Running 534 km For a Good Cause
(This article is by Hans de Bruin, Aqualon Coatings Additives Group)

("DeLoopmoate" Team Photo, Hans de Bruin is on the far left, back row)

Over the Whitsun weekend (Easter) the 16th Roparun event took place. The Roparun is the longest non-stop relay race in the world: it's not only a unique running event but also has a unique goal: 

“Aiming to add life to the days that remain, when no more days can be added to life.” 
 

In 1992, the RO(tterdam) PA(ris) RUN was born. And it came about as the result of a bet! In that first year 13 teams took part and together they managed to raise Dfl 100,000.- The organization of the event was in the hands of a small group of volunteers. In fact, the intention was for a one-off event, but that was not to be the case. Last year close to 200 teams participated and raised over  € 3,100,000 for the Roparun Foundation. The donations from this foundation go out to cancer related projects at hospitals,  hospices, recreational bungalows of the foundation and other projects which are related to this special goal… improving the last phase of the life of terminally ill people.
 

For the second year in a row, a group of enthusiastic running friends “De Loopmoate” from Zwijndrecht, The Netherlands, participated in this race. This is a  major undertaking to build a support team around the 8 runners and plan the logistics to move 24 people safely from Paris to Rotterdam whilst being deprived of the necessary sleep.
 

In addition to the organization of the race a number of initiatives were taken to raise money for the Roparun Foundation. An empty bottle deposit collection over the Easter weekend at a local Supermarket (€ 2,000), a mini sponsor Roparun at a primary school (€ 6,000) and a “Loopmoate – Open” tennis tournament (€ 1,000) were a few of the activities we undertook to raise funds. In addition to this, the team developed a sponsor brochure for which companies could buy advertising space. We were again pleased with the support of Hercules BV.  For a second year, both the Rijswijk office as well as the Zwijndrecht plant sponsored our team for a total of € 500.
 

The event itself is breathtaking.  Physically it was hard at times to overcome the hills in the Northern part of France (especially when you are used to the typically flat Dutch landscape). Mentally, one also had to swallow hard on occasions such as passing the hospital where it all started and the emotional finish in the center of Rotterdam after a tiresome but very satisfying nonstop relay of over 40 hours.
 

The Foundation will report its results by June 15 and I trust it will again exceed last year's result.  From our side, we will be doing the same. In 2006 our donation to the foundation was € 16,500 and this year we anticipate donating  € 23,000. Thanks to Hercules and thanks to all other sponsors of the “De Loopmoate” team.