On February 18, Soldiers and the national guardsmen will participate in an international friendship run in response to the invitation from the International Military Sports Association to celebrate the anniversary of its foundation.

Given the current weather conditions, a mass run is usually replaced with skiing in Nordic countries, as well as Latvia, Defence Ministry reports.

Soldiers of Riga garrison units and the National Armed Forces Commander General Raimonds Graube will be skiing on the territory of the Bikernieku station’s sports base in a 4.7 km long skiing track.

At 10 in the morning, the skiing event will be started by the Training and Doctrine Command headquarters and units – the National Defence Academy, Selection and Reserve Personnel registry centre and Sports Club (the organizer of this event in Latvia). Representatives of the National Guard headquarters will be off skiing at 12 o’clock. Joint Staff personnel of the armed forces commander will be skiing at 14 o’clock.

The first such run of member state’s soldiers took place in 2006. 150 000 soldiers from 28 countries participated in it, including Latvian soldiers. Last year, 623 000 soldiers from 37 countries participated in the run. Latvian soldiers have participated in this event five times since its foundation.

The International Military Sports Association is considered the military version of the Olympic Committee. It was founded on February 18, 1948, in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Currently, the organization includes 130 countries.

The goal of the association is to promote physical and sports activities, form friendly relationships among the armed forces of different countries, secure mutual technical aid, and help lower privileged countries.

This is the largest and most significant military sports event in the four year World Military Sports Games. It clearly reflects the ideals of the association and the motto: “Peace and friendship through sports.”

It should be added that the fifth World Soldier Sports Games took place in Brazil in 2011. 6 000 soldiers from more than 100 countries competed in 23 disciplines. Latvia’s team ranked 19th place among other countries, winning four medals.

Ref: 102.109.109.6104