World Asthma Day (May 6, 2008) – Lek Bicycle Marathon For Better Breathing and the AsthmaMobile

Lek cyclists with Marko Baloh and the AsthmaMobile stop off in Kranjska Gora

13. 5. 2008

Yesterday a team of 11 cyclists from Lek with ultramarathon cyclist Marko Baloh at the head started the Lek For Better Breathing bicycling marathon, which the Asthma and Sports Association is organizing in cooperation with Lek in celebration of this year’s World Asthma Day. In five days they will ride around 850 kilometers from Ljubljana through Postojna, Nova Gorica, Jesenice, Cerklje, Velenje, Maribor, Murska Sobota, Lendava, Celje, Mengeš and back to Ljubljana. Today they stopped in at the Josip Vandot elementary school in Kranjska Gora.

The mobile team from the Asthma and Sports Association started the course together with the cyclists, and will follow the cyclists and hold Asthma Schools in towns around Slovenia. Today the cyclists greeted the children from the Josip Vandot Elementary School in Kranjska Gora. Uroš Reisman, a medical associate from the Asthma and Sports Association, showed them some effective measures and exercises which make breathing easier and prevent serious deterioration, and gave them some useful information about the lungs and asthma.

“If the lungs of an adult were spread out they would be the size of a football field. It’s no wonder that people are having so many respiratory problems with all the air pollution. If we add to this the fact that children breathe two to three times more air per unit of body weight than adults, it’s obvious why cases of asthma among children are increasing,” says Dr. Milan Hosta of the Asthma and Sports Association.

The purpose of the campaign is to warn people about the epidemic of asthma and allergies, talk about successful preventive measures for asthma, encourage regular exercise and warn people about the effects of increasing environmental pollution.

Additional information:
Asthma and Sports Association
Dr. Milan Hosta
info@asthmasport.com
telephone 041 518 824
www.asthmasport.com
www.markobaloh.com