For the Fifteenth Time they Ran for Health!

Oncobieg returned to Warsaw on its fifteenth anniversary and broke another record for cancer patients.

On Sunday September 11, for the fifteenth time, Poles (and not only those from Poland) ran in solidarity with cancer patients and their families. All this is thanks to the event that the Polish Sarcoma and Melanoma Patients Association has been organizing since 2007: ‘Oncobieg – Together for health!’

2,500 registered ‘Onco-runners’ traveled a combined total of over 15,000 kms, which translates into PLN 256,000! This contributed to breaking the record in terms of collected funds, which the Polish Sarcoma and Melanoma Patients Association will allocate to support those under its care and to foster preventative healthcare.

Ths year’s Oncobieg is the big comeback to the place where it all began the Maria Skłodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology in Warsaw. After two years of organizing the race in the midst of the Covid -19 pandemic, the organizers announced early this year that the fifteenth anniversary event will take place in Ursynów, Warsaw, with the option of a virtual run remaining in place. Each participant therefore had the choice of what was best for him or her. And so, about 1,000 participants ran their individual routes in the virtual run, while 1,400 runners met again on a joint route in the capital.

At 9.30 – the time that the first runners began achieving their goal by covering their own pre-declared distances in the virtual run – they were greeted direct from the studio in Ursynów, Warsaw, at the Maria Skłodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, by the presenters Ida Nowakowska, Aleksandra Kurowska, Mateusz Kaczmarek and Damian Bąbol. Moments later they were all welcomed direct from Paris by Prof. Piotr Rutkowski from the National Institute of Oncology, who unfortunately could not be there in person. From the stage, all the runners were welcomed by the organizers of Oncobieg, Kamil Dolecki, President of the Association and Szymon Bubiłek, Association Board Member. ‘This year's edition of Oncobieg is a special one; it’s our fifteenth anniversary. Despite the challenging weather conditions, we’ve received positive news and assurances from the runners that they aren’t going to give up. Patients, during their course of treatment, also encounter various challenging conditions, and although it’s sometimes difficult, they don’t give up,’ said Kamil Dolecki, President of the Polish Sarcoma and Melanoma Patients Association, at the beginning of the event.

On the grounds of the Maria Skłodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, a route had been specially prepared, which this year saw around 1,400 participants coming out onto the streets of Warsaw. They started a few minutes after 11:00am, having completed the warmup led by the multiple Pole Sport champion, Karolina Sobieraj. United under the slogan ‘Together for health!’, ‘Onco-runners’ from all over Poland covered the following kilometers, marking their photos on social media with the #Onkobieg hashtag. ‘The idea of ​​Oncobieg was conceived in the Institute of Oncology. It was here, fifteen years ago, that a group of patients, together with the medical staff, decided to express their various feelings regarding the disease through shared physical activity,’ recalls Szymon Bubiłek, Association Board Member and organizer of the event, speaking from the ‘Oncobieg studio’.

All interviews with the specially invited guests – clinicians, specialists in the field of sports and healthy eating, as well as patients and representatives of state institutions – were broadcast direct from the garden studio at the National Research Institute of Oncology. Everyone accepted the organizers’ invitation in order to remind others of the importance of preventive health care.

The organizers set up an ‘oncobieg village’ where runners could undergo free preventive examinations, including examinations for skin cancer in the #FuraZdrowia mobile treatment room, measurement of blood glucose and blood pressure by the Student Laboratory Diagnosticians’ Association, or the measurement of vitamin D levels at the patient’s diagnostic point. Everyone could also learn how to properly perform a self-examination of the breast or testicles at the drop-in point of the ‘Amazonki’ association, Warsaw.

The ‘Onco-run’ kitchen was hosted by Emilia Bochenek, a culinary enthusiast, while the musical accompaniment was provided by the Sugar’s Right Hand Funky Club. The Sereia de Varsóvia team provided the runners with energy over the course of the route.

The organizers made sure that everyone could follow the event in full thanks to continuous online coverage. The full report from the studio in Warsaw is available on Oncobieg’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/onkobieg (https://bit.ly/3RwooIh) and the YouTube channel of the Sarcoma Association at the link: https: // youtu. be / yMWmjUp-JlA

‘Oncobieg has been created by wonderful people over the years; patients are a huge part of it, as are their supporters who bring incredible energy to this event. We are convinced that those of you who are currently undergoing treatment today will be standing at the start line of next year’s Oncobieg, and together we will run for health for the sixteenth time,’ concluded Ewa Styś, member of the Polish Sarcoma and Melanoma Patients Association and organizer of Oncobieg.

The fifteenth ‘Oncobieg - Together for health!’ is co-financed with funds from the Ministry of Sport and Tourism.

Partners: the Ministry of Sport and Tourism; Eko Cykl Organizacja Odzysku Opakowań S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Garden - Space Sp. z o.o., Compensa Insurance Association; S.A. Vienna Insurance Group, Pierre Fabre Polska, M&M Consulting, Bohema House Teatr Ekologiczny, Bohema Dance Ekologiczna Szkoła Tańca, Project Zero Waste Sp. z o.o., Sanofi – Aventis sp. z o.o., Sidnet  Solutions Sp. z o. o., Swedish Orphan Biovitrum Sp. z o.o, Nashi Art., Novartis Poland Sp. z o. o., Only Only, Medicart healthcare Sp. z o.o., Euromed Medical Solution Sp. z o.o., LOOS Centrum Sp. z o.o., Rawicka Fabryka Wyposażenia Wagonów "RAWAG" Sp. z o.o., LiveU, Future Gate Sp. z o.o., Brand24, DPD Polska Sp. z.o.o, Uzdrowiska Kłodzkie S.A., Staropolanka, Roche Polska Sp. z o.o., Roche Diagnostics Polska Sp. z o.o., MSD Polska Sp. z o.o., Amgen Biotechnologia Sp. z o.o., Centrum Kompleksowej Rehabilitacji, uPacjenta.pl.

Mission Partners: Maria Skłodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Warsaw; the Institute of the Mother and Child, Warsaw; Institute of Haematology and transfusion medicine, Warsaw; College of Family Physicians in Poland; the Polish Society of Oncological Surgery;  the Institute of Patient Rights and Health Education; the Polish Cancer Society; the Polish Society of Clinical Oncology; the Polish Psycho-oncological Society; the Polish Coalition of Cancer Patients; the Association for Help for Patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor; the Sarcoma Patient Advocacy Global Network; All.Can Polska, Akademia Czerniaka, Fundacja ANIKAR; the Polish Society of Nurses; Association "AMAZONKI" Warszawa Centrum, Fundacja Carita im. Wiesławy Adamiec, Association of Polish Sign Language and Translators; Young Family Doctors.

Media Partners: Radio ESKA; TVP Woman; Voice of the Cancer Patient;  portal onkologiczny zwrotnikraka.pl; website CowZdrowiu.pl; magazine Służba Zdrowia; haloursynow.pl; Publisher Termedia.

Honorary patrons of the event are: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, the Office of the Patient Ombudsman, the Mayor of the Ursynów District of Warsaw.

Questions regarding the fifteenth ‘Oncobieg – Together for Health!’ can be sent direct to the organizers.