Working Together Toward a World Record – Kaiserslautern on the Move

Through an ambitious and inspiring initiative, the Science and Innovation Alliance Kaiserslautern e.V., together with its network, aims to get an entire city moving: In May 2025, they plan to launch a world record attempt for the longest distance run as a team in 90 days—for and with Kaiserslautern. This challenge is more than just a sporting goal—it’s an invitation to the entire population of the region and beyond to achieve something great together.

The world record attempt will begin on May 22, 2025. Over the following 90 days, through August 19, 2025, all participants will accumulate kilometers. At the end of the 90 days, another event will be held on August 23, 2025, in the presence of an official record judge to verify whether the record has indeed been set. The current record is held by the Allianz Group with just under 1.4 million kilometers, run by slightly more than 10,000 employees. This means participants will need to beat an average running distance of about 1.5 km per person per day. The team must be finalized by the start of the record attempt; the registration deadline is therefore May 21, 2025.

The world record attempt is being organized as part of the “Kaiserslautern for the Next Step” campaign and is themed “More Than Just Exercise.” The goal is to draw attention to the important topic of inclusive sports. Inclusive athlete Abdul Dogan, serving as the event ambassador in Kaiserslautern, will train with a wide variety of groups and individuals and accumulate kilometers before and during the three-month period. In doing so, he wants to demonstrate how important it is to overcome barriers and allow everyone—regardless of physical limitations—to participate in sports. In the spirit of inclusion, the rules of the record attempt explicitly allow, for the first time, the participation of wheelchair users who cover the kilometers using their own muscle power.

The Science and Innovation Alliance Kaiserslautern (SIAK) is organizing the project in collaboration with the Rhineland-Palatinate State Initiative – “Land in Bewegung” and City Management Kaiserslautern. Other partners include 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Antenne Kaiserslautern, B2Run, and the companies and research institutions of the SIAK network, including those featured in the promotional video: Accenture GmbH, DCON GmbH, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE, Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial and Economic Mathematics ITWM, Insiders Technologies GmbH, RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), TOPdesk Deutschland GmbH, and Wipotec GmbH—TOPdesk Deutschland GmbH is responsible for the promotional video.

The goal is to enhance Kaiserslautern’s appeal as a hub for innovation and to send a clear message of inclusion and mutual support. For the participants, the world record attempt is a unique opportunity to become part of history and to demonstrate as a community what they can achieve together. In addition, the event raises public awareness of inclusive sports.