Charity runs are very popular all over the world. Every year, thousands of people travel hundreds of kilometers to join general movement, conquer the set distance and help those in need.

In 2015 Natalia Vodianova and Polina Kitsenko teamed up to realize the idea of ​​running with meaning in Russia, to prove that this is the easiest and most affordable way of charity and to create a completely unique charity run that will not be equal.

"Why run? It's very simple: running is the most accessible sport that unites people no matter what they do. In sports in general and in running in particular, everyone is equal. Many people think that charity is the lot of the rich, but is at arm's length, taken from the shelf of sneakers. Our race demonstrates the culture of the most accessible charity and the simplest help to people: you just have to run and not only spend time with pleasure and benefit for yourself, but also help those who really need it - says Polina Kitsenko, co-founder of the Running Hearts race.. - The heart is a muscle and the more you use it, the bigger it gets. From the first day, we set ourselves the goal of not only raising funds for the Foundation's programs, but also making the event really high level. I, as an amateur athlete, who has been competing in hundreds of competitions around the world for more than 10 years, and at the same time, as a producer of this race, I try to make the perfect race, first of all, for its participants.”

In 2016, the start came 25 Olympic medalists, which made it possible to register two Russian records: "Most winners Olympic Games participating in the race" and "Race with the participation of the Olympic medalists with the highest cumulative number of medals."

In 2017 Sberbank and the Naked Heart Foundation announced their cooperation and united the two largest running projects, creating a charity Green Marathon "Running Hearts".

“Over the years, our race has grown and become an important platform for drawing attention to the work of the Foundation for the development of support services for families raising children with special needs, - noted the founder of the Naked Heart Foundation, Natalia Vodianova.- in the face of Sberbank, we were happy to find a strong partner who shares our values ​​in relation to healthy lifestyle life and running with meaning. Early assistance to children with special needs is the key to their fulfilling life. For the participants of the race, the most important thing is to reach the finish line. For a child with special needs - get support at the start!

The first Green Marathon of Sberbank was held in 2012. The project was awarded by the UN Environment Program for its contribution to the development of the planet's ecology. The project set a Russian record as mass sports event passing in the largest number of cities during one daylight hours.

The main start of the marathon of Sberbank cities and a new joint project - the Green Marathon "Running Hearts", held in Moscow in 2017, has become one of the most effective sports charitable events, having collected a record amount - 50,000,000 rubles. All funds raised were directed to the Naked Heart Foundation for the development of the Early Assistance project for young children with developmental disabilities such as autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy. Thanks to the collected funds, more than 500 families in five cities received access to free services accompaniment in Early Intervention Centers, Early Intervention Services and kindergartens where the Naked Heart project is being implemented.

During the four years of the race, it was possible to collect almost 140,000,000 rubles, which were fully transferred to the Naked Heart Children's Fund.

Participated in the race record number of Olympic and Paralympic champions, theater and film stars, artists, journalists, businessmen, as well as corporate running teams of large companies, press and television.

In 2019 « Green Marathon Running Hearts” will take place June 1st Children's Day Sberbank will hold the run for the eighth time; for the third year in a row, it will be organized jointly with the Naked Heart Foundation.

“Since its foundation, Sberbank has been not only a financial institution, but also a social institution. In 2016, the year of its 175th anniversary, Sberbank strengthened its position as a socially responsible company, - tells the President, Chairman of the Board of Sberbank German Gref.- We made the project "The Art of Preservation", thanks to which thousands of people visited museums all over the country for free. In addition, we began to develop the Special Bank project, an ecosystem of products and services for clients with disabilities, built with sensitive attention to their life scenarios and needs. In 2017, we continued to develop Sberbank's inclusive and social projects. Running together with the Naked Heart Foundation in Moscow allows us to combine our experience with the experience of the Foundation, to bring the Green Marathon to a new level.”

This year Sberbank will hold "Green Marathon" in 59 cities of Russia. from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok.

The main start will traditionally be given in Moscow and for the second time the "Running Hearts Green Marathon" will be held on Vasilyevsky Spusk. The program includes a race at a distance of 4.2 km, 10 km (including for people with disabilities using wheelchair) and first marathon 42.2 km, as well as an awards ceremony and a concert.

All costs associated with the organization of the event are fully covered by the sponsors and partners who took part in it. All artists, DJs, presenters, musicians and photographers work for free. And all the funds raised by participants and corporate teams are transferred in full to the Naked Heart Foundation for Helping Children.

Detailed information on the races of different years:

Sparrow Hills as a "cradle" of racers

“Street racing in Russia was born at the beginning of the 2000s,” my interlocutor says, “at about the same time when the incredibly popular film Fast and the Furious was on the screens. Races at that time gathered 1000-1500 people - they don’t have such popularity today. Once, the organizers managed to hold competitions right on the paths of Sokolniki Park. Street racers drove both on the Mashkinskoye highway and at the Kubinka training ground - in a word, wherever there were few “ordinary” drivers.

— And what about the famous Sparrow Hills?

- Races on them were very short - although there are still fools who are trying to compete there from traffic light to traffic light, but this is rather an exception to the rule. The observation deck was rather a meeting place for street racers, from where they organized columns, in which all the cars had "emergency gangs" turned on, went to deserted roads, where races were arranged. Such columns are always visible from afar, other drivers join them and “in the process” get to know each other (there are usually 60 percent of such “random” guests at races). Actually, I myself joined this movement in due time. Of course, there are also special sites for street racers on the Internet, but newcomers come to drive through them relatively rarely.

What cars are racing?

- At the beginning of the 2000s, there were few foreign cars - and people "chased" on the creations of the domestic auto industry, modified with their own hands. Racers bore blocks, put huge nitrous oxide bottles in the cabin - and the audience watched them, they wondered why this car was going faster today than yesterday. For example, there was a story: the craftsmen cut the “seven” in half, removed the “extra” 40 cm, and then welded the car back. This is how the first two-door Zhiguli in Russia turned out. Today, everything has changed - racers can buy a car already prepared for racing. Real "monsters" sometimes compete with us - for example, the Nissan GTR with a capacity of 1200 hp. True, we, as organizers, allow drivers to our events in weak domestic cars, who have some 75 “horses” under the hood – however, trying to find equal rivals for them. In Moscow, not everyone does this - the organizers from many other teams are trying to cut off the cars domestic production or low power, do not allow them to compete. We don't do that.

How are the races organized?

- Previously, it looked like this: a convoy of cars - for example, from the same Sparrow Hills - arrives at some deserted section of the road in Moscow or the Moscow region, its "piece" is tightly blocked by the organizers with the help of a shield of cars, and the races begin, the start for start, in a straight line. At the same time, the organizers of the events did not take any payment from the participants, and there were no dialogues with the traffic police either - the races stopped with their appearance. The whole "organizational" part was reduced to playing music from Soviet speakers installed in the trunk of the car, and the guy at the start, giving the flag "go-ahead" to the riders (usually a thin person was selected for his role - so that the starters would not accidentally "hook" him).

— What has changed today? Appeared membership fee?

- Yes, they are charged, in our team - less than 500 rubles from each car, regardless of whether you are a racer or a spectator. But this money is almost entirely spent on organizing a real show: we hire half-naked Go-Go dancers, buy expensive musical equipment, arrange a fire show, various competitions and negotiate with traffic police officers. Actually, the organizers of the total amount collected is enough for a maximum of gasoline. If there is extra money left, we spend it on gifts for the participants, if there is not enough money, we add it from our own salary. We try to hold events every Saturday and Sunday from about one in the morning until 4-5 in the morning.

— What is the main incentive for street racers?

- To understand this, you need to ride yourself at least once; in 15 seconds (that's how long a race usually lasts), the rider gets an adrenaline rush comparable to a parachute jump or good sex. And such an extreme makes drivers participate in competitions again and again.

- How much is the "silence" of the traffic police? In a number of media there was information that for one event you have to pay up to 40 thousand rubles ...

- With regard to traffic police officers, each team of street racers uses its own approach. Somebody with the cops got acting for a long time agreements, and someone simply chooses such sections of roads where the inspector does not appear in principle. If we take the suburbs, then these are mainly entrances to summer cottages: summer residents drive there and after midnight they no longer leave their plots, which is what street racers use. If the organizers begin to “negotiate” with traffic police officers, then everything depends on the specific place: on some roads the “fee” is fixed, on others it depends on the number of cars at the event, which the police simply count and charge for each.

- But the traffic police inspector sometimes still "break" the race?

- It happens - for example, one crew gave the go-ahead, and after 15 minutes another arrived and ordered to turn off. In this case, we have an unspoken rule - if 10 starts have passed (20 for big races), then the event is considered to have taken place. This is important if the racers start to download rights because of a broken race and demand their money back from the organizers. Sometimes the latter, due to the “unpredictability” of traffic police inspectors, have to pay their money to the participants of the competition, and promise free admission in the future - in short, spin.

- Over the years, it becomes easier or more difficult to “negotiate” with the traffic police?

— In fact, it’s easier — in the zero years, a part of the road was completely blocked for racing, and ordinary drivers could not drive there in principle, which gave rise to a lot of inconvenience and problems. Now the organizers are trying to leave "transit" windows. Simply put, if a car wants to pass, then it is allowed to pass. And for the races themselves, we have enough two lanes for movement in one direction - the races take place in a straight line, and two cars participate in them at the same time. In terms of time, each event lasts 2-3 hours, during which we manage to hold about 100 starts. Our record - 167 starts in two hours - has not yet been beaten by any Moscow team.

- What "staff" is involved in the organization of the race?

- There are people who organize the parking of cars at the race venue, there are those who make sure that the cars and their wheels are straight and straight at the start, there is a “brake off” team - they watch that the cars stop normally after the finish, so that they did not deploy, etc. There are also so-called “orange vests” among our “staff” - they help those who wish to find more or less equal rivals for the race, although usually the riders agree on who to compete with on their own. By the way, the organizers of our team do not participate in the races - so as not to be distracted from their main "mission". In a number of other metropolitan teams, on the contrary, the organizers not only participate in races, but also begin to compete first - to "seed" the rest of the racers.

- Do you have control over drivers in a state of intoxication?

- Yes, we use a breathalyzer when we suspect intoxication, and we easily identify drug addicts by simply shining a flashlight into their eyes. We expel such “racers”, and we can completely hand over the especially violent ones to traffic police officers. Also, we do not respect those who lie about the characteristics of their car - for example, its power is 700 hp, but it is voiced - 400 hp. Such a deception is revealed at the very first start - after all, a normal racer can determine the approximate power of the car without even looking under the hood; with "deceivers" they immediately stop competing, and sometimes they beat them in the face. By the way, the very principle that racers do not look under the hood of each other and take their word for the performance of cars is a characteristic feature of street racing that distinguishes it from professional racing.

- And who most often participates in races? Students, managers?

- Differently. We compete with 18-year-old students, and 50-year-old businessmen and "big" bosses, and the strong sex, and the weak. Girls often outperform men. For ladies, by the way, we have a rule: if there are only girls in the car, then entry to the event is free for her. And so if 200 cars came to it, then usually 60 of them compete at best - the rest are just spectators.

- Which racers are the most "problematic"?

- The “Majors”, to whom dad bought an expensive car, they are completely uncontrollable. And people from the Caucasus - these are very fond of, for example, right during the race to shoot into the air. This scares the audience and attracts too much attention from the police: a good law enforcement officer will always distinguish a shot from fireworks. By the way, as for the shots and crime, bandits regularly come to visit us, offering a “roof” and claiming that this road actually belongs to them. True, when they find out that we have no profit, they immediately stop their "generous" offers.

The risk of a street racer is not a hindrance

“Unfortunately, accidents happen here, but there are only a few serious accidents,” says Evgen, “perhaps the worst thing happened in 2010 on Promyshlennaya Street in Tsaritsyn. One of the Moscow street racing teams decided to arrange the closing of the season there and gathered a lot of guests. And now, a Nissan Skyline with an engine with a capacity of under 700 hp leaves for a test drive. Such powerful cars are always given the right to test drive - the driver must understand how he behaves on the road vehicle. He drove once - the car “grinds” (i.e., unsteadily keeps on the track), two - the same thing. Finally, it's time to race - against the Skyline is a 400 hp BMW. And the driver of the first, obviously, decided to “beautifully” win the race - he pressed the pedal to the floor and turned on the nitrous oxide already in second gear, which, in principle, is not worth doing. As a result, the car rushed forward, her left pillar gave way, she lost control and flew into the crowd. The result - one person died, and another was in the hospital with severe injuries - then the entire racing community in Moscow sent him money for treatment, and in the end he still got on his feet. But most of the accidents, fortunately, still occur in improvised parking lots, when cars simply “do not leave”.

— Has the incident on Promyshlennaya Street changed anything in the world of Moscow street racing?

- Yes, the authorities began to intimidate street racers with almost prison terms. By the way, the law establishing criminal liability for the organization of street racing, is currently under development. And if it is adopted, then the Moscow racers will become completely unmanageable, there will be no one to control and organize them. A simple example: we always make sure that the tracks during the races are free from "regular" drivers. Now imagine - two "wild" riders decided to compete, stood at a traffic light and rushed off. And at this time, some grandfather on his "seven" began to leave the yard ...

- There were rumors that they want to close Vorobyovy Gory for the passage of cars ... And only yesterday, MK announced that bikers would be kicked out of there.

- No, they won’t be closed - they put traffic lights there, hung cameras and installed speed bumps, but things won’t go any further (according to rumors, this is due to the fact that there is a reserve route of the FSO on Sparrow Hills, and in case of unforeseen circumstances, top officials States are transported to and from the Kremlin along them.—Author's note). Recently, they blocked the site at the main entrance to VDNKh - they put concrete blocks and hung "bricks". This is explained simply - for a long time one of the street racer teams organized colorful shows there, but they took a break for the winter. And this winter, “wild” racers on well-worn domestic cars began to “light up” there - they listened loudly to music, talked, “drifted” (“drift” is a kind of race when the car skids again and again) ... As a result traffic police officers arrived, began to sort it out, and they were thrown with plastic cups amid chuckles. So the new ban does not concern us, normal riders have already left Sparrow Hills.