Why HEIDI on Tour exists.
In memory of my wonderful running friend Michael “Heidi” Wichmann, with whom the original idea for this challenge was born – out of necessity – during the first wave of the pandemic. Out of necessity, because races were cancelled and we had to explore long running routes of our own. Along the way we discovered how wonderfully beautiful, how excitingly varied and how movingly jumbled life and nature are along the waters in and around Berlin.
— Thomas Steinicke, organiser
Michael Wichmann – “Heidi” to everyone – and Thomas Steinicke shared a long friendship and a love of running. When all races were cancelled during the first wave of the pandemic, the two simply kept running: on long routes of their own along the lakes, rivers and canals in and around Berlin.
These runs gave rise to an idea: a stage race that shows exactly what the two had discovered along the way.
Heidi died suddenly and unexpectedly. He left a big gap – in his family, among his friends and for everyone who ran with him.
In 2024 the first Heidi-Challenge took place in his honour, on the paths the two had run together. From this grew the wish to keep organising races like this: over several days, with heart, and with people who love running just as much as Heidi did.
That is how HEIDI on Tour came about. Each of our events carries his name a little further.