Long-running sport turns 80

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Countless victories and successes

As trainers, supervisors, educators and sporting role models, both are still active today with the athletes of the TSV Rot-Weiß Zerbst and are significantly involved in the development and successes. For Rolf Zacharias this is an affair of the heart. He especially likes to work with smaller children and interested young people, to develop them personally and physically.

No wonder, since he has practiced sport almost every day since childhood and up until today, and has achieved countless victories and successes in various sports – not just as a runner.

Physical fitness and courage

Rolf Zacharias was a lifeguard in the 1950s and early 1960s. Mr. Buse, who worked at the Zerbst vocational school at the time, was his trainer. In this group were also “Molli” Brandt and Dieter Sanftenberg. Both later acted as lifeguards in the Zerbst open-air swimming pool. Rolf covered the swimming distances without any problems and only came back to the water surface after 50 meters while diving.

That enabled him to work on the Baltic Sea. Parallel to the water rescue service, there was parachuting for him at the GST, the Society for Sport and Technology. Particular physical fitness and courage were required. He had both.

After around one year of preparation, which included theory, dry jumps from a height of around two meters, parachute packing and jumps from towers in Magdeburg and Halle, the first three jumps from a height of 800 m from an AN 2 in Halle were successfully completed.

Heard against yourself

It is worth mentioning that the wind was blowing so strongly on the first jump that it drove the beginners all to the edge of the airfield and beyond. Although Rolf ended up in an allotment garden, it could not shake him. “That he broke his metatarsal bone when boarding the train to drive home, which is why he was handed over to the DRK in Bitterfeld, his mother did not believe us until she died. Rolf was more at home with the sankra than I was, ”remembers Hans Güth, who was there.

Zacharias later made several jumps, including in Magdeburg.

The hardship against oneself was certainly one reason why “Zachar” – that’s how he was called – registered with the Zerbster boxers of BSG Motor Zerbst. So he trained on the paws of an Otto Richter and a Gerhard “Eipe” Könnecke. Although he got to know the Ringboden twice in the first round in his first fight in Lindau, he won it in the second round by knockout

Jack of all trades in sport

His courage and determination made him successful later on. He remained active in boxing until his army service.

For four years he did his army service in the Harz Mountains. As a passable skier in the cross-country ski run, as a runner in the field and of course on the cinder track, he became a medal collector for his battalion – a jack-of-all-trades in the sport.

The list would be incomplete if one did not mention his successes in athletics and his passion for the sport. When the athletics group of SG Dynamo Zerbst was founded in 1968 by Peter Große from Zerbst, Rolf Zacharias was there.

“Well-known athletes from Zerbst such as Ulrich Schwabe, Jörg Mohs, Hans-Jürgen Schilling, Gerald Zielinski, the brothers Axel and Hans-Jürgen Stein, Inge Richter, Angela Mahn and Michael Sens benefited from his experience and saw in him a role model, one Man who, despite hard physical work, achieved outstanding sporting success as a bricklayer or road builder, ”emphasizes his companion, athletic competitor and friend Hans Güth.

outstanding mileage

Mileage that was “outstanding” in all age groups up to the advanced age, such as the 3000 m in 9: 10.1 min, the 10000 m in a great 33: 10.1 min, the 100 km in 8: 38.57 h or national cross-country victories, call for big exclamation marks. A self-imposed time stamp then limited his passion for running.

When Rolf Zacharias was unable to cope with the 1000 meters in under four minutes a few years ago, he said goodbye to the run for medals, times and ranking positions and joined a hiking group in Schönebeck, with whom he travels many weekends a year and on his vacation. Hiking has become his mission, especially since here he can live out and expand his love of nature, his knowledge of plants and animals. This group therefore eagerly wishes a quick end to the corona pandemic.

Garden as a passion

The latter also applies to the athletes of the TSV and the AG at the Zerbster “Elementary School on the City Wall”, where Rolf Zacharias continues to pass on his experience to young athletes. The TSV trainers Anne and Sven Handrich also appreciate his commitment and the cooperation with him. Even at the age of 80, it is still a matter of course for him to run with the little ones in the training group and motivate them to persevere.

Rolf Zacharias and children, that somehow fits together. The children of his two sons, Steffen and Holger, have also enjoyed it so far, unfortunately they live a little too far away with their families for their grandfather.

After the far too early death of his wife Gisela, Rolf Zacharias lives alone. In his large garden, he indulges another passion, gardening. He is happy when everything blooms and flourishes as he wishes. It is not uncommon for him to delight his friends and sports children with fruit from his own harvest.

Before Rolf Zacharias takes the many calls and congratulations today, he has certainly already completed his daily lap around the city wall, which in the summer months he usually does around six in the morning.

80 is not the age for Rolf Zacharias to put your hands on your lap. His colleagues, his acquaintances, his companions and, last but not least, the family wish their Rolf all the best and, above all, good health for the years to come.

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