CINCINNATI — Among the thousands of runners taking off for Sunday’s Flying Pig Marathon, two Ukrainians will be racing for a cause.
Vadym Kovalenko and Maksym Pasichnyk traveled from Cincinnati’s sister city Kharkiv to reaffirm the relationship between the two cities and raise funds for the Nezlamni rehabilitation center for wounded Ukrainian soldiers.
Before the pandemic made the 2020 race virtual, runners from Kharkiv would visit for the Flying Pig every year and, in turn, Cincinnati runners would race the Kharkiv International marathon as a part of the Cincinnati-Kharkiv Sister City Partnership.
2023 marks the first year since the pandemic and since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that runners could return to the race. Kovalenko is a proud owner of many finisher medals from both races.
“Cincinnati is my second home, so of course it is Kharkiv’s sister city,” he said. “I come back here like going back home.”
Kovalenko and Pasichnyk greeted city officials Thursday morning, and speaking through an interpreter, both runners announced their intentions to run the marathon as a sign of goodwill and friendship between the two cities, while calling for continued support from Cincinnati.
“During the first race, my goal was purely athletic, now I have a different goal,” Kovalenko said.
For him, running alongside Pasichnyk puts things into perspective.
A paratrooper in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Pasichnyk fought in the battle of Antonov Airport, near Kyiv, during the early days of war. Despite the efforts of Pasichnyk and his fellow soldiers and pilots, the Russian military seized control of the airport, suffering heavy airborne losses.
Pasichnyk too suffered a serious leg injury, permanently damaging his nerves. He was forced to resign from the armed forces, and over the next several months, he worked to slowly rebuild his strength.
“Every morning I had to force myself to get up and go and run,” he said. “I had to force myself to overcome the pain I was feeling. So I started with 100 meters and then 100 meters turned into 1 kilometer and a kilometer turned into 2 kilometers, etc.”
He ran his first half marathon shortly after Ukrainian forces recaptured Antonov Airport that Fall as the first fundraiser for the Nezlamni rehabilitation center, an initiative dedicated to physical and mental rehabilitation for wounded Ukrainian soldiers. A center has since been built in Lviv.
The runners hope another can come to Kharkiv.
“My goal is to show everybody, to show our military that basically there are no limits, there are no borders, and that everything, everything is in our head,” Pasichnyk said.
In addition to running the Flying Pig Marathon, Pasichnyk and Kovalenko will be meeting with Ukrainian groups across the Cincinnati area. The Ukrainian National Woman’s League is helping them tour the city and collecting donations on their behalf.
They hope that when they go home, they’ll be bringing back the support they say their country and Kharkiv need.
“Here in Cincinnati we have some of the warmest partnerships,” Kovalenko said.