German-French relay race from Dillingen to Dunkirk

They started in Dillingen and covered everyday a total stretch of 240 km to reach Dunkirk after a total of 508 km. The single stretches of 6 to 14 km are covered by two runners each. The reasons for this sport event wre the foundation of the company sport association “Fitte Hütte” and the five-year anniversary of the company’s jogger club in this year. Corporate sport is growing in importance at Dillinger Hütte. Besides the jogging club “Fitte Hütte” comprises other branches, such as sports badge, dragon boat team, football and table-tennis, in which 300 employees participate. Moreover, the race across the German-French border is a sign of Dillinger Hütte’s solidarity with its subsidiary GTS Industries S.A. in Dunkirk, which has belonged to Dillinger Hütte for 12 years. In everyday business life it is all about technical questions, customer relations or the completion of joint projects, such as the impressive Millau Viaduct. On 17 June 2005, 31 runners of Dillinger Hütte and 16 runners of GTS faced a completely new challenge: 49 stages had to be overcome from Dillingen to Dunkirk before the whole runners team crossed the finishing line at the factory site of GTS on Sunday, 19 June around 12 o’clock. The runners were on their way “around the clock”. The runners of Dillingen and Dunkirk start together at Gate 1 of Dillinger Hütte, on Friday, 12 o’clock. On this opening stage, the first part was meant to be a race everyone can participate in and during which employees can support the German-French team from the main gate to the “Ökosee”.