SPORTS. Why march for science when you can run? In the spring, colleagues from the MIVAC research center donned their running shoes and team shirts and participated in three different races: Women’s Run Riga, Göteborgsvarvet, and Blodomloppet.
One of the enthusiastic runners from MIVAC is doctoral student Inta Gribonika, who believes that these races are about more than just wellness care for the employees:
“We run not only to promote a healthy lifestyle among us researchers, who might otherwise focus too much on work, but also to promote our research, our department, and our university. We also want to raise awareness among the public about the importance of science in their daily lives.”
The team shirts all bore the slogan “MIVAC runs on science” – a slogan that was launched by researcher Jenna Anderson and served as the focal point when the researcher team designed their T-shirt.
In the spring, the T-shirts with the MIVAC slogan were seen at three different races. At the first one, Women’s Run in Riga, Latvia on May 7th, Erika Gribonika managed to take 22nd place out of nearly a thousand runners.
Ten participated in Göteborgsvarvet
Göteborgsvarvet, the world’s largest half marathon, attracted over 65,000 runners this year. Ten of these were from MIVAC. Two of the participants, Stefan Isaksson and Jenna Anderson, are very experienced runners. The other participants were Inta Gribonika, Filip Ahlmanner, Gurdeep Chahal, Stefan Karlsson, Jacob Cervin, Dace Abele, Louis Szeponik and Sophie Schussek.
“Some of our teammates were running Göteborgsvarvet for the first time, and they were incredibly pleased to make it all the way to the finish line. Everyone on the team ran the full stretch, and our average time was 2 hours and 42 seconds. We are now all looking forward to next year’s Göteborgsvarvet,” explains Inta Gribonika.
Rakesh Chandode followed the half marathon with his camera and was the team’s official photographer.
Fun activity for the department
MIVAC’s third race of the spring was Blodomloppet, which was held on May 29th at Slottsskogen Park in Gothenburg. A total of ten colleagues, divided into two teams, participated in the race. Lisa Larsson Berglund, Rebecca Josefsson, Louis Szeponik and Inta Gribonika ran ten kilometers. Rakesh Chandode, Sarah Meisel and Rebecca Andersson ran five kilometers, while Sukanya Raghavan, Charlotta Hansson and Esteri Viitanen chose to walk five kilometers.
“Blodomloppet was a great team-building event that ended with a lovely picnic in the park. Some of the participants even felt it was the most fun activity they had ever done as representatives of our department,” says Inta Gribonika. “Our thanks go out to our group leaders of the department for their support!”
TEXT: ELIN LINDSTRÖM CLAESSEN
PHOTO: RAKESH CHANDODE
