2024-09-13 13:47 update: 2024-09-13, 21:59
Photo: PAP/Marcin Cholewiński
Poland's long-distance runner, Tomasz Sobania, will kick off his journey across the USA to collect funds for charitable causes and promote Poland, the runner has announced at the Polish consulate in New York on Thursday.
Sobania is to launch his cross-country run this Sunday in New York's Central Park, with the goal to cover the distance of more than 5,200 kilometres and reach Los Angeles 140 days later.
Along the way, the runner will collect funds for charitable causes, including a public awareness campaign called You Can Do More Than You Thought Possible. Its goal is to inspire people to act despite their disabilities, disorders, diseases, and other life adversities, Sobania explained, adding that he himself is an example of how one can overcome one's limitations.
"I have run the whole of Europe and had this dream for years to run across America (...)," he told PAP. "I knew, it would be a big thing for me, especially that I'm running with the Polish emblem on my chest and flag on my arm."
Sobania will visit Washington and Chicago along the way where he will meet the Polish-American community and visit Capitol Hill. The Polish consul in New York, Mateusz Debowicz, said that Sobania will promote a positive image of Poland in the USA. "It also shows that (...) Poles are achievers (...). The fact that he is organising it himself proves how entrepreneurial we are, how great young Poles are, and he's only 25 years of age,” said Debowicz.
Sobania will be accompanied by a therapist, driver and cameraman, running for six to eight hours a day. He spent a year training and preparing for the run and is paying for the whole project out of his own pocket.
"To endure physically is not the most difficult thing here, but to withstand the thought that I was in terrible pain today, and I'm going to do the same next day, for the next five months. I encourage everyone to join me and run along with me at least for a while," Sobania said at the consulate.
Sobania, also nicknamed the Polish Forrest Gump, hopes to meet the actor Tom Hanks, who portrayed the character in the eponymous film, once he reaches his destination in Los Angeles. (PAP)
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