Ukrainian refugee wins marathon

JERUSALEM • When Russia invaded Ukraine last month, Valentyna Vereteska, 31, did not even pack clothes or other belongings.

She and her 11-year-old daughter fled their home town, Mykolaiv, which has since come under heavy bombardment.

They waited at the Polish border for 15 hours in frigid temperatures, with limited access to food, she said, before being able to cross.

Vereteska's ordeal mirrors those of millions of Ukrainian refugees, but it has a unique postscript.

On Friday, she crossed another marker, winning the women's race at the Jerusalem Marathon - and finishing behind just two men - in a time of 2hr 45min 54sec, while Ethiopia-born Israeli Ageze Guadie won the men's race in 2:37:17.

To say the feat seemed unlikely several weeks ago would be an understatement.

Vereteska, a professional runner and physiotherapist, and her daughter have been staying with a family in Poland who responded to her husband's pleas for help on Facebook.

Her husband and fellow pro runner, Pavlo, remains in Ukraine and is fighting in the war, she said. Her parents and siblings are still there, too.

Her home in Mykolaiv has been destroyed and the war had made her depressed and for a while, she was unable to train.

But Vereteska longed to get back to the sport she loves, so she got in touch with officials from the Jerusalem Marathon and was able to get a spot in the event, which had about 25,000 participants, less than two weeks in advance.

She was shocked by her victory, especially because she was only recently able to resume training - in clothing and shoes collected by her Polish host family.

This was the fourth marathon she had run, coming first in a race in Albania last October, and third in the Gutenberg Marathon in Mainz, Germany, in May 2019.

Vereteska said she thought about the war throughout the Jerusalem race, and those thoughts fuelled her victory.

"I'm stressed, of course I'm nervous about everything that's happened in Ukraine, but it helped me," she added. "It was a very difficult race, it was very hilly, really very hilly."

But Vereteska said her win made her smile for the first time since the war started.

"This victory is for peace, for peace, in my country, and not only in my country - for peace in all the world. I hope very soon everything is finished and we laughing and smiling again."

She is unsure of what is next. She worries about her husband and family in Ukraine, and longs to go home.

But for now, she plans to head back to Krakow, Poland, to reunite with her daughter and is already eyeing her next marathon, perhaps in Mainz in May.

NYTIMES, REUTERS