4th Memorial of Edmund Sarna

No later than this weekend, 8th and 9th October, the 4th Memorial of Edmund Sarna in track and field athletics will be held in Kielce in Boczna Street. The event is organised by Kielce Track and Field Athletics Club (ŚZLA); the contest is also known under its more official name as the Świetokrzyskie Voivodeship competition in multi-discipline athletics. The competition has become a permanent event in the ŚZLA’s calendar; for the last few years it has been held at the end of the season, either the first or the second weekend of October.

Best Polish multi-discipline athletes and leading track and field athletes of Swietokrzyskie region who normally compete in individual disciplines have taken part in the last three consecutive editions of the Memorial. The organisers of this year’s Memorial expect to see about 50 contestants at the start line. And there are big names of Kielce as well Poland’s athletics among the sportspeople who have confirmed their participation; including Karolina Kołeczek – bronze medal winner of 2011 Polish Championship for 100 metres hurdles in addition to Magdalena Drop – one of the best Polish high jumpers and Paweł Tietierin from Kielce – the many-time medal winner of Polish Athletic Indoor Championship in 300 and 400 metre runs as well as Patryk Gradzik – a promising junior sprinter from Kielce.

The Edmund Sarna Memorial is the commemoration of a great man and eminent coach, the mentor of numerous generations of best athletes from Kielce. Edmund Sarna moved to Kielce in 1965 where he started his career as a coach – he was responsible for the athletes of Budowlani, Lechia, AZS Nowi, Łysogóry and Nowi-Bis. Since 2005 he was the coach at Kielce Track and Field Athletics Club. He was also the instructor of his own wife – Mirosława. They succeeded in gaining the fifth place in Summer Olympics in 1969 (Mexico) and winning the gold medal of European Championship in 1969 (Athens). In addition to this he was also the coach of Elżbieta Kapusta, Barbara Kwietniewska, Halina Jop, Ewa Starościak and Wojciech Podsiadło; the medallists of Polish and European Championships. In 1977 he was pronounced the best Poland’s coach of track and field athletes. In 2006 Sarna was decorated with the Semper Fidelis cross in recognition of his service for Poland, contribution to his motherland and democracy.

In 2007 the diagnose detected cancer; Sarna died early in the morning on 24th October.