It’s not that common that someone reaches their goal before they even start, and even rarer that they do it in their sleep. The cultural manager Till Hofmann succeeded in this feat with the “Giro di Monaco”. Hofmann wanted to collect 125,000 euros in donations for various refugee projects at his cultural center Bellevue di Monaco with the charity run – “we achieved that last night,” he summed up, slightly sweaty, on Sunday afternoon. Hofmann had also reached his goal from a sporting point of view, after a lap on foot along the Altstadtring, in the midst of thousands of other runners.
As with the premiere of the “Giro di Monaco” last year, the Altstadtring was completely closed to traffic for a few hours while the runners were out there. Hofmann estimated that more than 10,000 people ran, jogged, walked or just walked along. Around 6000 had previously registered and donated; how much was up to you. In any case, 6,000 paying participants were already more than Hofmann had had T-shirts printed, sky blue with the pastel colors known from the 1972 Olympics and the imprint “Giro di Monaco – Run for Peace”. The T-shirts, something like a certificate of participation in ordinary road races, were only enough for 4,000 runners at the Munich Giro.
In the spirit of sustainability, many therefore came in the dark blue vests that were worn at the premiere last year. Most of the runners wore whatever they wanted, one woman even wore a clown costume. This is how a colorful togetherness developed. That was also one of the goals of the Giro di Monaco: to bring together all kinds of people with all kinds of biographies.
As befits a run for peace, no shot was fired to signal the start – Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) simply counted down at the starting line at the corner of Blumenstrasse and the main fire station. Reiter had previously warned the runners: “This is not a race, take your time!” What of course fell on deaf ears, especially with children: Some sprinted off as if the goal was already at the Sendlinger Tor and not only after about five kilometers.
“It was longer than I had thought,” remembered Munich’s second mayor, Katrin habenschaden (Greens), before the start of the premiere a year ago. She was there at the time and is now on her way again, at the front of the field. Of course, the first to cross the finish line was a fellow party member, City Councilor Florian Schönemann. The 35-year-old needed about 16 minutes for the circuit and didn’t take any shortcuts, as he credibly assured. Ten or twelve years ago, Schönemann was a successful middle stretcher for the LG Stadtwerke München with a 3000 meter best time of 8:43.83 minutes.
The Giro di Monaco motivated him to train again, said Schönemann: “You don’t want to show any weaknesses, you still have a bit of ambition.” But basically he just runs for fun, “and if you can still combine it with a political message, it’s all the bigger”. The message of running the Giro together is “to send a strong signal against war and expulsion”, as it says on the Bellevue di Monaco website.
Like last year, cabaret artist Willy Astor was also there, “I have a runner in my apartment,” he joked before starting on the stage of a double-decker bus, “I kept running back and forth on it and trained.” He actually trained for the Giro, he confessed later at the finish, but of course outdoors, three or four kilometers a day, before breakfast: “I’ve always been a runner, I need that to wake up.”
When the body moves, the head also becomes freer
Not only celebrities were there, but actually also refugees, “Refugee Runners”, as the light green jerseys read, with which a group of about 15 participants stood out in the crowd. They belong to a project called TRIGG – an abbreviation for Trauma Education Intensive Group for Refugees – and are cared for in the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen. Thanks to a cooperation with the Bellevue di Monaco, the “Refugee Runners” come to Munich once a week to run together. “If you don’t have anything to do all day, all the energy goes into the thoughts in your head,” explains tutor Laurin Schulte, “the moment you move, the rest of your body and your head get more blood flow becomes freer.”
Of course, most of the participants didn’t have to carry any heavy thoughts with them, they trotted easily over the asphalt. When they turned onto the home stretch at the Viktualienmarkt, many had a blissful smile on their faces and surprisingly many even had the strength for an energetic final sprint. In addition to drinks and fruit, there was also a supporting program with live music at the finish. After running, dancing was also part of the fitness program for many.
Till Hofmann saw all this with great pleasure. Originally, he and his team wanted to organize the Giro di Monaco in order to finance the roof sports field on the Bellevue di Monaco in Müllerstraße with the donations. Then the corona pandemic prevented the running event, and the money for the roof project came from elsewhere. Of course, Hofmann didn’t want to write off the run over the Altstadtring, last year’s war in the Ukraine offered a new reason. And the corona measures had now also been relaxed. The first two editions encouraged Hofmann: “Now we want to do this every year.”