Already for the thirteenth time, the Business run kicked off in Antwerp. This is the annual charity run organised before the start of breakbulk exhibition AntwerpXL.
It was still dark when the first runners arrived at the Antwerp port hall on Wednesday morning, 29 November. In the pouring rain, the legs were warmed up and the runners divided into the two running distances; 4 and 9 kilometres. The starting gun was then fired and some 40 runners disappeared towards Scheldekaaien (Scheldt Quays), into the Antwerp morning rush hour.
“The Business run is actually the real starting point of the first conference day of breakbulk exhibition Antwerp XL,” says Jo Van der Herten, key account manager Invest & Development at Port of Antwerp-Bruges. “We have been doing this for years together with the breakbulk community. It’s a tradition we like to continue and a fun way to engage our international community to do something for a good cause in a sporty way.”
Mental issues
The proceeds of the Businessrun will again this year go in full to TEJO vzw. TEJO offers low-threshold, therapeutic counselling in Flanders for young people aged between 10 and 20. “We provide anonymous and free support to young people who are struggling,” says chairwoman of TEJO vzw Inge De Jonghe. “In the 14 years of our existence, we have already counselled some 16,000 young people. We really notice that more and more young people have mental problems and these problems are becoming more serious. Among other things, we now want to focus more on prevention.”
“The fact that we can receive a lot of support from the port community gives us enormous pleasure,” says De Jonghe. “We do everything on a voluntary basis and as an organisation you quickly have a lot of fixed costs anyway, so for us it is very nice to be able to receive donations from time to time. In addition, it is very important that we can tell our story to an international group, like this morning during the Business run. That way we might make people enthusiastic about starting projects like this in other countries as well.”
