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Join the “Meet Me In the Middle” competition with our Sister City

Student News | Monday, October 12, 2020

A map shoing Columbus and Dresden.

For several years, the City of Columbus and participants from Columbus State have been running a very popular marathon exchange with Dresden, Germany – one of our Sister Cities.

Since 2012, 50 Columbus athletes have traveled to Dresden to participate in the Dresden Marathon. That event generally coincides with the annual Columbus Marathon. Over the years, 28 Dresden athletes have participated in our race and fallen in love with Columbus.  

This year, together with our friends in Dresden, we have come up with a creative idea to continue that exchange with both races canceled and international travel out of the question: A virtual race to #MeetMeInTheMiddle!

Starting on Sunday, October 18 – the planned date for this year's Columbus and Dresden Marathon races – runners, walkers, and even bicyclists in Greater Columbus and in Dresden, Germany, can begin logging miles through a Google form. (Link to Google form.) There is not an established route. Participants can go for a run, walk, or ride and record the miles afterward.

Team Columbus and Team Dresden will each move along a 5,000 mile (8,000 km) virtual map route as they record miles over a three-week period starting October 18 through November 8 – and whichever team gets to the middle first will earn bragging rights over their sister-city competitors!

To add an educational component, we encourage participants to post pictures of themselves in front of landmarks or favorite places around town and post them in our Facebook Group and share a comment on why this spot is meaningful.

If you are interested in joining Team Columbus, go to the 2020 Columbus Dresden Marathon Exchange Facebook Group for instructions.  You can also follow the progress and post your pictures. Miles should be recorded on the Google form every day so we can all watch the marker move forward along the route! email questions to dresdensistercity@gmail.com.

 

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