Projects that came to the fore during the pandemic when individual movements were the only forms of sports activities. Those activities allow you to become more familiar with the roads you’re using than when driving a car. In the second phase, the projects bridged the concepts of traffic safety and culture with an active lifestyle, familiarizing oneself with the transport system and touristically exploring destinations outside the place of residence.
Regular sports activities from a young age are important for the mental and physical health of both children and adults. Physical activity, such as walking, running, or cycling, lessens our reliance on cars. A reduced number of cars increases the level of traffic safety and improves the environment for all of us. Our “Sports for safety” projects include competitive, recreational, and memorial races as well as training sessions along the routes that are interesting from the traffic point of view. While implementing the activities, we make sure to record traffic situations, characteristics of certain destinations or routes as well as unique aspects of the race itself or traffic participants. The basic message that SGI delivers with this project is: If you want to race through the city streets, run without speed limits!
Stronger than Corona (2020)
During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual races titled “Stronger than Corona” were launched with the aim to maintain health through safe movement, but also to maintain communication between runners via social media. Initially, one virtual race was organized, followed by five more, forming a small league “Stronger than Corona”. SG.I members joined the virtual races and used their runs to “measure Zagreb” and record the traffic situation on the city streets from east to west and from north to south. The first race was dedicated to the victims of the devastating earthquake in Zagreb.
Videos of all activities were recorded and the results were presented at the CSR conference.
Individual participation in races
When selecting races, we prioritized humanitarian races that help those most vulnerable. We participated in the Milky Way and the Vukovar Butterflies humanitarian races.
In addition to humanitarian races, we were drawn to races that promoted a connection with nature, so we participated in the Čaplja League along the Trnava stream in Dubrava and the Ranger RUN in Lonjsko Polje.
SGI.I sponsored sports T-shirts for the Running is our Therapy team during Zagreb Night Center. This was the catalyst for participating in various races with our favorite Octopus With an Attitude.
Heart and Soul in Traffic
Inspired by the idea of recording various traffic situations during races, we launched the initiative “Heart and Soul in Traffic”. Through this activity, different situations encountered while running, walking and cycling are video-recorded and shared on our official YouTube channel. The situations are also described in blog posts on our website.
Breathe
In 2024, in collaboration with the Athletic Club JAK Jasenovac and the Marathon Runners Association of Sisak-Moslavina County “Heroes Don’t Die”, participation was initiated in 18 races of the Croatian Road Running League and a series of memorial and humanitarian races and other interesting races that could not be missed. We recorded a video about each race and its story for our YouTube channel. The blog posts will be compiled into a book titled Breathe for Traffic.
