100 percent women power - that was the KoRo Women's Race 2023!
A total of 9,030 runners, girls and bambini participated, with distances of 5 or 10 km (shorter for the kids), as walkers or runners, young and old, experienced runners and those at their debut event. Together, they celebrated Germany's largest charity women's race and turned the Tiergarten into a sea of purple and pink.
Really, the cliché colours purple and pink? Yes! Because these are the colours of solidarity for people suffering from cancer or breast cancer. And the women showed solidarity for them not only in their choice of colours, but also with a donation. At the KoRo Women's Race, one euro of the participation fee is donated to the Berlin Cancer Society (Berliner Krebsgesellschaft e.V.), and many participants donated even more.
Organiser SCC EVENTS increased the total to 15,000 euros. But that is by no means all: additional donations were collected by the 31 charity teams. By the day of the event, another 16,000 euros had been collected in this manner.
These runners crossed the finish line happily
Each participant has her own story
The pursuit of the fastest times was not the main focus of the KoRo Women's Race. Many women decided not to have their times recorded when they registered. None of them was less motivated because of this. Many went to the start with their very own personal motivations—like Laura L., who had set herself the goal of participating in the KoRo Women's Race during her breast cancer treatment. With success! Some of the charity teams also turned the KoRo Women's Race into a cancer and breast cancer race for family members or friends.
At the start, the runners went into the race in the best mood
That special "we" feeling
No question, running for a good cause is also possible in mixed competitions. One participant explains her preference for women's races like this: When men are at the start, the idea of performance often dominates; in an all-women's race, the focus is on togetherness. This special feeling of togetherness encouraged many running and walking newcomers to take part this year. Many women confirmed that they enjoy participating in running events, but that it is not about the competition for them.
Debbie Schöneborn and Christina Gerdes with fast times
But those who are driven by the desire for fast times also got their money's worth in the timed 5K and 10K competitions. Among them were two absolute top athletes: Christina Gerdes and Debbie Schöneborn from Marathon Team Berlin. Christina Gerdes finished fastest in the 5K in 17:12 min, Debbie Schöneborn won the 10K in 33:59 min.
An exception for the Bambini Run
In terms of gender, there was also one exception: boys were equally welcome as girls in the bambini runs. More than 400 kids took advantage of the sunny afternoon for their very own sports experiences. For the youngsters, the history of women's races will hopefully seem like an unimaginable fairy tale from the distant past: Women's races have their origins in the equal rights movement.
Until the 1960s, women were generally not allowed to participate in endurance sports events. Fortunately, things are different nowadays—which doesn’t mean that women's races don’t have an absolute right to exist! That's why it's time to mark May 11, 2024 in pink or purple in the calendar: when the starting shot will be fired for the KoRo Women's Race 2024!
Even the youngest had a great day