The CERN Relay Race: A Runaway Success!

24th May saw the traditional Relay Race take place at CERN, organised jointly by the Running Club and the CERN Staff Association.

In 2018, the Relay Race lived up to expectations with a record number of participants, with no fewer than 848 entries across different categories! In total 135 teams of 6 runners and 38 walkers completed the course on the Meyrin site in beautiful sunshine. Congratulations to all those who took part!

Ghislain Roy, President of the Staff Association, fired the starting pistol for the first batch of runners, which included a team from the Directorate, with the Director General also taking part. Demonstrating interest in this event at the highest level of the Organization. Thank you for this much-appreciated commitment!

Also a number of very high-level runners brought added excitement to the 2018 edition. The 1000-meter men’s race was won by Marcin Patecki from the CERN Running Club in 2’40, just in front of Baptiste Fieux from the Berthie Sport team who came in at 2’45. The CERN Running Club enjoyed added success with the victory of Jagoda Khatri in the woman’s 1000 m race coming in at 3’13. The overall race was won by Berthie Sport, thanks to their star athlete Ludovic Pommeret, in a time of 11’17, more than one minute in front of the first CERN team ‘Que ce qu’il faut’ with a time of 12’25.

Stands presenting various activities of clubs of the Staff Association and commercial partnerships in connection with Interfon, as well as offering refreshments and snacks, allowed the many spectators who came to cheer on the runners get first-hand information and share ideas in a friendly atmosphere.

The organisation of such an event requires substantial investment in order to cover all aspects of logistics, from preparation before the Race to putting in place the various activities and stands; and all this in compliance with CERN rules, ensuring the safety of the participants and the public. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the members of the Inform-Action Commission of the CERN Staff Association, and especially to Elsa Clerc and Patrick Blaise, who orchestrated the event this year. A big thank you goes out to the clubs as well for organising stands and demonstrations. It is a real pleasure to see CERN so vibrant and lively! We should also like to thank the HSE Unit and the CERN firefighters for their participation as runners and guardian angels.

Finally, we pay tribute to the Running Club for their commitment to this Race – its success year after year is a definite highlight of the social life at CERN.

Please visit the Running Club website for all the results:
https://runningclub.web.cern.ch/RelayResults.

Congratulations also to the lucky winners of the raffle organised by the Staff Association in partnership with Interfon. You can find the list of the winners on our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/StaffAssociation.Cern.

by Staff Association