dm Firmenlauf Saarbrücken: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

The start is on the Tbilisser Platz by the Staatstheater. The route first heads out of town along the Mainzer Straße towards the Ostspange, reaches the single drinks station at kilometre 2.5 am Staden by the Lessingstraße and turns there. The way back runs along the Bismarckstraße with the Saar in view, before the last kilometre follows the river bank and crosses the St. Johanner Markt to the finish on the Saarwiesen.

Very little happens in profile terms, and here that is the point: 33 metres of climbing against 33 of descent, close to half the loop classified as flat, not one steep section. The only rise worth naming is a 400 metre ramp of a good three per cent at kilometre 3.7, the pull up from the riverbank into the old town. The surface is asphalt throughout and the whole route is close to barrier-free, so it also suits participants with impairments.

The character of this race lies less in its profile than in its setting. It is run in the early evening through a city centre closed to traffic, with DJs and samba bands along the route and spectators on the St. Johanner Markt; in 2026 13,160 participants from more than 618 companies started in three waves. The classifications cover not only the fastest three-person teams but also the largest teams, apprentice turnout and the most creative costume. Straight afterwards the after-run party takes over the Saarwiesen.

Pacing Strategy

On a course without hills the start decides things. The waves are very large, the first few hundred metres out of the theatre area are tight, and working through the field there is paid for on the Mainzer Straße. Treat the first kilometre deliberately as a sorting phase and only establish target pace once the road widens.

The race is settled between the turn am Staden and the finish. The Bismarckstraße is long, straight and flat, the ideal stretch for holding an even pace, and for exactly that reason the place where most people push too early. Hold the split here rather than squeezing it; the ramp at kilometre 3.7 comes afterwards and costs more on tired legs than three per cent suggests.

The trap is the closing run across the St. Johanner Markt. A narrow line, paving, spectators and an audible finish all invite an acceleration that rarely works over five kilometres. Add the time of day: an 18:00 start on a June evening after a full working day, with just one water point at kilometre 2.5. Anyone who has drunk little during the day notices it here rather than earlier.

Training plan for dm Firmenlauf Saarbrücken: 12-week build

Five flat kilometres means somewhere between roughly 18 and 45 minutes of effort for this field. Physiologically it is a race at or above the anaerobic threshold that runs high from the first minute and offers no relief from descents or changes of terrain. For beginners, and in a company run they make up a large part of the field, the question is above all whether five kilometres can be covered without stopping.

Anyone starting without a running background should build the last six to eight weeks around three easy sessions a week and lift the duration gradually to 35 or 40 minutes, alternating running and walking if necessary. The organiser publishes its own six-week plans for beginners and for more experienced runners.

Anyone chasing a time trains the ability to hold a high pace evenly. Threshold intervals on flat asphalt reproduce this course best: five or six times 1,000 metres at race pace with a short jog recovery, plus one weekly session of strides for running economy in the pace band that decides the race. The small ramp at kilometre 3.7 is covered by a few repetitions on a shallow rise at the end of a quality session.

Among the conditions, the time of day and the surface count. The race begins at 18:00 in June, after a working day and in summer warmth, so move part of your hard sessions deliberately into the early evening rather than the morning, and work out how much you eat and when on a working day. The course is asphalt throughout with paved sections in the old town, which suits a light road shoe; if you normally run on forest paths, put more kilometres on asphalt in the closing weeks.