National Center for Tumor Diseases

The NCT Heidelberg is a joint institution of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the Heidelberg University Hospital and the German Cancer Aid. "I am running to set an example against cancer together with others and because I am thankful for being healed". This was one of many reasons runners had sent the organizing committee of the NCT-run. Children, students, patients, relatives, employees and long-distance specialists gathered on July 7th 2017 at the NCT to support the NCT-charity run. More than 1200 runners took off for the 11-kilometer distance at 6pm. Ten minutes later the starting signal for 785 participants, who trained for the half marathon, went off. At 6.20pm, 2545 runners got underway on the 2,7 kilometer circuit through the Neuenheimer Feld. Many local companies and teams participated to motivate friends and relatives with cancer to keep fighting. SAP and Roche provided the biggest teams. Roche supported the NCT with an amount of 2,50 Euro for each round of the circuit through the Neuenheimer Feld. The maximum sponsoring sum of 13.000 Euro was reached thanks to the very committed runners. "The weather forecast remained unpredictable. The announced thunderstorms luckily did not happen. With the NCT-run we want to counter cancer with positivity - something the many runners certainly achieved again this year despite the very warm temperatures, as Professor Christoph von Kalle, Managing Director of the NCT Heidelberg, reports. Through the support of all participants we can further engage into innovative research projects at the NCT in the following years. Thank you for your support!" On Friday, the fundraising goal of 125.000 Euro was almost reached, with 114.000 Euro from registration fees and the donations of sponsors. "Additional donations over the weekend as well as the revenue from the food and beverage sale now led to achieving our fundraising goal", reports Jörg Fleckenstein happily, Head of Strategic Planning at the NCT. The final fundraising result will be announced on www.nct-lauf.de in the following days. A special thanks goes to the 180 helpers who created and secured the event. The band "The Wright Thing" provided musical entertainment during and after the run. The sport-event was moderated and guided by Tom Haberer.