A History of Volkssporting
Precursor of Volkssporting in Germany
History of Volkssporting
Early German Events
Volkssport is a Germanic word which literally translates into English as “people’s sport”, or “sport of the people”. The concept began with running events, offered to encourage people to get out and exercise for their health, and to stir up interest in the local running club. In 1963, the Sport Club of Bobingen, a small town near Augsburg, Germany, organized the first volkslauf, run of the people. Runs were timed competitive events over a prearranged course. Trophies were awarded and the events became very popular. In a few years volkslaufs were being sponsored by sports clubs throughout southern Germany (The American Wanderer, Feb. 1981, p.9).
While events were designed to encourage the not so active individual’s participation, it was the more athletic and physically fit, including professional runners and Olympic hopefuls, who were the winners. Awards to the top finishers in each age and distance categories encouraged people to overstress themselves. This push to win led many participants to take part who were physically unfit and improperly conditioned, resulting in many injuries and some deaths. The less fit participants began to lose interest, and the events became less popular. Volkslauf’s (runs) began to decline almost as rapidly as it had become popular.
On January 14, 1968, six clubs from Germany, two clubs from Switzerland, and one club each from Liechtenstein and Austria came together and changed the rules to give everyone the opportunity to participate and be a winner (Volkmer, 1985). These charter members attempted to join the existing German Leichtathletik Union (DLV) to increase the visibility of a new kind of wandering without classification, obligatory times, and rivalry. However, the DLV did not wholeheartedly accept this new group and called the participants “Spaziergaenger” or walkers (IVV, 1988, p.15). The first sanctioned volksmarch event was held in Hohemark, Germany April 21, 1968. Anybody could participate in the 12 kilometer mountain volksmarch that started at 7:30 a.m. from the Hotel Altkonig Blick. Everybody who reached the finish on Feldberg peak in two and one-half hours received a tastefully designed volksmarch medal on a ribbon (DLV brochure, April 21, 1968, p.3)
