How a running group helps ESMT students connect across cohorts
At ESMT we have many student clubs, both formally and informally organized. These social activities are not a mandatory part of the ESMT curriculum. However, we do strongly recommend that our students try at least some of the activities on offer. They not only offer a reset after a busy school day; they also offer a benefit that could last a lifetime – a chance to grow your ESMT community network beyond the borders of your cohort and program.
Introducing the ESMT Berlin running group
In this blog, we talk to a group of students who are making the most of this chance for community by taking part in the ESMT running group, an informal club that connects current students, alumni, and faculty.
They also shared what it was like to take part in the Berliner Wasserbetriebe 5 x 5 relay race, an annual team relay race through the heart of Berlin. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the 2026 Berliner Wasserbetriebe 5 x 5 relay had nearly 6,000 teams take part, and our ESMT student were in the midst of it.
Hi runners, please introduce yourselves.
Hi, we are Adrian Gerspach, Master in Global Management Class of 2026; Fynn Barkhausen, Master in Analytics & AI Class of 2026; Jan-Peter Schatten, Master in Innovation & Entrepreneurship Class of 2026; and Scott Davis, Full-time MBA Class of 2027.
We are members of the ESMT running group, an informal club made up of students from across ESMT, along with alumni, and ESMT staff and faculty. We meet up to run together, sometimes just for fun, and sometimes for official races. Most recently, we took part in the Berliner Wasserbetriebe, a 5 x 5K TEAM-Relay across Berlin.
Are you a formal running club or a more general group?
We are not a very formal club, more a group of people who come together every Sunday to go for a run, most of the time at Tempelhofer Feld. Whoever wants to show up can show up; it’s all organized through a WhatsApp group and we have weekly votes of when we run and who shows up.
Sometimes it’s only four people and sometimes ten, so there are no obligations attached. As well as the Sunday runs, the running club serves as a community for people from ESMT who want to connect through running – for example, we did the Berliner Wasserbetriebe 5 x 5 relay race together with many students, both this year and last year.
How did you come together as a group?
Our professor, Eric Quintane (Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior), started the club in January 2025, promoting it in a few of his classes. Shortly after we came together for the first runs.
Are you all students? What programs are you part of at ESMT?
Currently, we are mostly students from across the school (both MSc programs and MBA programs), with Eric Quintane or some motivated ESMT community members organizing the weekly Sunday runs. Everybody is welcome to join: faculty, students, alumni, and guests.
What does the Running Club do? How often do you meet?
Most Sundays at Tempelhofer Feld we go for one-two laps, which is 6.5-13 kilometers (unless the weather conditions do not permit it). We run at a conversational pace, usually in two pace groups, one slower and one faster.
The conversational pace means that we mostly talk next to running, so the social aspect is a key factor in coming together.
As wel as Tempelhof, we sometimes also go to Tiergarten for our weekly runs. As another event we do the yearly relay run. We also use the WhatsApp group to bring people together for other runs like the Berlin Half Marathon or Marathon (or to cheer for each other), and to simply connect over running.
You recently took part in the Berliner Wasserbetriebe 5 x 5K TEAM-Relay Berlin. What does that involve?
This year it involved six teams from ESMT, each with five participants from multiple different programs, so 30 runners in all. We had two fast teams that went for a quicker pace, and four teams that ran for the fun of the event and the team spirit.
Each runner completes a course of five kilometers at the Berliner Tiergarten before passing the baton to the next runner of the team. We were running along hundreds of others at one time on the course.
What was it like to take part and how did you do?
We really enjoyed the experience together, with everybody running at their own pace, many people setting new personal best times for the five-kilometer runs, and everybody cheering for each other.
The main point of the event is to have fun running together, so it is not mainly about setting the fastest pace (but of course, some level of competition remains at an event like this).
Our fastest team (ESMT Panthers) finished 28th out of 1860 teams who participated on Wednesday, and 97th out of all 5558 teams that participated over the three days of the event. Our second fastest team (ESMT Jaguars) finished 79th on Wednesday and 255th overall out of all teams. We were really satisfied with these results!
We had a lot of fun in our little group camp in front of the Berliner Bundestag/Kanzleramt and also enjoyed some beers together to finish off the event!
Do you think ESMT students should join campus clubs or groups? What are the advantages of taking part in these extracurriculars?
We definitely think so! The running club is not (yet) a formal ESMT club, but it is in the process of becoming one. More people should join to enjoy the weekly runs and all the other activities together!
The great thing is that we’re coming together and connecting with people from other programs and cohorts that all enjoy the same passion for running.
Our thanks to Fynn Barkhausen, Scott Davis, Adrian Gerspach, and Jan-Peter Schatten for their participation in this piece.
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