EN
The Berlin Wall in Berlin 1988 - On April 29-30, 1988, it was a more lonely course for two runners. Gordon Vevers and Eddie Mahoney, two sergeants in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers of the British Army in Spandau started out at 8 pm in Staaken to run along the Berlin Wall under the sceptic looks of the East German border police ©Horst Milde
The Run to Remember the Past – 100 Miles Berlin – 160.9 Kilometres along the Tracks of German History – By Horst Milde
Pastor Rainer Eppelmann, a former civil-rights activist in East Germany and Minister for Disarmament and Defence in last GDR government, is the patron of the 100MeilenBerlin (100 Miles Berlin), a commemorative run along the tracks of the Berlin Wall. At 6 am on Sunday, August 20, the starting shot for this unique race will go off.
Who would run 160 kilometres on a course that separated Berlin from its surroundings from 1961-1989? 100 participants will set off on an arduous adventure and document for us all what we must never forget.
Rainer Eppelmann, the pastor, created a telling “11th Commandment” at a press conference for the “Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung” (The Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED): “THOU MUST NOT FORGET”! This 160 km race will fulfil this commitment – it cannot be any shorter or it would not complete the path of the Berlin Wall.
This run is a very unique one – there is no other sporting event in Germany that attempts to call back to memory the construction of the Wall in Berlin and in Germany. Memory is short, but the suffering along the Berlin Wall was long.
The idea of the organiser (the running group LG Mauerweg, under the direction of Alexander von Uleniecki) to create a race along the path of the Berlin Wall deserved support – as it serves to commemorate and remind us that such an atrocity not ever be repeated. Numerous volunteers from the Berlin clubs and private individuals helped make this endeavour possible.
On April 29-30, 1988, it was a more lonely course for two runners. Gordon Vevers and Eddie Mahoney, two sergeants in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers of the British Army in Spandau started out at 8 pm in Staaken to run along the Berlin Wall under the sceptic looks of the East German border police. They set out to complete the run in 17 – 18 hours; after 15:50:00 hours they completed their journey. They had to cross the Havel River twice (on an assault boat) for 30/45 seconds, respectively. They lost 5 kg and raised 10,000 DM for children with leukaemia in London. Both of the men still run today: Gordon Vevers is now a major in Edinburgh, and both remember their run well.
There are parallels in running, where commemorative races are used as a symbol of remembrance of dramatic national events: Since 1921, the “Comrades Marathon” (89 km) is carried out each year in South Africa, to pay tribute to the suffering of the soldiers in South Africa during World War I. It started out with 34 runners; now it is limited to 18,000 participants and is considered to be a “national sporting jewel”.
The 100MeilenBerlin cannot, of course, YET be compared to the Berlin Marathon, which started in 1974 with 286 participants. Now 40,000 people participate. In this respect, having 100 participants at the start of a 160 km race is a pretty sensational number.
The medal to be given to each participant is dedicated to Chris Gueffroy – Chris Gueffroy (* Juni 21, 1968 in Pasewalk; † February 5/6, 1989 in Berlin) was the second to last casualty of the Berlin wall, and the last victim to die through the use off firearms.
The 100MeilenBerlin along the path of the Berlin Wall is important for the culture of remembrance in our country – and we hope the race will be able to celebrate a successful premier – and then be continued.
Horst Milde
Related:
The British Soldiers’ Berlin Wall Run in 1988 – The Berlin Mauerweg “Along the Wall” Tour 2010
100MeilenBerlin am 20. August 2011 – 160,9 Kilometer auf den Spuren deutscher Geschichte
