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by Petra Lessoing
86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Participants of the 2012 half marathon run through the Kaiserslautern forests.
The running division of the sports club TSG 1861 Kaiserslautern will sponsor a half marathon run March 24 in Kaiserslautern.
“The Kaiserslautern Half Marathon Run has a long tradition and is celebrating its 32nd anniversary this year,” said Angelika Hausser, one of the sports club’s organizers. “In earlier years, the run was conducted with the KMC and was called German-American Half Marathon, but after 9/11, cooperation ended. I took over the organization of the run last year and right away started to include American participants again.”
The 13.1 mile course is free of traffic and leads through the scenic surroundings of Kaiserslautern. It is almost totally paved and has slight differences in elevation to make it suitable for all runners — beginners, whose key objective is to complete the course, and regular, long-distance runners, who strive to beat their personal best time.
The start and finish area will be the Bertha-von-Suttner School (Schulzentrum Süd), Im Stadtwald, 67663 Kaiserslautern. Follow the signs “Stadion” and “Halbmarathon” to get there.
Start will be at 9:30 a.m. and finish will be around noon.
Registrations can be made from 7:30 to 9 a.m. in the school lobby. Advance online registration can be made by visiting www.tsg-kl.de and clicking on “Laufabteilung” and “TSG Halbmarathon.” Online registration will end March 20. Registration fee is €10.
Participants will be able to change and take showers in the school’s gym.
The award ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. in the dining hall (Mensa) of the school. There will be prizes for the overall female and male winner for each age group (male and female), for the fastest team (male and female), and for the three biggest starter groups.
“Last year, a total of 357 runners, of which more than 70 were Americans, took part in the half marathon,” Hausser said. “The overall winner ran a time of 1:14:08, and second best was a U.S. service member with a time of 1:15.”
The track record for males is at 1:08:10 (from 1991) and for females at 1:21:05 (from 2005).
“This year, the run belongs to the Laufladen Cup Westpfalz with a series of 10 runs total,” Hausser said. “We expect a total of 450 to 500 runners and hope to be able to again welcome many American runners, joggers and just-for-fun athletes.”
For more information, contact Hausser at 06301-1422 or laufen@tsg-kl.de.
