Throughout the country, thousands of runners fill the streets of cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich, creating a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere at the organised running events, while simultaneously keeping the many volunteers hectically busy for days and weeks. Even though road races have an almost 50-year-old tradition in Germany, the interest group of race organisers has only existed for ten years.

“Our aims include improving the publicity for road races and coordinating the common concerns for the sport of running,” surmises Horst Milde, spokesman for the five-member board of German Road Races (GRR), who was also the founding father of the running event community while head of the BERLIN MARATHON.

“Many of the problems discussed in 1995, such as the recognition of the chip timekeeping system, the exact surveying of the courses according to AIMS/IAAF regulations, and the enforcement of the quality standards have been taken care of and have long proven themselves!

Horst Milde, who called the road races interest group to life in Frankfurt on October 30, 1995, together with the organisers of the attractive city marathons in Hamburg (Wolfgang Kucklick), Frankfurt (Irmgard Heckelsberger) and Munich (Michael Schulz-Tholen), does not try to conceal the organisations worries, either.

“Despite our successes, some of the problems we addressed in 1995, such as the relationship to the German Track and Field Association (DLV) and its regional association, have still not yet been resolved. It should, however, be of uttermost importance for the DLV to get these forty event organisers on board with them, as we make up a third of the total 390,000 participants in road races in Germany!

The board of spokesmen for GRR particularly laments that while the road races receive great recognition and huge resonance from the general public, the media, and the participantsfar more than for stadium-based track and field eventsthe national and regional associations still do not take note of them.

The founding members in 1995 include the famous marathon races in Berlin, Duisburg, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Karlsruhe, and Munich, as well as popular road races like the Berlin Half Marathon, the Nürnburg Ring Race, and the Paderborn Easter Run.

At the Founding Meeting on October 30, 1995, *Wolfgang Kucklick
(Hamburg)* was elected to spokesman with Horst Milde (Berlin) as the deputy spokesman.

Now 49 events are members in the association, and with the South Tyrol Marathon, Half Marathon Meran and the TUI Marathon Palma de Mallorca, the GRR even includes events in Italy, and Spain. The current committee of spokesmen is comprised of Horst Milde (Berlin), Derk Kogelheide (Berlin), Bernd Düngen (Duisburg), Wilfried Raatz (Darmstadt), Dr. Ralph Schomaker (Münster) and Sascha Wiczynski (Paderborn).

The current members of German Road Races are: Altötting Half Marathon, Runtalya Antalya (TUR/ Cooperation partner), Bietigheim New Years Eve Run (Bietigheimer Sylvesterlauf), German Wine Route Marathon (Marathon Deutsche Weinstraße), Sparkasse Marathon im Dreiländereck am Bodensee, The Borgholzhausen Night Run (Die Nacht von Borgholzhausen), International Black Forest Marathon (Int. Schwarzwald Marathon), Darmstadt City Run “Cup da Franco” (Darmstädter Stadtlauf “Cup da Franco”), Morgenpost Dresden Marathon, Oberelbe Marathon Dresden Königstein, Rhine-Ruhr Marathon Duisburg, METRO Group Marathon Düsseldorf, RWE Essen Marathon, EZ-City Lauf Esslingen, Metropolmarathon Fürth, GAG-Erlebnislauf Köln, hella hamburg half marathon, PSD Bank Alsterlauf Hamburg, Casinos Marathon Hanover (Spielbanken-Marathon Hannover), Heilbronner Trollinger Marathon, FIDUCIA Baden Marathon Karlsruhe, E.ON Mitte Kassel Marathon, Kassel City Run (Kasseler Citylauf), RZ-Mittelrhein Marathon Koblenz, Leipzig Marathon, EVL Halbmarathon Leverkusen, Magdeburg-Marathon, Gutenberg Marathon Mainz, MLP Marathon Mannheim Rhein-Neckar, Monschau Marathon, Volksbank Münster Marathon, Neumarkt City Run (Neumarkter Stadtlauf), Run at the Nürnburg Ring (Run am Ring Nürnburg), International Paderborn Easter Run (Int. Paderborner Osterlauf), TUI Marathon Palma de Mallorca (ESP), Regensburg Marathon, Rostock Marathon Night (Rostocker Marathon Nacht), GutsMuths Rennsteig Run (GutsMuths Rennsteiglauf), Jever Fun Lauf Schortens, South Tyrol Marathon Neumarkt, Einstein-Marathon Ulm, RZ-Mittelrhein Marathon Koblenz, EVL Halbmarathon Leverkusen, South Tyrol Spring Halfmarathon Meran (Südtiroler Frühlings-Halbmarathon Meran), Run of Sympathy Spandau (Lauf der Sympathie Spandau), Stuttgart Newspaper Run (Stuttgarter Zeitung-Lauf), Einstein-Marathon Ulm, iWelt Marathon Würzburg, Würzburg Residence Run (Würzburger Residenzlauf).

1996 The first annual general meeting took place on November 16-17, 1996 in Mühlhausen/Thuringia. Newly admitted members were: Borgholzhausen Night Race (Nacht von Borgholzhausen), Hamburg Mannheim Cup, Regensburg Marathon, Gutsmuth’s Rennsteig Race, Würzburg Residence Run and the 25 km from Berlin. Wolfgang Kucklick and Horst Milde were reconfirmed in their offices.

1997 The second annual general meeting took place on November 15-16, 1997 in Paderborn. Newly admitted members were: Kassel City Run, Ford Cologne Marathon, Essen Marathon. Wolfgang Kucklick and Horst Milde were unanimously elected spokesmen.

1998 The third annual general meeting took place on November 21-22, 1998 in Baunatal. Newly admitted members were: Stuttgart Run and Black Forest Marathon. Erwin Rixen (Hamburg) was elected as a new spokesman, and Horst Milde was unanimously reconfirmed in his office.

1999 The fourth annual general meeting took place on November 13-14, 1999 in Duisburg.
Newly admitted members were: Herborn City Run, Alster Run Hamburg and South Tyrol Marathon. Erwin Rixen (Hamburg) and Horst Milde (Berlin) were unanimously reconfirmed in their offices.

2000 The fifth annual general meeting took place on November 25-26, 2000 in Cologne. Newly admitted members were: Gutenberg Marathon Mainz. The Wachau Marathon was admitted as a co-opted member. Erwin Rixen (Hamburg) and Horst Milde (Berlin) were reconfirmed in their offices.

2001 The sixth annual general meeting took place on November 10-11, 2001 in Bolzano/South Tyrol. Newly admitted members were: Frankfurt Half Marathon and the City Marathon Würzburg. Erwin Rixen (Hamburg) and Horst Milde (Berlin) were reconfirmed in their offices.

2002 The seventh annual general meeting took place on November 9-10, 2002 in Würzburg.
Newly admitted members were: Leipzig Marathon, Morgenpost Dresden Marathon, Volksbank Münster Marathon, German Wine Route Marathon. Election of Spokesmen: Erwin Rixen (Hamburg), Horst Milde (Berlin), Harald Rösch (Cologne), Bernd Düngen (Duisburg), Gernot Weigl (Munich) and Artur Schmid (Herborn) were elected committee spokesmen.

2003 The eighth annual general meeting took place on November 15-16, 2003 in Herborn. Newly admitted members were: Bietigheim New Year’s Eve Run and Düsseldorf Marathon. Horst Milde (Berlin), Gernot Weigl (Munich), Harald Rösch (Cologne), Bernd Düngen (Duisburg), Derk Kogelheide (Berlin) and Artur Schmidt (Herborn) were elected committee spokesmen.

2004 The ninth annual general meeting took place on November 13-14, 2004 in Mainz (City Hall). Newly admitted members were: 3-Nations Lake Constance Marathon, Monschau Marathon, Heilbronner Trollinger-Marathon, MLP Marathon Mannheim, Cup da Franco and Freiburg Marathon. Horst Milde (Berlin), Derk Kogelheide (Berlin), Bernd Düngen (Duisburg), Wilfried Raatz (Darmstadt), Gernot Weigl (Munich) and Sascha Wiczynski (Paderborn) were elected committee spokesmen.

2005 The 10th annual general meeting took place on November 19-20, 2005, in Krems (Austria). The spokesmen were disencumbered by the board. There were no new elections this year. For the first time a GRR advertising brochure was produced with the dates for all of the events and distributed at all of the member events. In addition, advertising banners were produced. The GRR website was redesigned and the content improved.
New members include: Run at the Nürnburg Ring, Neumarkt City Run, Altötting Half Marathon, Oberelbe Marathon Dresden Königstein, and TUI Marathon Palma de Mallorca. Currently 44 events are members in GRR. The GRR prize winners for 2005 were Julia Viellehner and Tom Scharff. Michael Schild introduced the Swiss running event organisation “Swiss Runners“, with whom a cooperation was arranged. The two editors of Runner’s World, Thomas Steffens and Martin Grüning, presented “An Assessment of the Developments in Running and the Running Scene in Germany (and Abroad) and its Effects as Seen in Trade Magazines.”
The 11th annual general meeting will take place in Dusseldorf in 2006.

2006 The 11th annual membership meeting took place from December 2-3, 2006 in Düsseldorf. The new members are the RZ Mittelrhein Marathon and the EVL Half Marathon Leverkusen, bringing the total to 45 member events for German Road Races. The spokesmen were unanimously disencumbered. The election of spokesmen for the next two years was unanimous with one abstention: Horst Milde, Bernd Düngen, Wilfried Raatz, Derk Kogelheide and Sascha Wiczynski. Modifications and optimisations of the qualifying criteria: The number of finishers should be included in the statistics.
The GRR Prizes for Young Talents were awarded Julia Hiller and Thorsten Baumeister; the GRR Trainer Prize was awarded to Klaus-Peter Weippert. Thomas John Meyer (Rauchhaupt & Senftleben) spoke on the “Cancellation of events due to higher forces and consequences thereof,” and Ludwig Pilsl spoke on “The development of marathon events in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland”.
GRR partner POLAR Elektro GmbH presented its company, the Handbike City Trophy 2006 gave a forecast, the Berlin Organizing Committee 2009 (BOC) advertised for the World Championships Berlin 2009, and the BFA Running of the DLV explained its goals.

2007 The 12th GRR General Assembly took place on December 1-2, 2007 in Hotel Isla Mallorca in Palma de Mallorca. The Spring Merano Half Marathon in Southern Tirol, the Magdeburg Marathon, and the EZ-City Race Esslingen joined German Road Races, bringing the membership up to 46 events. With two abstaining, the financial report presented by the spokesmen was approved. The spokesmen remain: Horst Milde, Bernd Düngen, Wilfried Raatz, Derk Kogelheide and Sascha Wiczynski. A new special brochure “German Road Races” will be produced together with the magazine “aktiv laufen” with an edition of 320,000. The GRR Prizes for Young Talents were awarded to Katharina Heinig and Matti Markowski, and Heiner Weber received the Trainer Prize. Dr. Ralph Schomaker from the Münster Marathon lectured on the topic “Cardiac Death – Prevention at the Marathon”. A health check in the form of a questionnaire will be provided to all of the members as a questionnaire and is to be incorporated into the event prerequisites. Karsten Schölerman held a speech on “Inline Skating Competitions as Part of Marathon Events – Only a Financial Appendage?” A suggestion was made to create a team of sports medicine experts with the medical directors from the individual events with under the leadership of Dr. Ralph Schomaker.

The participants in the GRR General Assembly
in the Rostock City Hall.

2008 
The 13th German Road Races (GRR) General Assembly took place on November 29-30 in the Citizen Hall of the Rostock City Hall. The GAG-Cologne Half Marathon, Kassel Marathon, Marathon im Dreiländereck Bodensee, Lauf der Sympathie Berlin, Jever Fun-Run Schortens, Fürth Marathon, and the Mitteldeutscher Marathon joined GRR, bringing membership to 49. Runtalya Marathon in Antalya became a partner event. With five abstaining, the financial report presented by the spokesmen was approved. The spokesmen were elected en bloc: With one no vote and one abstaining, Bernd Düngen (Duisburg), Derk Kogelheide (Berlin), Horst Milde (Berlin), Wilfried Raatz (Darmstadt/Mannheim) and Sascha Wiczynski (Paderborn) were re-elected for a term of 2 years. Dr. Ralph Schomaker (Münster) was unanimously elected to the GRR board as medical advisor for a term of 2 years. Changes to the bylaws, which had been sent out with the assembly materials, were approved unanimously en bloc. 
The budget presented was approved with one no vote and no one abstaining. The 2008 GRR Prizes for Young Talents were awarded to Anna Hahner (PSV GW Kassel) and Robert Krebs (LG Nike Berlin), and the Trainer Prize was given to Jürgen Stephan (Kassel). 
 Horst Wiczynski (Paderborn) was honoured for his years of work for the Paderborn Easter Race and for his assistance in the development of German Road Races. There were three workshops on the topics:

• Future-oriented running events
• One year after the introduction of the health check
• The importance of the media at running events.

On August 1, 2008, GRR organised a Symposia for the Emergency Services of fire departments, aid organisations and event organisers. The First Münster Medical Symposium took place in Münster with 180 participants.

Dr. Roland Döhrn lectured with statistics about the running market in 2008.

The 14th GRR General Assembly will take place from November 27-29, 2009 in Antalya (Runtalya Marathon).

The 15th GRR General Assembly will take place from November 26-28, 2010 at Lake Constance (Sparkasse Marathon im Dreiländereck).

The 16th GRR General Assembly will take place from November 25-27, 2011 in Münster, Germany (Volksbank Münster Marathon (pending final confirmation)).