Memories. Farewell, great coach – Zbyszek Borowski!

It is with great sadness that I received the news of your sudden death! Just a few days ago, in our phone conversation, there was no sign of your passing. We were talking about preparations for the next "cycling meeting of generations" (your third), and you asked me what to do to ensure the Tour de France could start in Szczecin someday?

As a FORMER rider (though you weren't my direct coach), I owe you a lot, especially after Tadeusz Drążkowski left the country. Back then, "quietly" (because Tadeusz Bestry became the official coach at Arkonia, where I was a cyclist), you gave me advice on how to win on the track and on the road.

I gladly accepted your help, as you yourself were a respected cyclist in Poland in the past! In any case, THANK YOU, COACH, for the time you devoted to me back then—completely selflessly. In Szczecin (on Wały Chrobrego), the famous KRYTERIA ACES (CRITERION OF ACES) competition took place years ago—thanks to your initiative, ZBYSZEK.

You raised many great cyclists, just to mention Sławomir Grzegorek, Marian Hałuszczak, Sławek Zacharewicz and the youngest of the Mikołajczyk brothers!

Fans will certainly remember his personal successes as a cyclist, including the Golden Shoulder Medal of the City of Łódź and winning the "opening race of the cycling season" in Szczecin in 1952.

You also once won one of the stages of the famous "Głos Szczeciński" race in Szczecin, even though you didn't have a proper racing bike at the time.

You also won the "Little Peace Race" in Kalisz in 1953, and on the same track a few months later, the Polish Long-Distance Track Championship, beating well-known cyclists of the time, including Bek, Borucz, and Ulik. And on the road, you successfully competed in many races with riders like Królak, Wilczewski, Hadasik, and Eligiusz Grabowski, not to mention the then-famous "Puppies": Przezdomski, Broszczak, Musialski, Klabecki, Zając, and Mąkowski.

Kudos to you for those successes and kudos to you for all your achievements as the coach of "Czarni" Szczecin!

For gathering around you a huge crowd of young people in those years and for the fact that, with your help, they later grew into competitors such as – I will add a few more names to those already mentioned: Pruski, Bednarek, Matusiak, Polewiak, Jarema, Zieliński and many, many others of whom SZCZECIN and the Szczecin cycling district can still be very proud.

HI TO YOUR MEMORY!!!

Karol Czejarek