NATO Run To Be Held This Year Too
Szöveg: WO Bernadett Varga | 2016. március 4. 8:57On 26 February NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Ted Whiteside visited the HDF Training and Doctrine Centre (HDF TDC). The guest was received by Brig.-Gen. József Szpisják, the commander of the centre.
The Hungarian Defence Forces have provided logistic support for the event since the beginnings, and held military shows, appearances and on-site recruitment to raise the level of the program. Since 2015, the HDF TDC has been responsible for organizing and executing the military tasks of the NATO Run. Despite the fact that in 2015 the border protection tasks imposed a heavy workload on the Hungarian Defence Forces, nearly 200 soldiers from 12 countries attended the event and completed the distance as individual entrants.
The NATO Run is the only international mass sport event whose organization has been supported for years by the Brussels-based NATO Public Diplomacy Division (PDD), which makes it possible for the Budapest Athletic Federation to allow – in cooperation with the Hungarian Association of Military Sport Clubs (Hososz) – the employees of MoD organs and HDF organizations to freely participate in the competition, and to have the relevant personnel compete in a separate military category.
At the discussion about the event, the assistant secretary general said that in view of the above, he would like to see the sports event develop further, based on the successes achieved so far. He emphasized how important it is that Hungary continues this great tradition. At the same time, the informative character of the event must be strengthened so that the general public can get as much information as possible about the NATO Run and its role. To this end, the assistant secretary general offered the NATO PDD’s support in the form of providing an adequate information infrastructure.
Brig.-Gen. Szpisják said that the sports event to be held on 2 October is of great significance, not only for soldiers but also for NGOs and individual sportsmen. For this reason, the Hungarian Defence Forces are doing their best to make sure that the event can get across the message that the NATO Run is more than a mass sports event offering free entry for soldiers and HDF employees – it is also a link between nations, in particular between soldiers and civilians.
Photos by the author
