FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SCC EVENTS is planning the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON
with up to 35,000 participants
- Restart Running pilot project
- A convincing health and hygiene concept for:
- adidas Runners City Night
- GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON
- BMW BERLIN-MARATHON
Confidence, a lot of confidence, currently reigns in Berlin after the
hybrid press conference that just took place there called "The long-awaited
restart of running together. Of course, safely!" Restart Running is the
name of an announced pilot project that is intended to guarantee the return
of major running events.
By staging the adidas Runners City Night, the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON
and the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON, the aim is to gain know-how and create
perspectives in the period from the end of July until autumn of 2021. The
knowledge gained will then be incorporated into decision-making processes
for the gradual reopening of public life including major sporting events.
The lynchpin of the pilot project is the health and hygiene concept
developed by the organizer SCC EVENTS, which is almost 150 pages. Jürgen
Lock, managing director of SCC EVENTS, presented the main features of the
impressive concept. For more than nine months Jürgen Lock has been working
on the draft with a highly competent committee of experts and summed it up:
"Since the beginning of April, based on our concept and implementation
analysis we are confident that the path we have chosen for our Restart
Running is the right one. The concept is based on three elements —
recovered, vaccinated, tested. The participants will have constant support
through all the phases of the event so it will be easy and almost like a
normal event. "The pneumologist and Medical Director of the BMW
BERLIN-MARATHON, Dr. med. Matthias Krüll, who was also present, confirmed
the high scientific standards of the hygiene concept and emphasized its
enormous practicality.
The fact that viable hygiene concepts and clear framework conditions are a
key to how large sporting events can be held safely and responsibly in
times of a pandemic was also mentioned by the Senator for the Interior and
Sport of Berlin, Andreas Geisel. For the senator, participation for runners
on the basis of "tested, vaccinated or recovered" seems quite possible.
Sports Senator Andreas Geisel: "The traditional running events bring
together top-level and amateur athletes in our sports metropolis. With
pilot projects, we gain know-how and create perspectives on how to conduct
major sporting events safely and responsibly in times of a pandemic. We are
taking the first steps back to normality. Things are looking good at the
moment, but we see look into the future. Everything depends on the
development of the infection statistics, including the question of whether
spectators can be admitted."
Dr. Florian Kainzinger, expert for hygiene concepts and test scenarios,
referred to the great advantage of outdoor events in contrast to indoor
events or seated concepts. Studies from the past weeks had shown that virus
infection is an indoor problem. Physicist and aerosol researcher Dr.
Gerhard Scheuch even went one step further and spoke of "open air instead
of lockdowns" to further push the drop in incidences, because almost no
infections occur outside closed rooms.
Marcel Altenburg (crowd management expert at Manchester Metropolitan
University) is jointly responsible for the safe management of crowd flows
at the world's largest top sporting events. The academic, who was connected
via livestream, was visibly impressed by the hygiene concept presented,
expressed his excitement about collaborating at the upcoming running events
as part of the pilot project and described his experiences of the last few
months: "Since autumn 2020, we have been supporting events worldwide (more
than 50 events) through the university – all events were successful and
were assessed as safe in retrospect. This shows above all the enormous
influence that organisers can have on the movement of people in a
controlled environment. The system in Berlin will be set up so that
individuals will always have enough space to feel comfortable and be able
to comply with applicable recommendations. By moving forward, each runner
is constantly creating space for the next runners. This has to be
coordinated. The fact that cooperation with the local authorities is also
indispensable in this regard was brought up again by Jürgen Lock.
The TV broadcasting rights for the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON remain with ARD /
rbb
Finally, Katrin Günther (Head of Contentbox Sport and Deputy Program
Director of the rbb, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg) conveyed the good news
that the rights agency SportA and SCC EVENTS agreed to continue their
cooperation for several years. This is another clear sign of the optimism
surrounding the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. The TV broadcasting rights for
Germany's biggest marathon will thus continue to be in the hands of ARD and
rbb. ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky: "We are proving our stamina and
are pleased to be able to continue our partnership since 2013 with the
organisers of the Berlin Marathon, for at least two more years. We will
continue to support this event, which always has top-class participants, on
the great course in Berlin with competence, experience and passion. Our
athletics fans can continue to expect a mix of international, national as
well as regional flair in combination with top-class sport in the
broadcasts on ARD and rbb television from the German capital".
Christian Jost, in his function as Managing Director of SCC EVENTS, added:
"The most beautiful thing about sport is the emotion. And you want to be
part of the action, whether as an active athlete or a spectator.
Unfortunately, you can't always be there live. Therefore, it is all the
more important for an organizer to have a reliable partner at his side who
can transport the excitement through images with high journalistic quality.
With SportA as the responsible sports rights agency of ARD and rbb, we have
further secured this by extending a multi-year commitment."
Hans-Peter Zurbruegg, Senior Vice President Personal & Corporate Fitness at
Infront, said after SCC EVENTS authorized its long-term exclusive partner
Infront Sports & Media AG to negotiate with SPORT A and to negotiate the
present contract: "The BMW BERLIN-MARATHON is one of the top races in the
world and has seen four world records on its track in the past ten years.
We are pleased that the German fans will experience more memorable moments
for the next two editions thanks to the extension of the media rights with
SportA. This contract renewal builds on a trusting basis in challenging
times and we look forward to continuing our successful cooperation."
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