On September 5th, there was a festive atmosphere of excitement as children, teenagers and grownups from the Panatau community gathered to compete in their first ever bicycle race! Daniel Busuoic, a bicycle enthusiast and volunteer of AMURTEL helped Larisa Bratucu, the director of the Fountain of Hope After-School Center to organize the event. She recruited several young local volunteers from the highschool who were very involved and worked side by side with the the EVS volunteers in registering the participants, organizing the prize ceremony and distributing water.
Inspired by the energy of the moment, several grown-ups spontaneously decided to join the race at the last moment. There was a prize ceremony at the end, with the mayor of Panatau awarding gold, silver and bronze medals to the winners, while all of the participants received certificates and a bag of sweets!
The race was part of the “I want to be active” project, organized by AMURTEL and financed by the Buzau county council and the local Panatau town council. The project was designed to encourage sports in the community, and indeed after the race, many of the children and adults were already planning to practice and prepare more for next year’s race. It is the just the beginning of a new tradition for the village!
Here is a video of the event:
