Leisure: Why not run in Maastricht?
Loe Gossieau belongs to a group of enthusiastic runners who gathers three times a week on a track off a small historical hill overlooking Maastricht. Loe, who works for the local government, usually runs a circuit of about 15 kilometres around Saint Peter’s Mount (St.Pietersberg in Dutch), on a natural area covered with grass and trees and inhabited by a number of horses and small flocks of sheep.
“I love to run in nature. At the end of the day, it’s nice to distance yourself from work and go running. It empties your mind,” says Loe, who has been running for 20 years. “Running with a group of friends is also nice.”
Loe is the chairman of a running club in Maastricht called “Zweitlanceurs,” a humouristic name meaning literally “Sweat Shooters” in the local dialect. The club counts 60 to 70 members, aged 35 to 75.
Runners and joggers like the Zweitlanceurs are an everyday sight in Maastricht. Naturally, the city is home to many running events that take place almost all year round.
Loe’s team is the organiser of Treechloop, a 11.5 km running contest. From 250 to 300 participants are expected for this year’s 29th race, which will be held on 26 March.
Although Treechloop is designed for local people in and around Maastricht, foreign students staying in the city have also participated, as well as older runners from other countries such as Belgium and even Denmark.
International Marathon
“Maastricht is a pretty city with parks, green landscapes, old walls, water and beautiful buildings. We can find a lot of runners there,” says Antonio Guarino, president of the Maasmarathon de la Meuse, a yearly running contest which starts in the Belgian town of Visé, follows the Maas River into Maastricht before ending back in Visé.
Antonio, or Tony, launched the Maasmarathon seven years ago, because he wanted to create a ‘special’ cross-border marathon between Belgium and the Netherlands.
About 500 to 550 runners participated in the marathon in its first year in 1999. The number has quadrupled to reach 2,200 last year, including competitors for the 10 km and 5 km races and the half marathon, which were added to the full marathon after its launch.
Although contestants mostly came from Belgium, more than 20 per cent of them were Dutch and about 10 per cent came from foreign countries such as France, Germany and England. At least 3,000 runners are expected for this year’s Maasmarathon on 14 May.
But Tony, an Italian who came to live in Belgium in his late teens and has been running marathons across the globe for 23 years, has further ambitions for his marathon: he wants to make it an even bigger event and give it an international allure just like the world famous marathons of New York, London and Chicago.
He first came up with the idea of creating an international marathon in 1987, when he participated in the New York marathon. “Runners travelled to New York with their families. They stayed there for three to five days. We could use the same scheme here and attract foreign people here not only to run but also to visit,” says Tony, highlighting the positive impact that an international marathon could have on tourism.
When he runs overseas marathons, Tony always takes note of their good qualities in order to improve his own marathon. This year for instance, Tony plans to offer a glass of wine to each Maasmarathon runner, following the example of the Marathon du Médoc in France.
To attract a wider group of people, Tony’s organisation runs its website in four languages - French, Dutch, English and German. It also places ads in the Dutch magazine “Runner’s World” and distributes pamphlets in three languages.
“In the future, we would like to offer a complete package, including accommodation, so that runners are able to stay here longer and visit our region, because we have a lot of beauties here and around. It’s our goal to do that. But we go step by step,” Tony says.
Running events all year round
Elsewhere, Atletiek Maastricht, the city’s largest running club, organises Maastrichts Mooiste (Maastricht’s Most Beautiful), coming up 10 and 11 June this year.
Just 5 km from the centre of Maastricht, Maasrun Lanaken takes place in September in the Belgian municipality. Participants can choose to run circuits of either 2.5 km, 5 km or 10 km. Last year, more than 1,500 competitors participated in this event organised by the communal sports service and the local athletics club Atla.
Beginners can join the Start to Run programme organised by major sportswear brand Nike, with about 200 participants every year.
Despite the popularity of running, however, getting sponsors for running events is always the difficult part. “It’s a struggle every year to get enough sponsors so that everything can be organised,” says Loe. There was a declining interest of sponsors in recent years because of the worsening economic situation in Maastricht and in the Netherlands at large, he notes. Loe has yet to find a head sponsor for this year’s Treechloop, which will take place on 26 March.
Tony says that the Maasmarathon has to give a lot of incentives to lure runners because marathon runners have a lot of choices of races around the world. For a EUR 30 fee, each Maasmarathon runner will receive a T-shirt, a medal, and a bag full of regional products. In addition, the organisation will offer a EUR10 discount to those who have run the Eindhoven marathon.
“It’s not easy for us financially because we give a lot, I think too much. But we have to take risks,” Tony says. But he is nevertheless determined to pursue his endeavour because he thinks that running marathons is “a special way of living.”
“When I began running more than 20 years ago,” Tony said, “I didn’t know that there were New York and London marathons. Now I go to Rome, Florence, Budapest and Beijing. You meet people, you visit nice cities. You have lot of experiences in your life. Marathon has changed my life.”
By Rie Ishiguro
