Conti Team Runs for Charity

On your mark! – Get set! – Go! October 11 was ContiRunning Day 2008, a day on which some 10,000 Continental employees in sixty different locations ran or walked for a good cause. Events were staged under the motto “Fit for the Future” and Conti reports the day was a huge success. Employees from twenty countries took part in the event, which started in Asia, then continued in Europe and finished off in America.

“The run contributed to a strengthening of team spirit within our workforce and upped the identification of employees with the corporation – worldwide,” said Heinz-Gerhard, Continental Executive Board member for Human Resources, who was present in Changshu, China. Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, Continental Executive Board chairman, ran in Frankfurt, while Dr. Alan Hippe, vice chairman of the Executive Board, started in Hanover.

At numerous locations local charity drives were staged parallel to the ContiRunningDay event. Apart from these, the Continental Corporation contributed 100,000 euros to the “Doctors Without Borders” organisation. The number of employees participating in the run determined how much the corporation contributed, with the donation to the non-profit organisation working out to 10 euros per Continental employee running or walking.

“Sports create new networks that overcome hierarchies and obstacles. That is why my colleagues on the Executive Board actively supported ContiRunningDay 2008,” commented Wente. As a corporate-wide sports event, Conti says that the ContiRunningDay builds a bridge to the ContiTeamCup, the company’s internal football championship, which was held for the first time in 2006 and will be continued to mark the FIFA World Cup in 2010.