CERN is well known world-wide for its accelerators, such as the LHC, where protons and other particles run at extremely high speeds. At the local level, other CERN runners are known to be very energetic. Indeed, looking at the podiums of the races around Geneva, we often see people wearing the CERN Running Club t-shirt, in the Tour du Canton, the Escalade, etc. In last week’s Cross Inter-Entreprises (“Nocturne des Evaux”, see photo), CERN teams finished first in both the men and women categories, an impressive achievement given the 181 teams participating!

The club also organizes races at CERN, such as the well-known Relay Race. There is also the Road Race, end of September. This year was the 40th edition and more than 100 people completed the 5.4 km distance, in the West Area of Meyrin’s site. Amazingly, the winner did it in only 17m39s, the second-best time ever.

Some of us prefer running in the mountains, from the “short” (30 km) Trail du Reculet to extreme challenges like the UTMB (170 km) or the Eiger ultra trail (250 km). Our president gets the palm here, having finished his 4th “Tor des Glaciers”: 450 km and 32.000 m of D+, up and down the Alps!

This year the club also broke the record of number of members, currently at 108. That's twice the numbers until a decade ago. If, like Kate Bush, you want to run up that hill, don’t hesitate to join us, in our regular lunchtime trainings or elsewhere: just send a mail to club-running-committee@cern.ch or visit the Running Club web site for more detailed information (including results and photos).