Slava posted this message on social media and reached out to Trail Runners Connection in 2023:
“My name is Izyaslav, or Slava for short, and with my wife’s humble permission, Luxembourg and The Netherlands will be the 9th and 10th (or 10th and 11th if we count Monaco) country I will attempt to run this Summer 2023.
The list already includes: my home country USA, UK, France (and Monaco), Cuba, Ireland, Switzerland, my native country Moldova, and Israel.”
Slava announced his run through Luxembourg June 1-3, 2023, followed by a 360 km run across the Netherlands, from Vaals in the South to Eemshaven in the North, starting June 4 or 5, 2023.
“20+ years ago I also visited Luxembourg and the Netherlands as a teenager with my mom so there is a little history there,” Slava said, and he planned on meeting with family in the Netherlands after the run.
Support Ukraine
Slava ran to honor several Ukrainian causes, including Web Developers Team Crocoblock who, despite the war, keep giving high standard tools and support to website professionals, and enabled to build this platform where runners can connect and support each other.
Slava’s wife is from Kharkiv, Ukraine one of the cities which faced sustained bombing for months on end with entire neighborhoods destroyed. Ukrainian, “so this cause is dear to me,” Slava says. “If you’d like to donate and support Ukraine, that’s welcome!”