Berlin six-day race
The first Berlin six-day race for cyclists was started on March 15, 1909 in the exhibition hall at the Zoological Garden . The great success with the public in New York contributed to the introduction of this type of cycling event in Europe. To this day it is the most common six-day race in the world.
Sporting highlights
The "Sixdays" have been held annually since 1896 in New York's Madison Square Garden . Initially, each driver drove for himself, but from 1899 the two-man teams that are still common today were introduced. At the first event in Berlin in March 1909 in the exhibition halls at the zoo (the Zoo Palast cinema is located in the same place today ), 15 teams fought for victory on the 150 m long slatted oval. After 144 hours and 3865.7 kilometers, the American couple Jimmy Moran and Floyd MacFarland won . The event was so successful that a second race was held in the same year.
From 1911 on, the annual six-day race took place - in some years even twice - in the Berlin Sports Palace , built in 1910 . Well-known cyclists such as Piet van Kempen (the “Flying Dutchman”), Walter Rütt , Karl Saldow and Walter Lohmann were drawn here . In 1924 Richard Huschke and Franz Krupkat raced to the legendary world record of 4,544.2 kilometers, which is still valid today. In 1934 the last six-day race there before the Second World War took place in Berlin . The next event wasn't until 1949. In 1951, the two racing drivers Rudi Mirke and Gerard van Beek fell fatally while the six-day race was being held on the extremely narrow and small track in the sports hall at the radio tower . In the 1960s and 1970s, prominent German riders such as Rudi Altig , Klaus Bugdahl and Dietrich Thurau left their mark on the traditional cycling event. The Belgian “Six Day Emperor” Patrick Sercu was able to win five times in Berlin. Erik Zabel said goodbye to cycling there after winning together with Robert Bartko in 2009.
To make the races more exciting, Fredy Budzinski introduced points for intermediate sprints in 1922 ; this “Berlin valuation” is carried out to this day in six-day races and official competitions with two-man team driving.
organizer
From 1997 the six-day race was held in the Berlin Velodrom . The organizer was the Berliner Sechstagerennen GmbH , its managing director Heinz Seesing . After 17 years, Seesing handed the GmbH over to his previous partner, Reiner Schnorfeil, in 2015. The latter in turn sold the GmbH at the end of 2015 to the British group Madison Sports Group , which also organizes the six-day race in London .
Since April 2016 the Latvian Valts Miltovics has been the new boss of the Berlin six-day race. The Berlin six-day race will be part of the Six Day Series from winter 2016/17 .
From 1958 to 2009 the former Berlin six-day driver Otto Ziege was the sporting director of the six-day race, then this position was taken over by Dieter Stein , who had worked alongside Ziege in previous years.
The "Sixdays" as a social experience
The Berlin “Sixdays” had their first wedding in the “ Roaring Twenties ”, during which they sometimes took place twice a year because of the large number of visitors. They were not only a sporting, but also a social event. Well-known artists and later sports celebrities - traditionally among them were successful boxers like Max Schmeling , Karl Mildenberger , Bubi Scholz or Wladimir Klitschko - did not miss this opportunity to appear in public and gave the starting shot.
From the ground-level box seats, the celebrities donated valuable prizes for victory in individual “disciplines”. For less well-heeled existed in the web center standing room and the cheap seats under the roof (the so-called "loft") sounded the whistles, which was once Berlin's original " crutch " the Vienna Prater life of Siegfried Translateur popularized as "Sportpalastwalzer" would have. The famous journalist and writer Egon Erwin Kisch coined the term "elliptical treadmill" in a report on the Berlin six-day race.
Venues
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The sports palace was demolished in 1973, and so the Berlin six-day race took place in the Deutschlandhalle . Since 1997, the Berlin six-day race has had its home in the new Velodrom on Landsberger Allee, which is located on the site of the demolished Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle where the East Berlin six-day races took place. Every year around 75,000 visitors come to the spectacle, which was held for the 100th time in 2011, more often than anywhere else in the world.
List of winners (from 1990)
- 2020 (109th) Moreno De Pauw (BEL) - Wim Stroetinga (NED)
- 2019 (108.) Roger Kluge (D) - Theo Reinhardt (D)
- 2018 (107.) Yoeri Havik (NED) - Wim Stroetinga (NED)
- 2017 (106.) Yoeri Havik (NED) - Wim Stroetinga (NED)
- 2016 (105th) Kenny De Ketele (BEL) - Moreno De Pauw (BEL)
- 2015 (104.) Marcel Kalz (D) - Leif Lampater (D)
- 2014 (103rd) Kenny De Ketele (BEL) - Andreas Müller (AUT)
- 2013 (102nd) Roger Kluge (D) - Peter Schep (NL)
- 2012 (101st) Leigh Howard (AUS) - Cameron Meyer (AUS)
- 2011 (100th) Robert Bartko (D) - Roger Kluge (D)
- 2010 (99.) Alex Rasmussen (DK) - Michael Mørkøv (DK)
- 2009 (98.) Erik Zabel (D) - Robert Bartko (D)
- 2008 (97th) Bruno Risi (SUI) - Franco Marvulli (SUI)
- 2007 (96th) Guido Fulst (D) - Leif Lampater (D)
- 2006 (95th) Danny Stam (NL) - Robert Slippens (NL)
- 2005 (94th) Bruno Risi (SUI) - Kurt Betschart (SUI)
- 2004 (93.) Robert Bartko (D) - Guido Fulst (D)
- 2003 (92nd) Bruno Risi (SUI) - Kurt Betschart (SUI)
- 2002 (91st) Silvio Martinello (I) - Rolf Aldag (D)
- 2001 (90th) Silvio Martinello (I) - Rolf Aldag (D)
- 2000 (89th) Silvio Martinello (I) - Marco Villa (I)
- 1999 (88th) Andreas Kappes (D) - Etienne De Wilde (B)
- 1998 (87th) Silvio Martinello (I) - Marco Villa (I)
- 1997 (86.) Olaf Ludwig (D) - Jens Veggerby (DK)
literature
- Alfons Arenhövel (Hrsg.): Arena of the passions . Berlin 1990, pp. 71-83 and pp. 129-ff. ISBN 3-922912-13-3 .
- Bodo Harenberg (Ed.): The Chronicle of Berlin . Chronik-Verlag, Dortmund 1986, p. 315. ISBN 3-88379-082-6 .
- Werner Ruttkus / Werner Schoppe: Round circles & Berlin air. On the trail of the Berlin six-day race . Zossen 2011.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The record will last “forever”, since nowadays six-day races are no longer driven for six days and 24 hours without a break.
- ↑ Two years earlier, the Berlin driver Paul Kroll had had a fatal accident on the same track in the "1000 laps" race.
- ↑ Berlin six-day race sold to London. (No longer available online.) In: rbb-online.de. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016 ; Retrieved December 12, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ New six-day boss in Berlin: "2017 Big Names" - Berlin.de. In: berlin.de. February 18, 2016, accessed February 20, 2016 .
- ↑ Martin Einsiedler: Before the 106th edition in Berlin: "The six-day race loses an pub". In: tagesspiegel.de . January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 18, 2017 .
- ↑ Six Day Berlin with a new concept. In: Tour Magazin. October 30, 2016, accessed January 15, 2017 .
