Zürihegel is a running competition to find the fastest kids in Zürich, similar to the Zürifisch swim competition. Most neighborhoods run their qualifying rounds in early May. Put it in your calendar for next year. http://www.zuerihegel.ch/
It’s open to all kids in Zurich city aged 12 and under. Technically, the youngest participants were in 1st grade, but I’ve seen younger kids participate. The event was pretty casual, so I’d guess that if you had a motivated 5YO, you could have them run too. Even though my 4YO wasn’t racing, he had a great time testing out the race course beforehand, as shown in the pic below. The whole event felt like a community picnic, with lots of parents and siblings there to cheer on the racers.
It’s free and you don’t have to register beforehand. Each quartier (section of the city) does its own event to determine the fastest runners in that quartier. You just show up at the race for your quartier and stand your kid next to the correct birth year sign as shown above. They run the races in heats, by birth year, boys and girls separate. The kids run 80 meters on grass. They can wear shoes or go barefoot. Kids that come in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in their heat qualify to run in the city-wide semi-finals a couple weeks, this year on Saturday 2 June 2012. These kids get a paper indicating they qualified and you need to take this with you to the semi-finals.
In addition to single runners, they do a relay race (Stafettenlauf) that requires six runners and advance registration. This course is 60 meters and each kid in the team runs two lengths. Our school had one relay team made up of 1st graders and it was totally adorable. I want to organize one next year for my son’s class.
After all the races are done, they had a little “awards ceremony” for the fastest kids in each category. It was very low key. Basically the winners in each category stood on this bench for a few seconds while we clapped. First place got a juice box and a little award paper. Second and third got a granola bar. The kids were happy just to get recognized. In general, I found the event low-pressure with lots of happy, positive energy. Most kids seemed to be good sports about it and I didn’t see any super aggressive parents or devastated kids. I think it’s a fun experience for kids and I’d definitely recommend it.
My son qualified for the semi-finals a few times. We went to the semi-finals, which was a mad house of kids and not as fun. He ran one heat and didn’t qualify to move forward. You can find other Zurich races for kids here: http://www.zuerilaufcup.ch/zkb-jugendlaufcup
2 responses
Thanks! I'm glad you had a good time at Atzmännig. It's always nice to get feedback from readers.
Congratulations to your son! And many thanks for the great info you post on your site. We went to Atzmännig today after reading your post on it and had a wonderful time. We look forward to having our daughter participate in the Zürihegel next year.