Full speed at 30 degrees Celsius

At 5.15 pm they were ready to go: More than 400 sports enthusiasts gathered on the lawn in front of Burda Sportclub in Offenburg to warm up together on Thursday 19 July. Warming-up was not exactly necessary, however: The muscles were already well supplied with blood at 30 degrees Celsius in the shade.

This year’s version of Burda’s classic “Burda runs” started underneath blue skies in brilliant sunshine. Along the track, a great number of colleagues, friends and family members cheered on the runners, who either went on a 5-kilometer running track or a Nordic walking trail.

Happy winners

This year, there was a separate entry category for young runners up to the age of 16 for the first time. The winners in this category were Sarah Koch with 32:41 minutes and Luca Komann who came home in 25:29 minutes. Both proved that junior talent is often faster than their older fellow sportsmen and women. The winners in age group 2 were Natalie Wangler and Jonas Müller, while in age group 3, Michaela Seide and Andy Ertl took first place. Ines Leutner and Salvatore Corriere were delighted at receiving the trophies in age group 4. Ingrid Beck and Guido Schmidt won in age group 5. The fastest Nordic walkers were Andrea Dubs and Mike Straube.

The “scarifiers” from the editorial team of Mein schöner Garten won the challenge cup for the best team result for the third time in a row. Andi Hupertz from Hitradio Ohr hosted the award ceremony and presented the winners with their trophies together with Milo Skupin-Alfa. Milo Skupin-Alfa is a member of the athletics club LG Offenburg and has recently won the bronze medal in the 400-meter relay at the U20 world championship in Finland.

Fun for all age groups

After their run, the athletes cooled down by taking a well-deserved shower and having a cold drink or some ice cream. While the young guests had fun with the bouncer castle or the play bus, the adults enjoyed delicious snacks from various food trucks while sitting in the shade in the party tent and listening to the live music of the duo “Constant Motion”.

“I’m pleased that so many colleagues have made it here today, on the hottest day of the year so far. ‘Burda runs’ is a great event every year and a token of the company’s appreciation for its members of staff.“

Heiko Engelhardt, director of BurdaDruck

Doing sports and celebrating together – this is what makes “Burda runs” so appealing to many participants. “You can sense the sporting spirit here – running together brings you closer together and is really good team building”, says Franziska Rochner, illustrator at FashionFactory. “I think it’s a nice event, because you don’t only celebrate together, but you’re also physically active together. It’s too bad that only three colleagues from our team took part. Next year the others will have to come along as well”, says Alexander Ruf, IT architect at Burda Digital Systems GmbH, with a chuckle. “I think it’s fantastic that Burda supports its members of staff in being fit and doing sports. And it’s great that it isn’t only a party for staff members, but for the whole family”, says Britta Christ from recruitment marketing.

There were prizes to be won, too…

… and fantastic ones at that, which were raffled off among all participants as part of a prize draw. The main prizes this year were a travel voucher worth the respectable sum of 1400 euros, donated by TUI Reisezentrum Zimmermann, one night at Schlosshotel Friedrichsruhe for two people, one night for two people including a four-course dinner at Designhotel Liberty in Offenburg, as well as several annual tickets for Freizeitbad Stegermatt. Apart from these sponsors, a very special word of thanks goes to FORUM Kino in Offenburg, who raffled off a whole range of cinema tickets.