Around 850 runners took part in the 48th edition of the Maacher Ouschterlaf – Grevenmacher Easter Run – on Monday, spread across several races and enjoying near-ideal conditions, with sunshine and temperatures of around 10°C.
Alongside the Postlaf, the Route du Vin, and the Walfer Vollekslaf, the Maacher Ouschterlaf is one of Luxembourg’s long-standing running events. Together with the Postlaf, it is also seen as an early-season indicator of how popular recreational running currently is, with the trend clearly going upwards.
Marc Goergen, president of the Athletic Club of East Grevenmacher (CAEG), said running remained so popular in part because it was simple and accessible. All people really needed, he said, were a pair of shoes and shorts and a T-shirt, before they could get started.
He added that it was also a sport people could do on their own, whenever they felt like it, and that participation in public races continued to show growing enthusiasm, which he saw as a positive sign that more people were staying active.
In the men’s race, young long-distance specialist Niall Foley, running in white, would no doubt have liked to secure victory for his club, CAEG, but Yonas Kinde proved just too strong. From very early on, a gap of around 10 seconds opened up between the two runners and remained more or less unchanged until the finish.
Foley said Kinde had put him under pressure early on, and that he had tried to stick to his own pace in the hope of catching him again later. In the end, however, he said he had fallen just short, adding that Kinde had managed the race very well from the front.
The event also hosted the championship race for members of the police, customs, and army, all of whom fielded strong runners.
In the women’s race, last year’s winner, Lena Kieffer, running in army colours, had to settle for second place this time behind Katharina Welker of Rehlingen.
As every year, many children from the Grevenmacher club also took part in the various youth races. Goergen said the club was always pleased to see its young athletes on the start line in their respective age groups, representing CAEG as well as possible.
But it was not only club runners taking part. Events like these also attract children who are not members of a club and who come along to enjoy themselves, and perhaps even discover a talent for running.
And there will soon be more opportunities to do just that; hardly has one event finished before the next is already on the horizon.
