The 4th Salzburg AMREF Marathon will take place on Sunday, May 13th. This road race, which includes the national marathon Championships, is not just a sporting success. The marathon, which takes the competitors through one of the most beautiful cities in the world, is also an act of cultural exchange and cooperation. Each participant is supporting the aid organisation AMREF – “African Medical and Research Foundation including the Flying Doctors Service”. The donations from the 2007 Salzburg AMREF Marathon will be used to support an integrated health programme in southwest Kenya.

Another feature: Salzburg is the leading producer and consumer of organic products in Austria. Even this year’s AMREF Marathon is respecting this fact. All provisions, from drinks to the catering in the VIP tent and even the ice cream, are organic products.

This year a Salzburg 2014 team will be participating in the team race, and Thomas Rothauer, Head of Marketing for Salzburg 2014, will be participating in the half-marathon at this year’s AMREF Marathon. The motivation is both sport-related and social.

Alexandra Knoke, International Media Coordinator for Salzburg 2014 and former middle-distance runner: “The AMREF Marathon, with almost 3000 registrations for the marathon alone, is a wonderful example of how professional sport, recreational sport, celebration and social awareness can go hand in hand. Salzburg lives summer sport as well as winter sport. The AMREF Marathon is a fantastic event for runners and spectators. The organisers are innovative, as is proven by the world’s first ever completely organic catering at a marathon. This promotion epitomises the culture of the people of Salzburg: to maintain tradition and enable progress. How our Salzburg 2014 team ultimately gets on is not important. This is about team spirit, supporting this event and, in keeping with the Olympic ideal, about the taking part.”