Over 900 starters – from New Zealand to St. Gallen
Over 900 starters – from New Zealand to St. Gallen
Rheda-Wiedenbrück (rol) – LG Wiedenbrück offers the best of everything – even in the bleak times of the Coronavirus pandemic. Their 28th Christkindl race ran as a default variant and generated an overwhelming response. More than 900 athletes, some from the other end of the world, participated and made the 2020 edition an unforgettable event.
“People have participated really well,” said LG Borg spokesperson Martin Magustusman. He thanked not only the energetic people, but also the head of the Burg EDV team Michael Reeker and Mika Timing, who had borne the main organizational burden of running and did an excellent job.
If you want to get an impression of the event, you should take a look at the host’s website. There you can see the many selfies of the athletes who covered five or ten kilometers at freely chosen locations. Some pedestrians sent their results online until midnight yesterday. By yesterday noon, Martin Masjosthusmann had already had 880 results – including many great impressions from various methods.
“We got exactly the pictures we wanted,” Martin Magustusman said happily, gesturing at Santa Claus’s run, endurance aces, and rows of cheerful finishing touches. In some cases, they were on the road with a strong team, such as the Wiedenbrücker TV handball team. An elegant collage testifies to this.
As hoped, the participants not only used the local areas of the Wiedenbrück flora or the city forest – they ran alone, in pairs and yet together across the border. The most unusual result comes from Nick Morton, Rick Morton Hochmann from New Zealand. Bielefeld resides there to combine “business and travel”. Near the town of Wanaka on the South Island, he competed in “a faraway duel with his father Peter, who still has to run the ten-kilometer main running race at home,” says the LG Burg website. Others wander in the fresh snow of Switzerland, as evidenced by a postal letter from Olaf Aberdeiner from St. Gallen.
“We made a lot of new friends, from whom we received great suggestions and ideas,” said Martin Magustusman, another positive side of the virtual race. Moving the new shape along with two lanes and the pedestrian option to start the traditional Christkindl race at the Wiedenbrück Parlor would be challenging, Masjosthusmann has emphasized. “The window of time there is too small to start running the five kilometers because the entire city center needs to be closed for a longer time.”
Aside from that, there are “many other ideas that have an impact”. So one wants to let suggestions and desires “sink into Christmas and New Year”. It is important for LG Burg officials to maintain contact with friendly clubs during the break. For example, those who had to abandon Advent Racing in Rietberg can take part in the Emsstadters’ virtual race.
There is – even Masjosthusmann with a wink – an added virtual formatting feature that shouldn’t be despised. “We didn’t have to organize any guards or tea stalls.” And despite the success of the 28th edition, none of the participants doubted that it would be nicer to meet in downtown Wiedenbrück in twelve months. In order to be able to run tight together and later to be able to drink a thoughtful Christkindlemarkt wine in good company on the edge of an award ceremony.