Athletics Ontario Running Podcast · John Shep

EP 203: Jovica "Yatzi" Savic - The 51.9K Charity Challenge: Yatzi Runs to Give Back to Home

·37 min·2 clips

A cold night at a gas station and seeing a mother and child on a street corner pushed Savic to fundraise.

1. Athletics Ontario Running Podcast EP 203 centers on Jovica “Yahtzee” Savic and his 51.9K charity run in Kitchener-Waterloo. 2. Host John Shep frames the episode around Savic, whose Instagram handle is Yahtzee Runs, and Savic explains why he matters through a refugee story and a community fundraiser. 3. The episode asks what running can do when it is tied to giving back to a place you call home. 4. Savic says he came to running after team sports no longer fit family life once his son Jovan was born. 5. He says the change became real when carrying both kids up the stairs left him breathless and made him decide his fitness was “in the hole.” 6. Savic describes starting runs late at night and early in the morning while his children slept. 7. He says running felt natural because he had played soccer before kids and spent 17 years working outside as an eavestrough and siding installer. 8. He also says he recently transitioned into sales, which changed the shape of his daily routine. 9. Savic explains that a video about being a refugee in Canada came out in one take after he ran past a Canadian flag on a long run. 10. He says the post resonated because he wanted to spread positivity instead of more negative content online. 11. Savic details being born in 1989 in former Yugoslavia, a country that no longer exists. 12. He says political tensions and a regime change led to war, and his family fled to Serbia when he was very young. 13. He says his family lived as refugees in Serbia for six years without a refugee camp. 14. He describes relying on the Red Cross for food and living wherever they could find shelter. 15. He says he and his parents were trying to stay together while other relatives, including uncles and a grandfather, were prisoners of war for years. 16. Savic says Canada was the only country that told them, “you can come here,” and that it gave his family a second chance at life. 17. He says the November 8 run raised money for Ray of Hope Kitchener-Waterloo, which supports the unhoused population. 18. He says the route was 51.9K, a reference to the 519 area code, and that people could join for 21K, 10K, or 5K. 19. The conversation stays reflective and personal, with John Shep sharing his own experience running with the group and Savic repeatedly crediting family, friends, and runners for support. 20. This episode will appeal to Ontario runners who like community charity stories and refugee-to-running journeys, and it may skip people who want race stats only.

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