Ukrainian athletes' 2500km long journey for the chance to compete

It must have been one of the longest journeys to a Youth regatta: For nearly two whole days, four boys, four girls, and their coaches Svitlana Dashkevych and Nataliya Lyalchuk, traveled by bus and train from Novomoskovsk, Ukraine to Waltrop, Germany to compete against young German athletes.

The children did not seem to be that exhausted by the 2500-kilometer journey, as the trip seemed to bring a little light back into their difficult lives for a few days. Their parents, who were able to take part in this unusual regatta visit via video call, expressed their gratitude in numerous comments on social networks. Alla Melnikova, one of the competitor’s mothers, commented online on some photos posted of the regatta: “I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your hospitality, attention and care for our children. They were able to really recover from the constant wailing of sirens that sound almost every hour due to the threat of missile and drone attacks.”

The bitter everyday life for these eight talents who train in Nataliya Lyalchuk’s group: There are up to 60, 70 children who find a change from the cruel everyday life of war through the Novomoskovsk Skiff Rowing Club. They have not been able to go to school for over two years. “I haven’t seen my school friends for a long time,” says Kira, “we learn in front of the computer.” In the afternoons they try to distract themselves a little with sport, unless there is an air raid. It happens that they have to seek shelter up to twelve times a day.

Nataliya Lyalchuk founded the club in Novomoskovsk after returning back to Ukraine from Azerbaijan. After taking part in two Olympic Games (in 2008 for Ukraine in the quadruple sculls and in 2012 for Azerbaijan in the single sculls), she wanted to do something for the young people in her homeland. To give them support in a region that has been marked by the war in Donbas since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, and in which there was a lot of unrest and crime even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The club grew steadily, also thanks to support from Germany. Ruediger Hauffe, her former coach in Azerbaijan, who is now living in Sargstedt in Saxony-Anhalt, organized many boats that the 39-year-old urgently needed and was in constant contact with her. He had even offered his former athlete the chance to come to Germany with her family on several occasions. “But she doesn’t want to leave her homeland because she is needed there,” says Hauffe.

It was also through him that contact with the Waltrop rowing club was made. “When I was still a coach at RV Emscher Wanne-Eickel, I always enjoyed coming to the children’s regatta in Waltrop. And one day I asked Nataliya if she would like to travel to Germany with a group.” The idea was born and triggered a huge wave of support in Waltrop. Host families were quickly found, and Hauffe’s former club RV Emscher also provided boats. “On behalf of the Ukrainian children, I cannot thank everyone enough, especially RV Waltrop and their host parents, who made these wonderful days possible,” said Ruediger Hauffe.

On Tuesday, the trip started from home, by bus to Dnipro, from there by train to Lviv (Lemberg) near the Polish border and from there by bus to the bus station in Dortmund, where the families welcomed their guests on Thursday morning and offered them four great days. A mixture of sightseeing, a visit to the boat lift, a visit to the town hall with Mayor Marcel Mittelbach with an entry in the town’s Golden Book and the two days of the regatta, during which the Ukrainian children were able to gain lots of new experiences and make new friends.

It was impressive how many trailers were lined up and how many young people took part – even though the number of entries in 2024 did not come close to the top years. For both Nataliya and her fellow coach Svitlana Dashkevych, almost everything was new here: her kids had never rowed a Slalom race before and had never practiced it. The long distance with a turn was also unknown. In general, it was difficult to assess the children’s performance in advance, since apart from the Ukrainian championships in Kiev there were almost only internal competitions.

It was all the more beautiful to see how this young team developed over the two days, how they grew closer together and learned from the other participants. At their side was Ruediger Hauffe, who has been involved in top-class sport for years, but also knows the club work inside out and has all his experience.

Story by Detlev Seyb

Images by Detlev Seyb