Magali Hauser, KIT
High Speed, Lots of Green: Students from KIT Dominate the Badische Meile
Industrial engineer Lennart Grothe crossed the finish line as the fastest KIT runner in the traditional race – and saw the event primarily as a strong team effort
Green jerseys, packed streets, and a great atmosphere: At the 35th Badische Meile, KIT was hard to miss. 1,052 students and staff members took the starting line – more than any other organization. Right in the middle of it: Lennart Grothe. The industrial engineer has been at KIT since October 2020 and ran the 8.88889-kilometer course in 30:13 minutes. This made him the fastest runner in a KIT jersey.
The 24-year-old, along with some fellow students, learned about the opportunity to compete in the KIT team at the Badische Meile: “We liked the idea of starting together in such a large and well-known race in Karlsruhe,” he says. The fact that KIT provided the jerseys strengthened the sense of community. “With the sponsored jersey, you could already tell beforehand that this was going to be a cool team event.” Many of the participating students saw the high quality of the shirts as a sign of appreciation from their university, Grothe notes. “I think we’ll be seeing those green T-shirts even more often on running routes and sports fields in Karlsruhe.”
Sports have long played an important role in the Bochum native’s life. For many years, he ran middle and long distances intensively, including with the LG Region Karlsruhe and the KIT Sports Club, he tells clicKIT. Today, he runs mainly for himself, but regularly takes advantage of the university’s sports programs: “Right now, I play dodgeball there – it keeps me fit and is really fun,” he says.
Grothe takes a rather matter-of-fact view of the fact that he crossed the finish line as the fastest KIT runner at the Badische Meile: Some of KIT’s fastest students were competing for their clubs that day and therefore didn’t race in the green jersey. He knows of at least two who were even faster than he was – though in the “wrong” colors: “KIT has even faster athletes who train very intensively alongside their studies.” This shows one thing above all: “The student body in Karlsruhe is athletic.” And at the Badische Meile, they showed not only their fast side but, above all, their green side.
Dr. Felix Mescoli, May 13, 2026