VATAHA’s annual flagship event Run for Ukraine is around the corner. Every year since russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we have hosted this memorial run in The Hague to commemorate Ukraine’s losses while coinciding with Ukrainian Independence Day on August 24.
Since our first memorial run in 2022, hundreds of people have partaken in our run – but why should you? While every runner has their own personal motives for participating, here are our top five reasons to Run for Ukraine.
1. Not your typical sports event
Run for Ukraine defies the expectations of a typical running event. While participants can choose between the 2, 5 and 10km tracks through the beautiful dunes along the Westduinpark coastline, neither time, distance or athletic performance is recorded during the event. At Run for Ukraine, only participation matters.
That’s because Run for Ukraine is more of an art performance than a sports event. When registering for the event, you can choose not just your preferred distance but also in whose memory you are running for: a fallen soldier, a lost loved one, or a destroyed city. Those unaffiliated with either three can opt to be randomly assigned to run for a fallen soldier’s name.
Consequently, the name on your runner’s bib is not your own, but instead that of the person or city you have dedicated your run to. By participating, you join an artistic expression of solidarity, resilience and commemoration which physically embodies those who have perished with their name on your body.
To elaborate on the significance of this dedication, participants are invited to share their memories of their persons or cities via the registration form. A selection of those stories are then shared here on our website, and as story collages in print at the event.
2. Expressing grief through physical activity
At VATAHA, we are encouraged to see mental health breaking taboos and becoming more of a mainstream topic since the full-scale invasion – something VATAHA full heartedly promotes through its various activities with an artistic therapeutic lens.
Still, it cannot be understated what a tremendous positive impact physical exercise can have on trauma and grief processing. Running together allows one to transform personal grief and struggle into collective action and remembrance, while also allowing memory to coexist with physical and mental resilience.
Read more on collective healing through movement in the article by VATAHA’s social media manager, Sofiia Maior, in discussion with Empatia clinical psychologist Eva Kardash.
3. Make a trustworthy donation
When registering for Run for Ukraine, you’re invited to make a voluntary donation – whether 10 or 100 Euros, every euro goes directly to covering the event costs and financing a larger scale art project of VATAHA’s here in the Netherlands for later in the year.
Once you donate, you will also be informed about that project and invited to partake in its launch or promotional event. For example, Run for Ukraine’s 2025 donations went towards financing a two-day magazine making workshop for long-term and temporarily displaced Ukrainians from the Donetsk region (under illegal occupation since 2014).
This means that your support for Ukraine doesn’t have to be a one-time event, keeping you connected with the Ukrainian-Dutch arts and culture scene later in the year too.
4. Engage with Ukrainian arts and culture at the same venue
Run for Ukraine doesn’t end once you’ve crossed the finish line. After the run, you’re welcome to explore several art stands spread across the venue. In previous editions, these have ranged from photography exhibitions to interactive workshops to art exhibitions hosted by the artists themselves.
There are also ample activities to keep children well entertained, as well as a kitchen booth serving borscht – a traditional Ukrainian beetroot soup for the post-run energy refueling.
5. Show your solidarity with Ukraine
Every year we get the same feedback: the growing number of non-Ukrainian participants actively boosts Ukrainians’ morale and gives them hope when all seems lost. The annually increasing number of participants also sends a strong message across the Netherlands that despite the continuation of the full-scale of Ukraine, support for Ukraine in the Netherlands is only rising, not waning.
Be part of the movement that promotes artistic expression and respect for the fallen soldiers and casualties of war in a peaceful, communal environment. Sign up today before tickets are sold out!
Check out our previous editions here: