Combining sport, participation and cultural reflection around the themes of rights, gender equality and equal opportunities. Thus was born the two days in Riccione, last March 7th and 8th on the occasion of International Women’s Day, the first edition of Walk & Run for Women – Walk and run for women’s rightsan event of non-competitive physical activity and awareness-raising promoted by Assist – National Association of APS Athletes with the patronage of the Municipality of Riccione and the Emilia-Romagna Region, of Amnesty International and the Embassy of Canada, in collaboration with the Soroptimist International Club of Rimini.
Through the universal language of sport, the event is committed to promoting values of inclusion, respect and equal opportunities, proposing movement as a tool for emancipation and social progress. The active participation of the community thus becomes a concrete way to reiterate the importance of building a more equal societyin which overcoming gender discrimination is a shared objective.
«The path of equality written by feminist commitment, sometimes even at the cost of one’s life, has marked steps that make us free today» she underlined Luisa Garribba Rizzitellipresident of Assist, who together with a team of sports champions – led by Olympians Antonella Bellutti and Josefa Idem – supports the event. “But now more than ever it needs alliances. These are alliances that we have always asked for with Assist, especially from men. We have always involved them and wanted them with us in the research work to overcome discrimination. There Walk and Run for Women wants to represent the importance of not experiencing gender discrimination as a ‘female’ problembut as a social plague that affects everyone. Sport therefore becomes a tool for socialization and community, for sharing values, for the desire to be together to act as part of a change that can no longer be postponed.”
And so it was. The program, developed over the two days, saw Saturday engaged in a “Workshop Day” at the Palazzo del Turismo in Riccione, an opportunity for discussion and in-depth analysis included in the European Erasmus+ Sport project “A Fairer Coaching”, which promotes an inclusive, ethical and non-sexist training methodology. The meeting brought together representatives of institutions, the sporting world and the third sector to discuss sport, equality and new educational practices.
Sunday, however, was dedicated to 2 and 5 kilometer walks and a 10 kilometer non-competitive run between the seafront and the center of Riccione, starting and finishing at the Palazzo del Turismo. Among the participants, men and women of all ages, also Antonella Bellutti, double Olympic gold in cycling, Manuela “Manù” Benelli, volleyball player, Stefania Passaro, star of European basketball, Stefania Bianchini, former world champion in boxing, Luisella Milani, multiple championship-winning volleyball player, Alice Pignagnoli, footballer, mother and writer who fought for the rights of athletes, Brigitte Grandia, winner of 11 championships in handball and Valentina Petrillo, Paralympic athletics athlete (class T12): first transgender woman admitted to compete in the female category at the Paralympic Games.
Along the route the Walk of Women’s Rightsan open-air exhibition curated by the famous artist Stefania Spanòaka Anarkikka, dedicated to the personalities who have contributed decisively to the history of equality and female emancipation. This is why, since its first edition, the Walk & Run for Women aims to become an appointment capable of combining sport, culture and social commitmentpromoting greater awareness of women’s rights and the need to build real and lasting change together.
