Peter Borsdorff

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Klaus Peter Borsdorff (born July 4, 1943 in Bad Warmbrunn ) is a former marathon runner . He collects donations for children in need and was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for this .

Life

Borsdorff was expelled from Silesia in 1945 with his parents and two siblings . He has lived in Düren since 1951. He worked as a technician, engineer and later for 25 years as a personnel manager in a medium-sized industrial company. He retired in August 2006. In the early 1980s, Borsdorff discovered his interest in running. His doctor had advised him to exercise more for health reasons. At his hometown club, the Dürener TV 1847, he began with the sport. In 1984 he ran his first marathon in Essen . In the following years he achieved times under three hours. A sporting highlight for him was his participation in the New York Marathon in 1989. His wife Doris, who died in 2005, accompanied him on many races.

"Running for Kids" initiative

During a training run in January 1995, Borsdorff got the idea that his life is doing very well. Now he wanted to help people who are not doing so well. In particular, he wanted to support children in the region. To this end, he founded the “Running for Kids” initiative as a private individual, initially under the title “Athletes help disabled children”. He made a donation box out of a running shoe and promoted the campaign to his club mates. He donated the first thousand D-Marks to a kindergarten in Düren.

Since then, Borsdorff has put his sporting ambitions on hold and concentrates on his activities as a fundraiser. He regularly supports children with disabilities and institutions in Düren and the surrounding area that look after children. Since he works as a private person with no organization in the background, he has no administrative costs and passes every euro on to the children in need. With his donation box he is present at many running events, at home games of the volleyball Bundesliga club SWD Powervolleys Düren and at other events. There are also collection boxes in various shops. He documents all donations and comments on his activities on Facebook .

On December 9, 2014, Borsdorff reached the one million euro mark with his donations. On September 5, 2018, it came to two million euros.

Peter and Paul Run

In 1999, Borsdorff organized the Peter and Paul Run for the first time together with the Mayor of Düren, Paul Larue . More than a thousand participants run on the Jahnkampfbahn of Düren TV. For each completed round, sponsors donate a certain amount of money to "Running for Kids". The run takes place annually. Around 1400 people took part in the 21st edition on June 28, 2019 and completed 37,921 laps (15,168.4 km), resulting in a donation of € 62,638.17.

Media reports

The local media report regularly about Borsdorff and his activities, so that he is known in the region as the man “met de Duus” (with the can). National media have also noticed him in recent years. He was portrayed and interviewed on the television stations WDR and Sat.1 . The newspaper Die Welt also reported on him.

Awards

Borsdorff has received several awards for its “Running for Kids” initiative. In 2001 he received the Federal Republic of Germany's Medal of Merit . In 2004 he received the Egidius-Braun-Preis of the Aachener Nachrichten . In September 2013 he was honored with the rarely awarded citizen medal of the city of Düren. His highest award so far is the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon. District Administrator Wolfgang Spelthahn carried out the award on January 15, 2015 on behalf of Federal President Joachim Gauck . In May 2015, the WDR awarded Peter Borsdorff the “Ehrwin”, a prize for voluntary work, and broadcast a portrait of it in local time . Borsdorff received a musical homage from the Düren dialect group Bremsklötz. The band dedicated the song “Engel op Loofschohn” (angel on running shoes) to him at the beginning of 2014, which honors his activities as a running fundraiser.

On October 3, 2019, Peter Borsdorff will receive the European Social Award .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Announcement of the awards from April 1, 2015. bundespraesident.de, April 1, 2015, accessed on December 31, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f “Running for Kids” determines Borsdorff's daily routine. Aachener Nachrichten, October 8, 2018, accessed on December 31, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i self-portrait on Borsdorff website
  4. ↑ Peter Borsdorff on Facebook
  5. ↑ Peter Borsdorff cracks the donation million. Aachener Nachrichten, December 10, 2014, accessed on January 16, 2015 .
  6. ↑ 1400 runners, around 15,000 kilometers and 48,500 euros. Aachener Nachrichten, June 30, 2018, accessed on June 30, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Running for the kids. WDR television, December 5, 2017, archived from the original on December 6, 2017 ; accessed on December 31, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Christmas angel runs for donations. Sat.1, December 5, 2018, accessed December 31, 2018 .
  9. ↑ 75-year-old Dürener collects millions in donations. Die Welt, December 4, 2018, accessed December 31, 2018 .
  10. ↑ a b "Engel op Loofschoh": Borsdorff receives the Federal Cross of Merit. Aachener Zeitung, January 15, 2015, accessed on January 16, 2015 .
  11. ^ Citizen's Medal for Peter Borsdorff. Aachener Nachrichten, September 29, 2013, accessed on January 16, 2015 .
  12. ↑ He runs and helps and runs and helps: Cross of Merit for Borsdorff. Aachener Nachrichten, January 15, 2015, accessed on January 16, 2015 .
  13. ↑ An Ehrwin for Peter Borsdorff. WDR, May 31, 2015, accessed December 31, 2018 .
  14. ↑ "Running for Kids": "Bremsklötz" dedicate a song to Peter Borsdorff. Aachener Zeitung, March 15, 2014, accessed on January 16, 2015 .
  15. ↑ Excerpt from the song on Soundcloud
  16. ↑ https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/Europaeischer-Sozialpreis-Peter-Borsdorff-Eschweiler-100.html
personal data
SURNAME Borsdorff, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German marathon runner and fundraiser
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Warmbrunn