Today, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the award ceremony of the 3rd amateur cross-country running "Cup of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia " in Etchmiadzin.

The tournament was held on the road section from Parakar to Etchmiadzin of Armavir region, with 3 age groups, as well as a separate group of athletes. 1st age group: schoolchildren born in 2006-2010, 2nd: women and men aged 18 to 40 (2005-1983), 3rd: women and men aged 41 and older (born in 1982 and earlier). There was also a separate group of athletes-citizens of the Republic of Armenia, without age limitation.

In the first age group, schoolchildren covered a running distance of 4 km. The start was given from the territory adjacent to the cultural and historical museum-reserve “Zvartnots”. Representatives of the second and third age groups, as well as a separate group of athletes, ran 10 km along the Parakar-Etchmiadzin highway.

The group of current professional athletes of the tournament included athletes involved in athletics and who took part in the Armenian athletics championships and international tournaments over the past 5 years.

The participants (men and women) who took 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in 3 age groups, as well as in the separate group, were awarded certificates, cups, and medals from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport.

Participants who took 1-10 places in three age groups and the separate group of athletes also received cash prizes: 1st place - 1,000,000 AMD, 2nd place - 500,000 AMD, 3rd place - AMD drams, 4th place - 100,000 AMD, 5-10 places - 50,000 AMD.

The awards were presented by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Zhanna Andreasyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Karen Giloyan, Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan, Governor of Armavir Province Edward Hovhannisyan, Head of the Vagharshapat community Diana Gasparyan.

Prime Minister Pashinyan also presented prizes to the oldest participants of the tournament.

Prime Minister Pashinyan said in his speech,

"Dear Cabinet members,
Dear representatives of state and local self-government bodies,
Dear participants of the marathon "Pime Minister’s Cup",
Dear attendees,

First, once again I want to congratulate the award winners and thank everyone for their participation.

This tournament is actually organized to emphasize our determination to move forward in all situations, to move forward, to strengthen our will, to solve the problems facing us. In that sense, of course, we have to show our will. We will move forward walking, sometimes running, sometimes it will be very difficult, to the point of impossibility, but we will not stop our progress, because our goal is a free, strong, sovereign, happy and safe Republic of Armenia.

This year we saw several innovations, which is very important. It’s important that we also have a new category of professional athletes. In the process, secrets are revealed as we also learn that a number of our tournament participants play professional sports, which isn't bad, but I hope we keep the rules accurate in all cases to protect fairness. And I see this change within that logic as well.

It is very important that the participation of school children is expanded. We must continue to go that way. Today we saw award winners on our podium and at the awards ceremony who won awards with their schools in the school cross-country running.

We also want to make today's prize winners an example for our country in some sense, for all of us, for the citizens. I'll be honest, when the men in our 40+ category were standing on the awarding platform, I was thinking in my mind, I was saying, look how a man over 40 should look and have a body. Of course, it is very important, and I thank them.

After all, when we say that our goal is to have a strong individual from the education system, resulting in a strong society, we mean exactly this: strong mentally, strong psychologically, and strong physically. Of course, we attach great importance to the health and healthy lifestyle of our citizens.

I and Mrs. Avanesyan came here from the city of Martuni, Gegharkunik region, where we opened a medical center and polyclinic built from scratch. Also, we are planning to build many medical centers and outpatient clinics in the republic, but of course, we understand that medical centers are necessary, we need them, because without them there will be no health care, and healthcare must be affordable for people. On the other hand, here, with these tournaments, we want to show one of the ways that can help not to end up in the hospital and health institutions as a patient. And, in general, this way of life is a culture that I think is very important for the correct organization of both the state and society, and public relations, and for emphasizing the right values in general.

When we thought about what sports to choose to promote a healthy lifestyle, there were all kinds of options, but especially for schoolchildren and adults, we emphasized running. Why? Because when we were thinking about different sports, we realizedt that not all settlements have the infrastructure for these sports, which would result in inequality. And we thought that if someone wants to run, he doesn't need big infrastructures, he can run in his village, settlement. That's why we chose the cross-country running and we see that, fortunately, the geographical composition of our prize winners is quite wide.

Recently, we commissioned the Artashat athletics stadium. We are creating and repairing a huge sports infrastructure within the framework of the "300 Schools" project. In the near future, I expect a very serious development of basketball in the Republic of Armenia, because it seems that basketball is becoming the main sport in our school gyms. But, of course, we also have the program of sports centers. In the future, I hope, from next year we will start the program of sports centers, which will be for youth and adults, for professional and amateur sports: swimming pools, stadiums, fitness centers.

At this stage, there is no need to focus on building big stadiums, we should focus on the infrastructure needed for training. There can be a running track without a stadium. We can create running tracks in regions, various infrastructures for long jump, high jump, and athletics. We will think about stadiums in the future, when our athletes of these sports will start to win more and more medals and generate more and more interest among the public. Although as far as I understand, we have several stadiums today. Mr. Giloyan, you even said that we can host the European Championship in Artashat. We also have such plans and, of course, we will do everything to develop all infrastructure, including sports.

In conclusion, I want to thank all the participants, Armavir region, Vagharshapat community, Parakar enlarged community for hosting this tournament for three years in a row and creating such an atmosphere.

I also thank all the fans.

Dear attendees,

The Prime Minister's Cup is a very important project for us, and we will do everything to develop it, make it more organized, more attractive, more massive.

The next innovation is that we also give opportunities to foreign citizens in Armenia. I think that this is also the right decision, because if we organize these tournaments correctly, they can not only provide tourist flows to the Republic of Armenia, but also increase the competitiveness in the country and we will see that our foreign participants will also promote the popularization of sports in the Republic of Armenia.

Long live the Republic of Armenia."