It's RUN-TRUST-IC!

It’s RUN-TRUST-IC! was a project born from the shared needs of increasing the awareness about sport activities for disabled people, especially considering visually-impaired amateurial runners. The project was focused on the idea of sport for all and physical activity for an healthy lifestyle.In the four cities of the EU countries involved (Italy, Spain, France and United Kingdom) the situation is very similar: it is plenty of people doing sport activities around the cities (streets, parks, etc.) but very few citizens are aware about the fact that some disabled people need a guide to run. The project started by sharing experiences and data among the partnership, in order to plan concrete activities for citizens’ engagement: both disabled as amateurial athletes and runners as guides. Secondly, the partnership discussed about the pillars for a training program focused on the "mixed ability" approach, according to which disability is only a mental state, which focuses on the joint development of the relationship of TRUST between athlete and guide, essential for breaking down barriers and obstacles. The activity lead to the creation of the It’s Runtrustic Guidelines.After the first year of activities the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, first in Italy (the applicant country) and secondly in all the partners’ countries. The restrictions and fears for the virus, created many problems to the project activities that were postponed and the project extended till the end of 2021.Each partner worked on the local level to:- increase the awareness on the topic, among sport clubs and citizens, even strengthening networks with NGOs and institutions; - make the participation of disabled athletes real, concrete and full through the organization of small events (local competitions and training sessions).The last year of the project allowed the partnership to meet for the final meeting in Valencia (Spain), where the famous half marathon was a concrete sport occasion to keep into practice some of the recommendations born by the project.