Participation in relay race

A festive field-and-track relay race timed to Independence Day took place in Minsk on 3 July 2001. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko, who was also the head of the National Olympic Committee, took part in this mass event.

The competition included four stages and gathered 14 teams sent by districts of the capital city and by teams of sport authorities.

Aleksandr Lukashenko picked up the baton in the final stage of the race, the fourth one. The team of the National Olympic Committee that the Belarusian leader ran for won the race. The president decided to go for another lap on roller skis and invited the famous biathlon athletes Sergei Bulygin and Aleksandr Popov for a run. The president stressed that close attention is paid in Belarus at the highest level to the development of sports and physical training, which is extremely important for preserving the nation’s health.