WE RUN AND WE CARE!
Run yourself fit! „Lauf dich fit!“
One of the first cooperations is the “lauf-dich-fit” project of the Bavarian Athletics Association e.V.
The aim is to motivate children and young people from grades 1-10 to run and thus to get them excited about exercise and sport. Movement is especially important in childhood so that all muscles, joints and bones can develop properly and grow well.
Since the start of the project, almost 300,000 children have already registered and discovered the fun of running for themselves.
All children of the school sports campaign Lauf-dich-fit, will receive a free start for the mini-marathon at GMM 2021.
If that is not motivation for training!
Environmental Thought
Sustainability is like a run – you get closer to the goal step by step and you have to keep up with it. The GMM 2020 should make a statement, for our environment, for more mindfulness and a greater awareness of consumption. Everybody has to start with themselves and that is why we are tackling many of the issues at our event this year and have managed to make some aspects of the GMM sustainable. This year, each runner will refresh himself at the finish line not from a paper cup, but from reusable cups that can be washed and reused hundreds of times. And even if disposable products cannot be avoided, we rely on recycled material and renewable raw materials. Recycling cups at the stations, compostable rain ponchos and goodie bags made of cotton – step by step we are becoming more sustainable.
And so that all runners can arrive at their next Challenge as relaxed as possible and preferably without their own car, all runners with a valid bib number have free travel on the MVV lines.
Our own challenge this year is: as little waste as possible at GMM. Join us at the start and make the world a little bit better step by step.
MUNICH MARATHON FOUNDATION „MÜNCHEN MARATHON STIFTUNG“
In Munich people stick together – that’s why this city is so warm and our marathon has been contributing to social projects in and around Munich every year during its existence.
This year, Gernot Weigel created the charitable MUNICH MARATHON Foundation for exactly these purposes. At the moment there are only a few steps left until everything is ready, but one thing was clear from the beginning: every cent allocated to this foundation will benefit local aid organisations and support associations one to one. This is our contribution to a sporty and fair Munich. For a city with a heart.
Chronicle
Laufend integrieren
In the summer of 2015, Munich had been the first port of call for people who had left their homeland because of war and poverty, with thousands arriving daily in special trains at Munich Central Station. A few weeks later, during the marathon weekend, they stood along the route as helpers. Some of them even dared to run the routes themselves (marathon, half-marathon, 10 KM). Together with the Social Department of the City of Munich and various aid organisations, a special programme for the integration of refugees was set up.
“Young refugees had always been in the situation of having to accept help – now they could give something back”, comments Gernot Weigl on the eagerness with which the refugees became involved in the organisation. Together with members of Bavarian clubs, they stood at the food stands along the route and took on organisational tasks in the Olympic Stadium.
But refugees did not only shape the image of the MUNICH MARATHON as friendly helpers. In 2015 and 2016 a total of 76 refugees accepted the starting offer. The programme included targeted preparation, which was also open to all other interested parties in the run-up to the marathon: “Integrate continuously.
Wristbands with this motto were offered at the Marathon Fair in the Olympic Hall and in the online shop – from these proceeds and sponsorship funds, 30,000 euros were earmarked last year for the support of refugees and handed over to the Social Department of the City of Munich.
“Munich provides a great example of how running can help address the major humanitarian challenges of our time,” says Paco Borao, President of AIMS, which organises over 400 running events worldwide. In previous years, the Tokyo Marathon and the “Great Ethiopian Run” had received the Social Award.
“We have made new friends and experienced moving reactions from the people of Munich,” explains Gernot Weigl, the race director of the MUNICH MARATHON. Of course, Munich will continue the “Ongoing Integration” project. “We will even expand it,” announces Gernot Weigl. “A major theme for 2017 will be inclusion. We also want to promote the integration of people with disabilities in the MUNICH MARATHON in future.
For this commitment the MUNICH MARATHON was awarded the “Social Award 2017” by the “Association of International Marathons and Distance Races” (AIMS) at their world congress. In 2018, the MUNICH MARATHON GmbH was honoured with the “Engagement Award of the City of Munich”.
With the support of Munich Airport, refugees and people with physical disabilities were once again able to take part in the GMM 2018 and actively contribute to the organisation.
RheumaKids in Motion” of the German Children’s Rheumatism Foundation was chosen as the 2018 cooperation project of “Laufend integrieren”.
After the great success of the project Kick’n’Run 2017, the initiative “buntkickgut” could be handed over a donation cheque for 17.000,- Euro. This project has impressively proven that football and running are closely connected. In 2018, among other things, 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the donation ribbons went to the German Children’s Rheumatism Foundation. This support was used to sponsor a local farm project which offers affected families and children suffering from rheumatism recreation and relaxation from their stressful everyday lives.
