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The Last Victors of the Running Year 2003

1,947 New Year

2004-01-02

The last victors of the running year 2003 were honoured at the Mommsen Stadium at the 28th Berlin Pilsner New Years Eve Run organised by SCC RUNNING, also known as the “Donut Run“.

The “next to last“ victors were the participants of the costume competition. The most intricate mens costume went to Achim Schulz, who appeared as a pregnant bird, while the best womens costume went to Waltraud Born, who was dressed as a clown. The costume contest shortly before the start is becoming more and more popular with the spectators—and with the participants, too, of course. Fireworks—just before the start of the main race—put the participants in the right mood before they made their way to the Teufelsberg Mountain.

This year, the traditional race up the mountain on the 9.9 km course was possible—2 years ago the bad weather, snow and ice, made the course up the hill too dangerous. Horst Milde, of SCC RUNNING, was pleased with the 1,947 participants (1,908 last year), as it means an increase, albeit a small one, in the number of starters. Germanys most successful running event organiser thus totalled 123,778 participants for the 17 events organised throughout the year. An impressive total of 1,264,110 runners, walkers, skaters, and wheelchair competitors have participated in 345 events organised by the SCC organisers from September 8, 1964-December 31, 2003.

The winner of the 9.9 km race was Ingo Ortel in 30:45 ahead of Michael Gottschalk (31:34) and Kartsen Thermann (31:51), all of SCC. The womans winner was Regina Marunde (LTC) in 36:43 ahead of Suzanne Hoppe (SCC Triathlon) in 38:58 and Jannie Weiter 39:03.

The victors received giant jelly donuts and a bottle of sparkling wine, and all the other participants received “normal“ donuts and a certificate at the finish. For a few “unlucky“ runners, according to a New Years Eve tradition, their donuts were filled with hot mustard rather than with jelly. Further results are available at: www.berlin-marathon.com

On January 1, 2004 at 12 noon the new running year 2003 starts off at the 33rd Berlin New Years Day Run at the Brandenburg Gate.

The district mayor of Berlin Mitte, Joachim Zeller, will give the starting signal.