runners lined up at the start, 478 of whom reached the finishing line. It was an impressive mass of runners, who proved that the running event in Piła stands on the highest organizational level in the country.
Due to the thriving development of the running contest, and consequent inflow of many new responsibilities, which could not be coped with by the District Association of Athletics, in 1996 the Association of Street Runners (Stowarzyszenie Biegów Ulicznych) was established, the chairman of which was the director of the run, Henryk Paskal. The Association took over not only the role of the organizer of the run, successfully realized up till the present day, but it also was and still is a propagator of active recreation through the simplest form of exercise, that is running. That has been proved by participation in many national conferences dedicated to this form of exercise, as well as the continuous participation of the board members in AIMS (Association of International Marathons and Road Races) congresses.
„Pilska Piętnastka” was led along the city streets until 1999, and the fastest male runner in its history was Jan Białk from Wejherów, who won the run in 1996 with the time 43:49. Among women the fastest was Elena Mazovka from Belarus with the time 49:21 reached also in 1996. The largest group of 528 runners finished “Pilska Piętnastka” in 1995.
Thanks to numerous contacts of the director of the run with the organizers of the largest worldwide marathons and the thriving development of the running event in Piła, it was possible to place the event in the AIMS calendar, which allowed competitors from such distant countries like Kenya, the USA or Japan to come to Piła. In 1994 the number of the represented countries was 12.
The year 2000, when the distance was changed from 15km into half-marathon (21.97,5km) was special for the history of the Piła run. After many efforts of the director of the run, Piła received an offer from the Polish Association of Athletics (Polski Związek Lekkiej Atletyki) to organize Polish Championships in Half-marathon.
The prestige of the contest made the organizers face next challenges. Among the most significant ones was changing the route so that it was the fastest and the most attractive, and finding a strategic sponsor. The first task could be solved by Tadeusz Dziekoński, the surveyor of AIMS, also a marathoner, who measured the marathon route marked out by organizers. The run is always held on the first Sunday of September on a small loop in the city centre and a large one around the city, with great cheers of the residents of Staszic’s town. The route has the certificates of IAAF, AIMS and the Polish Association of Athletics.
A running event of this prestige could not take place without sponsors and supporting institutions. The main sponsor of the Piła half-marathon is the PHILIPS company. Also, the sponsors of the International PHILIPS Half-marathon are: ASICS, the City of Piła, POWERADE, Coca-Cola, HBC Poland, District Starosty, LUBELLA, 7 Days, Termopil-Bud, Pil-Building, Brother, District Police Headquarters, Police Academy. Due to the continuously increasing number of runners willing to participate in the Piła half-marathon, the organizers were forced to change the logistic centre of the contest, which is now located in the sports hall of the Primary School No. 1 in the city centre. The implementation by the director of the run Henryk Paskal of the most modern organizational solutions employed in the marathons worldwide into the organization of the run, allowed the Piła event to be given the largest dimension in this class of street runs in our country. For years the Polish Association of Athletics has granted Piła the right to organize the Polish Championships in Half-marathon, and the organizers of many similar national events can find numerous interesting solutions for organizing mass runs.
In 2009 1449 runners from Poland and other countries finished the Piła marathon, which puts the Piła run at the top of the largest street runs in our country.
The organizers of the Piła marathon gladly agree to conduct additional individual classifications for various social groups exercising running for health. The oldest of them, soldiers' classification and policemen's classification have been held since 2000. The following also have their distinct place in the competition: the employees of Piła Philips, KB Maniac, KB Biegaj z Nami and, since 2008, students of universities in our country.
Mentioning the topic of fun and education through sport, the participation of approximately two thousand children in the mini-marathon (2km) in every edition of the Piła run cannot be forgotten. Thanks to the Dryfex company, all children received sweets and drinks at the finishing line, and the best runners prizes in kind in the form of sports equipment. Businessmen, people of culture and art as well as members of local authorities, who compete with one another in the VIP Run on the distance of 1000m also have their place for recreation.
Since 2006, a symbolic prize for all who finish the Piła marathon has been the occasional and unique medal with the picture of the best Polish marathoners in the history of Polish athletics. In the past years the following persons loaned their image: Zdzisław Bogusz (2006), Edward Stawiarz (2007), Michał Wójcik (2008) and Kazimierz Orzeł (2009).
Considering the fact that running is being exercised in our country by more and more people, the organizers of the International Philips Half-marathon in Piła are convinced that year after year an increasing number of runners will come to Piła; and they will come not only for a good sports outcomes, but also to meet friends who share the same passion for running.
