DHL Stafetten 2025

Thursday last week I ran DHL Stafetten - a 5K relay race - together with my LEGO team: ILSP.

DHL Stafetten was held in Mindeparken (Aarhus). We were in the big LEGO tent together with lots of other LEGO teams. It was pretty special to meet colleagues from all parts of the organization under these outside-work festive circumstances.

The race started - in a way - earlier the day; by having a piece of Alfono’s famous BANANA CAKE (first photo here). This is a special food he makes that is composed of top secret healthy ingredients. Evidence shows that people eating a piece of this will be primed for any physical activity they may undertake: like running the DHL 😂👍🏻:

My team had some last-minute reshuffle: 2 of our colleagues got ill, so we ran the 5x5 km with just three runners — me, Alfonso and Nicolae. Alfonso and I doubled up (two legs each). Due to an ahem … minor mix-up … the names on the result page don’t match reality: I’m listed as 524-2 “Jackie” and 524-5 “Anna” — those are my two laps.

On one of the photos above you can see Alfonso in the middle 😎. The thing is … Alfonso is fast - as in really really fast … all that energy had to be unleashed as our team number 1 runner. So off he went. And boy did he NOT disappoint. He came in with an official time of 17:53 🤯🚀.

After Alfonso’s power demonstration it was my turn. Quite humbling - but I tried my best. I completed my first round in 20:09. Now I could have been a bit disappointed here as I would have loved a sub 20 result. But then considering the route I am actually really proud. The thing is the route was kind of tough: it started with a direct uphill segment. That put the race effort in perspective. Then some super nice downhill running and some flat running - both segments where you could get some good speed executed. However, to me, the initial segment effort ensured that I had to “catch up” for the lost time - so the effort pushing downhill and flat was relatively tough too. Then the end: another uphill segment. Boy/girl did it suck some power out of me too. I dropped precious seconds as I simply didn’t had it in me to sprint uphill at the end.

The race was tough for all of us. Relatively to each of our abilities it seemed as if we put in everything we got and didn’t leave anything out-there on the route:

After the race it was time to some post-race grill food: chicken, potato salad and sausages. Very delicious.

We also had some beverage-tickets. But … truth be told: we just grabbed some food and water - and then slowly went home again. See it was quickly becoming “late” 21:00+ … and we all had some transport to put in before being home.

And yeah … getting out of Aarhus again took quite some time - probably the only negative thing I have to say about this otherwise fantastic team experience. Let’s rewind a bit: A lovely route, in lovely company (your team mates) - on a super sunny and warm day - with top vibes all over. A very special and lovely experience 👍🏻

Recommended?

Oh yes!!

The whole setup with the company tents (in our case; the big LEGO tent), the festival vibe, delicious food and drink opportunities - and even fireworks 🎆 (at the end) - makes it the perfect team event. If you ever get the chance to run the DHL relay race with your colleagues, then grab it. No hessitation. I will 🥳

This one gets my top 5-star rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️