Often I go by train from one place to another. Sometime a get in contact with other passengers. Some time ago I returned from a running event. I've got in contact with another runner. I talked about Runners Decathlon and he asked: Runners Decathlon? What's that? It is a running event where each participant must participate in ten running disciplines from 60 m up to 10,000 m. Ten disciplines? All at one day? No, the disciplines where distribute over four days. The Runners decathlon always starts on Ascension Day and finishes on following Sunday. On the first three days there is the sprint (60 – 100 – 200 m) in the morning, at lunch time the long distance (1,500 – 3,000 – 5,000 m), and in the early evening the middle distance (400 – 800 – 1,000 m). The final discipline is the race over 10,000 m on the 4th day. Is there any hurdles run? No, thanks god. At the 3rd day (or earlier ;-)) each step feels like a hurdle. Are the long distances cross-country races? All disciplines take place at the stadium on a Tartan track. Who is the winner? The one with the lowest time sum? The times will be calculated to points according to a special scoring system. These points will be added for each run and who has the highest point sum is the winner. But everyone finishing the Runners Decathlon will be a winner. Finishers of the Runners Decathlon are called “Kings of Runners”. What kind of people participates in Runners Decathlon? A various mix of all kind of people is participating in Runners Decathlon: Men and women, teenagers and pensioners, competitive athletes and hobby runners, sprinters and long distance runners. Nobody is too young and nobody is too old. Everybody who is health can participate in Runners Decathlon. You should have some experience in running different distances. Hobby runners have to run against competitive runners, makes it sense? Each heat is set by performance. For the first day you give your actual performance from former competitions or from your training at registration time. On all other days the performance from the day before is used for setting the heats. So each heat is a very exciting fight. The age of the runners does no matter, so it could be that a teenager has to run with its “grandfather” if they have the same performance. But they will be scored in different age groups? Of course there is an age group scoring, but for is the total scoring more exciting, because I see my position in comparison to my direct heat opponents. Do you know something about the history of Runners Decathlon? The first Runners Decathlon was organized 1982 by Dr. Wilhelm Fischer († 2001), a teacher of a vocational school in Vienna. He wanted to detect the most versatile runner. Until 1989 the most of the participants were students of different vocational schools. In 1990 the Runners Decathlon was announced internationally for the first time. 133 runners from 7 countries came to Vienna. From the still existing GDR came 55 Runners. Due to this the next Runners Decathlon should take place in Berlin. Since that the venue changes between towns in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Czech Republic. In 2012 France has added to the list of organizers countries. Where and when does the Runners Decathlon take place? The next Runners Decathlon will take place from 29 May − 01 June 2025 in Soemmerda (Germany). The announcement, online registration, and all other things about the Runners Decathlon you'll find on http://www.runners-decathlon.eu. Special thanks. I must get off now. Have a good journey! May be we will meet again at the next Runners Decathlon! ... |
