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Running into new dimensions

In 2003 the Berlin organisers started 15 different events with exactly 123,778 entrants

2004-01-05

SCC-RUNNING proudly announced a new annual record for its events. In 2003 the Berlin organisers started 15 different events with exactly 123,778 entrants. For the first time more than 120,000 athletes were registered. In comparison to 2002 this means an increase of roughly 15 percent. “It is the most successful year in our history of running events“, race director Horst Milde said. It was 40 years ago when he started the first Cross Country Race in Berlin. From then on until the end of last year SCC-RUNNING has organised 345 events with altogether 1,264,110 entries.

While the New Year was started successfully with the traditional race on New Years Day (3,600 people took part) another major figure could be exceeded this year: It is expected that more than 125,000 people will enter this years races.

SCC-RUNNING already is the worlds second biggest organiser of running events. From those organisers who annually organise a couple of races only the New York Road Runners Club is bigger than SCC-RUNNING. Their main race is of course the New York City Marathon which had a record number of finishers recently (34,703) and was the biggest marathon in 2003.

There were new records at the real,- BERLIN MARATHON as well. For the first time more than 30,000 runners finished the race (30,709), making this event the fourth biggest marathon worldwide behind New York, Chicago and London. If you add Inline Skaters, wheelchair athletes and kids the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON had 55,539 entries from 99 nations. Additionally 11,000 took part at the breakfast jog.

“More and more people realize that running is a healthy sport. Because of this I am convinced that our sport will grow and continue to be attractive“, Horst Milde said. It is estimated that 15 million people do jogging in Germany.

Hiroaki Chosa, the president of the Association of International Marathons and Road Races (AIMS), also expects running to have a great future: “I am convinced that running will further develop“, he said (see Interview with Hiroaki Chosa for more details). The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has also realized the potential of the running events. The IAAF cooperates with AIMS and a number of road races as well. “Running has become a cultural phenomenon. Who would have expected that? Just 50 years ago it was impossible to foresee such a development. Additionally running today has an important global significance as far as health is concerned“, Helmut Digel said. He is the Vice-President of the IAAF.