START PULASKI WARKA Sports Club

First mentions about Warka jogging enthusiasts date back to 1981, when men named Darek, Wiesław, and Jurek participated in the Warsaw Marathon (the Second Peace Run). However, it was not until November 2007 when a group of friends started a jogging club under the name START PULASKI WARKA Sports Club (Klub Sportowy Start Pułaski Warka). Its founders were Tomek, Grzesiek, Darek, Jurek, and Wiesław Królik.

The Club was officially registered with the authorities, so it could host sports events. The Club’s members have different professional backgrounds, but sports brought them together, and the Club enables them to act as a group.

They participate in various running events in Poland and abroad, from sprints to marathons. Some of them also excel at track and field events, involving running, jumping, and throwing. They compete in the Warsaw Marathon, Half Marathon, Polish Veterans’ Athletics Championships (Mistrzostwa Polski Weteranów w Lekkiej Atletyce), marathons in Paris, France; Athens, Greece; Berlin, Germany; and the European Athletics Championships in Zittau, Germany.

Forests on the Pilica River form a perfect training ground for the Club’s members. It is a place to exchange experiences, support each other, and organize mutual training sessions, which develop physical skills, and provide the participants with joy arising from engaging in sports. The Club members’ dream is for others to be infected with their enthusiasm, and so they help to prepare and advise how to adapt to the jogger’s lifestyle. They want to live their lives in an active way. All interested in taking up jogging are welcome to join the Club members on any given Sunday at 9 am in Leśniczówka near the crossing of roads leading to Magnuszew, Kępa Niemojewska, Warka, and Grabów nad Pilicą.

As of 2021, the Club has organized 16 Pulaski Runs (Bieg Pułaskiego). It attracted a great number of joggers from different parts of the country, and its name is known to all Polish runners. In 2012, forty-two individuals competed at Warka, and in 2021–nearly 230. Moreover, the Club organizes the “Test Yourself” Grand Prix, which is an event aimed at promoting physical fitness. So far, four such events have taken place, and each attracted at least fifty residents.

The Club works together with the Sports and Recreation Center in Warka (Centrum Sportu i Rekreacji w Warce) to host “Poland Runs” (Polska Biega), triathlons, and other events.

Members of the START PULASKI WARKA Sports Club have been successful during subsequent Polish Veterans’ Athletics Championships. Their results are linked to the development in Warka’s sports infrastructure. An athletics complex at the Warka town stadium opened on September 10, 2016.  It includes: 2 football pitches, 2 running tracks, jumping hills, and a throwing area. The Project was part of the “Program to Develop Athletic Infrastructure” of the Polish Ministry of Sport and Tourism.