To balance out the hours in front of the computer or in the labs, many IZM employees like to keep fit in their spare time. Especially the runners and the soccer players join in the competitions against other companies and research institutes held each year. 

A total of 154 »Fast Running Scientists« from the Berlin Fraunhofer institutes IPK, HHI, FIRST, FOKUS and IZM competed in the 12th Berlin Corporate Marathon on June 1st 2012, of which 21 were Fraunhofer IZM employees. Hitting 12th and 18th place (of a total of 5573 runners), Fraunhofer IZM improved its results over previous years.

The institute saw similar success in the relay races at the Berlin Marathon on November 18th. The institute’s runners arranged themselves in teams of 5 across the marathon course (12+10+5+10+5 km). From a total of 1000 teams, two Fraunhofer IZM groups placed in the top 100.

Fraunhofer IZM soccer players did not see quite the same success, even though the institute sent two teams to the Fraunhofer Championship in June. But the teams had assessed their chances realistically from the start, as reflected by their team names: »Torpedo Torlos« (Eng. »Torpedo Goalless«) and »Blackouts Berlin«.