FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WORLD ATHLETICS HERITAGE PLAQUE:
Berlin and its annual marathon jointly awarded Heritage Plaque
Governing Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, received a World Athletics Heritage
Plaque honouring the city of Berlin and the annual Berlin Marathon at a
ceremony in Berlin's City Hall on Wednesday. The mayor was joined at
the ceremony by the marathon's founder, Horst Milde, and a host of runners
including Uta Pippig, the 1993 New York City Marathon winner and a
three-time marathon champion in Berlin and Boston. The plaque, which has
been awarded in the joint categories of 'City' and 'Competition',
celebrates the city's rich athletics history, including the first organised
running events in the 1890s and the foundation of the Berlin Marathon in
1974.
"World Athletics is delighted to recognise the outstanding contribution
that the city of Berlin and the Berlin Marathon have made to the history
and development of international athletics, with the award of the World
Athletics Heritage Plaque," said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe in
a video message. "The plaque honours more than 130 years of organised track
& field athletics and running events in Berlin. Notably, in 1913, Berlin
staged the second Congress in our federation's history and the city is one
of only nine to have hosted the summer Olympic Games and the World
Athletics Championships. On those two occasions, Berlin's Olympic Stadium
provided the dramatic stage for the legendary triumphs of Jesse Owens and
Usain Bolt. At the epicentre of the city's running history is the annual
Berlin Marathon, founded by running enthusiast Horst Milde. The race
director for the first three decades, Horst established the Berlin
Marathon's international reputation for organisational excellence. With
more than 40,000 finishers annually, the Berlin Marathon is one of the
world's largest mass road races. The city's flat, fast course attracts the
world's best elite runners. Twenty years since Paul Tergat ran the first
sub-2:05 marathon, Berlin's streets have seen the men's world record broken
another seven times. Berlin has also welcomed the first women to run a
sub-2:20 and, only a few weeks ago, break the 2:12:00 barrier. In total, 13
world records have been set there since 1974. With today's award of the
World Athletics Heritage Plaque, we salute Berlin's historic place in our
sport's history."
The World Athletics Heritage Plaque is a location-based recognition,
awarded for an outstanding contribution to the worldwide history and
development of the sport of track and field athletics and of out-of-stadia
athletics disciplines such as cross country, mountain, road, trail and
ultra-running, and race walking.
The plaque was presented to Mayor Wegner and Milde in the Rotes Rathaus,
the red city hall of Berlin, by World Athletics Heritage Director Chris
Turner in the presence of guests from the city, and representatives of the
Berlin Marathon and the German Athletics Federation (DLV). The plaque will
be placed on permanent public display in the Rotes Rathaus.
A distinguished line-up of runners attended the ceremony, including the
inaugural Berlin Marathon winners from 1974, Gunter Hallas and Jutta von
Haase. The latter won three times and she was joined by another two runners
with triple Berlin victories, Pippig and Ingo Sensburg, plus Bodo Tummler,
the 1968 Olympic 1500m bronze medallist and 1966 European champion.
Kai Wegner, Governing Mayor of Berlin, commented: "World Athletics, the
world governing body for the sport of athletics, has awarded Berlin and the
Berlin Marathon the World Athletics Heritage Plaque. This is a great honour
for Berlin, which is such a sports-loving city. "Above all, it is
recognition of the great enthusiasm of many Berlin citizens who, through
their voluntary involvement, have for decades contributed to the success
story of this internationally renowned sports event. Berlin says thank you
to World Athletics and Sebastian Coe, its chair, for this very special
expression of appreciation."
Horst Milde, founder of the Berlin Marathon, said: "The awarding of the
Heritage Plaque by World Athletics to the Berlin Marathon, which has now
been running for almost 50 years, is a great and significant honour for the
organisational team, the SCC Berlin club, the many volunteers and for
myself. It is great praise and at the same time motivation for the future.
We are happy about this high award, recognition and appreciation and thank
you for the Heritage Plaque, which will be given a worthy place of
remembrance in the city hall of the city. History obliges - the tradition
and the great running history in this city are both the present and the
future. Only through the further development of sports, athletics, and the
preservation of the health of the population can we do this justice."
Berlin - 130 years of organised running
"Berlin is especially a city of running with the first races introduced by
members of the English FC in Berlin in the winter of 1891/92, and the
Chaussee runs from Potsdam to Berlin over 25.6km organised by Berlin track
and field athletes since 1894, long-distance running found its home in
Berlin," wrote Gerd Steins in the Sporthistorische Blatter of the Berlin
Sports Museum.
Since then, numerous other road running initiatives have been born in
Berlin, including the Berlin Marathon, the Berlin Half Marathon, the 25km
of Berlin, the Avon Women's Run and the Team Relay.
Cross country running and track & field have a long tradition in the city.
The first documented cross country race in Germany was held on 26 May 1900
on the Grunau-Eichwalde course organised by the Berlin Sports Club
Marcomannia, whereas on 16 September 1900 the first German championship at
100m was held in the city.
The most famous of all German track and field meetings, 'Internationales
Stadionfest' or 'ISTAF', was founded on 3 July 1921 by the Berliner
Sport-Club (BSC), the Sport-Club Charlottenburg (SCC) and the Schwimmclub
Poseidon.
ISTAF, which is the world's oldest invitational one-day track and field
meeting, was awarded a World Athletics Heritage Plaque in 2019. The plaque
was presented to the meeting organisers at the start of the 80th edition on
12 September 2021, marking the centenary of the meeting's foundation.
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