- Sports , Student
- 15/10/2019
Marathon also brings 225 TU/e runners together
On behalf of the TU/e Running Team, around 225 running fanatics from 24 countries really went the extra mile during the Eindhoven marathon. It was the first time that the university participated as a team in this sports event that, if it is up to the initiators, deserves a bigger follow-up.
Whether people wanted to run five or ten kilometers, a full or half marathon: every student or employee could sign up for the TU/e Running Team last spring. That immediately went viral: the available starting tickets of five euros each, that were arranged by the Student Sports Centre, were in great demand.
A total of 240 runners (of whom about 75 percent students and 25 percent employees) had registered for the team: about thirty for the entire marathon, about one hundred for the half, fifty runners for the ten kilometers and over fifty for the five kilometers. TU/e professor Aarnout Brombacher also participated, along with people from his research group - for personal, but also scientific reasons.
Read on below the video.
TU/e Running Team @ Marathon Eindhoven 2019
Our reporters Kevin and Cristina followed the TU/e Running Team closely on Sunday. You can find their impression of the day here. Video | Yellow Visual Crew
In the end, around 225 of the pre-registered TU/e runners actually came to the start on Sunday, Joyce Schonenburg estimates. Together with her sports centre’s colleague Melissa Grunewald, she initiated the idea for the TU/e marathon team, earlier this year.
For the TU/e runners, a meeting point and changing location was reserved in the Dynamo youth centre downtown, agreed on by Fontys Hogescholen that had already arranged the location for its own runners. Fontys physical therapy students gave massages to runners, "also to our team.”
Though not all TU/e runners used the location, Schonenburg says: "That was also not mandatory." According to her, nearly half of the ‘team members’ settled in Dynamo. "Others for example brought their parents with whom they could leave their belongings."
Red shirts
According to Schonenburg, the special red TU/e Running Team shirts that the initiators had made were in any case worn with pride - also by runners who did not come to Dynamo. “In that sense, people felt connected to the university and the TU/e team. You also approach others more easily if you see that someone else is wearing the same shirt. "And even though the TU/e runners do not all necessarily stick together in the run-up to and during the marathon, "it nevertheless fraternizes.”
Schonenburg claims she got many enthusiastic responses from participants who hope that the TU/e Running Team will get a follow-up for the next marathon events - and certainly not only because of the very affordable starting tickets. The TU/e team turned out to be the ultimate motivation for a number of completely inexperienced runners (mostly internationals) to start training with a specific goal in mind, and to enter a competition for the first time, she says.
Enthusiasm
In any case, she would like to scale up the initiative and make the TU/e Running Team bigger and more widely known. She points out that Erasmus University is taking part in the Rotterdam Marathon with a team of around 1,000 people. "That shows how great the enthusiasm is."
But for a follow-up, "slightly more financial resources" are needed, Schonenburg comments. Among other things, she wants to investigate whether companies want to sponsor starting tickets for TU/e runners and she hopes that the university (which the initiators did not yet ask for a financial contribution this year) will contribute next year. "I think this is an initiative that the TU/e would support." Schonenburg would also like to talk further with Fontys about the location in Dynamo, according to her a perfect central location between Stratumseind (where the route passes) and the finish.
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