Over 24,500 walkers take part in 58th annual Prague–Prčice March!
Once a year since 1966, thousands of Czechs have put on their walking shoes and set off through the Bohemian countryside to the small town of Prčice. Among the 24,500 walkers this year was RPI’s Danny Bate.
The annual Prague–Prčice March (Pochod Praha–Prčice) is a major milestone in the Czech hiker’s calendar. People sign up in their thousands to take part in the hike, with a reported number of 24,500 participants for this year’s 58th edition on May 17th. This was an increase of almost 2,500 from last year's total. Coming from various directions, they converged on the finish line in the small Central Bohemian town of Prčice, all for the sake of fun, glory and a small plastic shoe.
The Prague–Prčice March gets its name from the longest official route, which begins in Prague and progresses southwards. This variant of the hike requires a stout heart and an early start, since it requires its walkers to cover seventy kilometres in one day. Understandably, other routes are offered; the most popular this year, with around 5,000 hikers, was the 30 km trail from Tábor.
The Prague–Prčice route is the original, dating back to 1966 when the hike was first founded by Jiří Dvořák, editor-in-chief of the magazine Turista, Czechoslovak Railways employee Karel Kulle, and sports promoter Stanislav Rataj. It reached its peak in the 1970s, with 35,000 walkers taking part in 1979. Its popularity dropped after the Velvet Revolution and the changes of 1989, but has since picked up again, and in recent years has settled at around 20,000 participants annually.
There are a couple of well-known theories about why the quiet and ordinary town of Prčice was chosen to be the goal for this extraordinary hike. There is an ‘urban legend’ that the town was chosen after a colleague told the founders to go “to Prčice”, which sounds a little rude in Czech, and therefore quite funny.
The more sensible and apparently true reason, however, is that Prčice offered a picturesque destination a comfortably challenging distance away from Prague. This was helped by the fact that Stanislav Rataj was a native of the town.
Except for a two-year break in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Prague–Prčice March continues to be a very popular annual tradition. Taking part for the third time this year was RPI’s Danny Bate, who followed the 35 km route from Olbramovice and reported from the field (quite literally).
Having crossed Prague in the morning, caught the train from Prague Main Station south, and checked in at Olbramovice, Danny set off at 9 AM with his band of friends, heading eastwards – away from Prčice. This route passed through small villages and green forests, eventually circling around and going west.
An unusual emotion specific to the Prague–Prčice March is ‘shoe envy’. The prize for successfully completing the hike is the iconic small shoe (botička). It was first awarded in 1973, and was originally made of metal, before a switch to plastic. With such a long history, it is a common sight to see fellow walkers along the way with great bundles of the little shoes hanging from their backpacks, or even stitched onto their hats. This marks them out as honourable veterans of the hike.
Danny and his team crossed the finish line and claimed their shoes at 5:30 PM. Excluding two stops at control points to get the necessary stamps and have some refreshments, they had walked at a good pace through beautiful Bohemian landscapes.
Prčice itself on the day of the event has a party atmosphere, as hikers treat themselves to food, drinks and a well-deserved sit down. ‘Will I do this again next year?’ they all ask themselves. The feet say no, but the heart already says yes.
