Spinning Marathon Max Health Club a Sweating Success

On Saturday 30 January 2010, Max Health Club in The Hague organized a spinning marathon. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., some 30 fitness fans worked up a sweat to swinging music and the encouraging words of enthusiastic trainers who changed guard every hour.

The cyclists were looked after well: bananas, apple quarters and water were handed out at regular intervals. All of the participants received a medal at the end of the marathon.

For some, this was their first marathon. The atmosphere was really good.

The reason why this marathon was organized for the benefit of Malaria No More! Netherlands goes back to 2009, when Max Health Club member Peter Hodes cycled the Tour d'Afrique from January to May, which took him across Africa from Cairo to Cape Town over a distance of almost 12,000 kilometres. Peter linked this challenging feat to a very successful sponsor campaign, which was followed-up a year later with a spinning marathon at Max Health Club.

Den Haag Centraal, the The Hague-based newspaper that reported on Peter's cycling progress every month, took on the advertising for the spinning marathon. Robert Conijn of Den Haag Centraal cycled up a sweat for four hours.

Before the spinning marathon began, Peter Hodes was interviewed by Margret van Gaalen of Malaria No More! Netherlands, who also took part in the marathon after taking her first spinning lesson the week before. Peter explained to her that he had prepared for the Tour d'Afrique by spinning at Max Health Club and that Tom Schouten in Scheveningen had prepared his bike. The biggest challenge during the cycling tour were the unpaved roads and the mountains; Peter's tyres weren't designed for sandy surfaces and he is clearly not Bahamontes, Eagle of Toledo, but a rider who is in his element in the flat polder landscape.

Two ladies cycled the whole spinning marathon dressed as mosquitoes. They wore black glasses, wings and feelers. They looked really great in the show that was later broadcast by Dag Den Haag.tv.

Prizes were auctioned halfway through the marathon. Bidding was hot for the anti-malaria packet, which consisted of a portable mosquito net and DEET (courtesy of Tropicare), the cool cycling jerseys (courtesy of Tom Schouten) and a three-month health club subscription (courtesy of Max Health Club).

The money collected from the spinning marathon (registration fee, auction and donations) amounted to €950. And thanks to the collaboration between Malaria No More! Netherlands and Wilde Ganzen, Wilde Ganzen augmented the amount to €1,470.

Max Health Club and all of the spinners can look back with pride on this successful campaign.

More photos are available at Max Health Club op Webalbums Picasa.