London has the Tower Bridge, Paris has the Eiffel Tower and Düsseldorf has the Königallee. The place where the rich and famous usually burn their credit cards became the setting for the first edition of the Kö-Meile on September 4th, 2022, which on that day turned the magnificent boulevard into not only the widest, but undoubtedly also the loudest street of the Federal Republic.
Every car poser's dream finally came true: racing over the bodies at full speed and being rewarded with appreciative applause from thousands of spectators. What would otherwise at least result in the certain loss of your driving license was expressly desired on this sunny late summer day - as long as the sports car was exchanged for sports shoes beforehand. Almost 1,200 athletes accepted the invitation of the organizer and top Düsseldorf runner Maximilian Thorwirth and demonstrated the fastest carbon shoes that their personal shoe rack has to offer to the enthusiastic audience over distances of 300 to 5,000 meters. Everyone from the Netflix marathon to the Olympians on the Kö, which our Bridge Banksys Romi and Laura had already diligently decorated in the early hours of the morning, came together under the motto “Jemeensam Ballern!” Under the best weather and competition conditions, there were a total of eleven different races with their own rankings, with special attention of course being paid to the elite competitions with international professionals.
It was precisely this professional race, the elite mile, that was won by Linden Hall - sixth place at the Olympics - in a time of 4:26 minutes, followed by Hanna Klein and Cari Hughes. With a time of 4:05, Sam Blake won the men's elite mile, completing the Australian double victory. Olympic fifth-place finisher Adel Mechaal came second ahead of Tim Verbaandert. As a polite host, Düsseldorf local hero Maximilian Thorwirth took eighth place with a time of 4:13 ( @Max : There's more to come!). The fact that the motto “Jemeensam” was not just an empty phrase this Sunday, but is the living spirit of the running community, was confirmed with the other races: While the Bambis were able to make their mothers proud over 300 meters, the Olympic hopes of tomorrow were able to do so with one Gain their first competitive experience in the half mile in front of their great idols. The inclusion mile with 130 participants, which was particularly close to Maximilian's heart in the tradition of the earlier Rehacare run, gave the audience and athletes a very special goosebumps moment.
However, great attention was not only paid to the runners, but also to our cheering zone at Graf-Adolf-Platz. Our request in advance to the fire department and the public order office as to whether we would be allowed to use a little pyrotechnics put the city's administrative apparatus on alert and promptly gave us personal security from two employees of the public order office, whose expectations of a pyromaniac inferno, however, were abrupt were disappointed. The performance of our community in the cheering zone was still worth seeing and especially hearing: Instead of Bengalos banned by the authorities, cult tabloids in the Sexy Pace'n'Tiger style, top acoustic performances from our crew members and the megaphone sponsored by our partner Kinpoint left a touch of Solar mountain blowing through the city. While the Olympic spirit ran past us at incredible speed, the Olympic flame burned above all in Florian, with whose performance on the vuvuzela he could have single-handedly propelled Germany to the world championship title in South Africa. After experiencing our “burning bush,” graduate theologians can now finally glimpse what might once have enabled Moses to part the sea and what inspired the runners to achieve personal best times that day. The “PB bell” behind the finish line rang so loudly and so often after every best time that the cardinal in the nearby cathedral town asked himself in astonishment: “Is it Christmas already?”
Finally, we would like to thank: Maximilian and his organizing team for the perfect collaboration and an excellent running event, our partners, Kinpoint and Hoka , for their support, all the runners for their participation and of course our entire Bridgerunners community turned the cheering zone into a single party with their passion and turned a Sunday into an unforgettable day <3
If you can't wait to finally race over the Kö again, you should definitely mark September 3rd, 2023 in your calendar , because then it's finally time again: “You can shoot!” And if you don't want to wait that long, you should also risk a visit to this year's underground tour and shorten the waiting time with a pinch of the Kö-Meilen atmosphere.
Author: Niklas KrausePhotos : Hanniel Hu
