"The Road to Sochi” is the name of the joint project of The Russian-American Sports Association "Harmony» (ARSA "Harmony") and the American Association of Russian Women (AARW), who are presenting it today in The Russian Cultural Centre.



It is planned to create a combined Russian-American team of athletes to take part in a series of the most prestigious track and field events of the U.S., ARSA "Harmony" President Pavel Krapiva states.

The first event will be the national marathon held in Washington, D.C. on the 16th of March 2013. The next stages of the program will be the participation of the team in a number of track and field competitions: Charleston, SC – April 6, 2013: a mass 10-kilometer race (up to 50 000 participants); Seattle, WA – June, 22 2013: the biggest marathon on the West Coast; Atlanta, GA – July 4, 2013: a mass race dedicated to the Independence Day of the United States; Baltimore, MD – October, 13 2013.



The total number of the expected participants counts 40-50 athletes. The marathon team will include a number of outstanding runners. Among them:
- The First Washington DC marathon winner, the USSR track and field champion, twice Boston Marathon champion Andrey Kuznetsov;
- The Washington D.C. marathon silver medalist, repeated winner of international marathons in Detroit, Buffalo and Sacramento Elena Orlova;
- Barcelona Olympic champion and Atlanta silver medalist Valentina Egorova;
- The New York City Marathon winner Lyudmila Petrova;
- Richmond Marathon champion Irina Suvorov;
- Four-time World Champion, the USSR seven-time champion, the Soviet sports legend Tatyana Pozdnyakova;
- Firaya Sultanova – the champion and record holder of the Boston Marathon in the "Masters" class, a record which is not broken by now.



By creating the team and taking part in the well-known track and field events, we aim at raising the interest in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi among the American sport-lovers, the AARW President Larisa Petrenko said. According to her, if the governments of the two countries implement the so-called relations "reset", sport should act as the Ambassador of peace.

The upcoming Olympics is a great opportunity to visit Russia and learn about its culture more, Larisa Petrenko added.

The "Road to Sochi-2014" initiators do not limit themselves by the marathon participation only. Throughout the competition time they are going to make presentations and tell American people about the history of the Olympic movement in Russia.



On ITAR-TASS materials.

Photo report by Yelena Staroselskaya:

http://www.russiandc.com/photos/?path=2013/20130215_USA_DC_RCC_doroga_k_Sochi