How many kilometers Piia Lipiäinen covered this Sunday morning is difficult to say. The TSV Unterhaching christening trainer flitted through the Perlacher Forest during the “Run for Trees” to look after the participants in her running group of the SZ campaign “Läuft mit uns” somehow all at the same time. Not only did they run at different speeds, but also on different routes at the same time. In the end they were all happy at the finish. “Piia was my pacemaker, I wouldn’t have made it without her,” says Karin.
The “Run for Trees”, which the gymnastics department of TSV Unterhaching has been organizing for 13 years together with the Develey company for the benefit of the student initiative “Plant for the Planet” and the youth department of TSV, was the declared goal of the ten-week training session with Piia Lipiäinen and the three other trainers of the action, Carmen Johannhardt, Willi Hochholzer and Hedy Nguyen. Not all beginner runners dared to run the 5.4 or 10.3 kilometer route this time. But during a last test in the final training session, Piia Lipiäinen noticed that everyone had improved significantly. Karin, for example, was able to add a whole lap of the stadium to the 12-minute run compared to the practice session at the beginning of May last week. And Sonja, who dared to run ten kilometers in the Run for Trees, wants to try the half marathon next year. Trainer Johannhardt also ran along and was happy about a new personal best time.
Runners from the “Run with us” campaign at the “Run for Trees” in Unterhaching
(Photo: Iris Hilberth/oh)
A total of almost 500 participants started on this cool, slightly windy but sunny July morning. About half as many as before the pandemic. “We roughly expected that, the number of participants is similar in most running events that are now taking place again,” said Oskar Paulicks, head of the TSV gymnastics department. Some continue to avoid major events, others do not yet feel fit enough. But many are also happy to finally be able to take part in an event like this again.
During the charity run, a tree is always planted in the local park. This time, Develey boss Michael Durach (right) and Unterhaching’s mayor Wolfgang Panzer grabbed a shovel for a copper beech.
(Photo: Iris Hilberth/oh)
In the past two years, only so-called virtual runs were possible. The participants actually ran, but alone or in small groups. As always, the entry fee was used to plant trees, the plan is one tree per euro every year. Every year, a spot is sought for a tree in Unterhaching’s local park, and mayor Wolfgang Panzer, together with the managing director of the main sponsor Develey, Michael Durach, symbolically picks up the shovel for the tree of the year. This time a red beech was planted.