Kind Technologies - April 7th Milano Marathon event

One of A Kind Technologies was invited by our customer Project Automation Spa (our Italian customer that we supply with PATAR units) to participate in the Milan relay Marathon and their company BBQ afterwards.
Alex and Richard had boasted on multiple occasions, about the excellent food that the CEO of Project Automation Spa had made for them in the past.
With the prospect of great food and a nice weekend in Milan I joined our OoAKT delegation for the Marathon.

In the end 8 people joined for the Milan trip, 7 runners and Richard as our “coach”. We met up on Saturday afternoon and due to a delay on the flight we had time to get to know our fellow teammates in the airport bar. Here the impromptu decision was made to bring some Schrobbelèr (local spirit) as a thank you to the customer. After a short flight we arrived at Milan.

On arrival at our hotel we received a package of supplies for each person, prepared by Project Automation Spa, including all the items and information necessary to participate in the Marathon. This evening we decided to prepare

well for the marathon by going to one of the local “top” restaurants. Here we ate local delicacies to our hearts content. And finished it off by drinking some local delicacies as fuel for the next day.

After a good night’s rest, we woke up early on Sunday had breakfast at the hotel and started to travel to the marathon. With a slight “touristic” detour we traveled to the start of the marathon where we got a warm welcome by Project Automation Spa. Here we also met Luca Belotti who joined us as a teammate. We decided how we would coordinate the handovers of the relay bracelet and our bags with warm clothing.

Luca and Geert Boesveld went to the start position for their 14 km run. Where the rest of us went to get a local shot of Italian caffeine before cheering them on next to the road. After this we each joined the runners from Project Automation Spa for each starting position. We traveled using the metro lines in Milan which were filled to the brim with runners and supporters. Among thousands of other participants, me and Marcel Verspaandonk waited for our teammates to arrive. With the cheers of all the supporters and among all the other runners I started running as soon as Geert arrived. Running among all the other people, with supporters cheering all along the route and within the beautiful city of Milan you got propelled forward through the race. Some 10 km later I met up with Alex Kind and his wife, handing over the bracelet to her.

Me and Marcel met up with Geert and Richard at the finish after a short Metro ride. Here we were joined by Janneke Trines and Bram Denissen and got our medals for completing the run. We then joined up with Project Automation Spa where we made some team pictures.

Here we joined Project Automation Spa for their Annual BBQ where we got the very best of Italian food and drinks. After the main course Fabrizio Felippone commerated the partnership between our companies.

Richard joined in on this and then treated everyone to some Schrobbelèr. He also promised to join next year in running for at least 12 km! After leaving this feast, we had small drink at a local bar before retiring for the flight home early in the next morning.