At the age of 22, Markus Ryffel had his first, unpleasant marathon experience. Fred Lebow, the organizer of the New York City Marathon, is personally "to blame" for this. He persuaded the young Ryffel to take part in the New Year's Eve race in Sao Paulo, where he had finished an excellent fourth. Lebow talked the still rather inexperienced Ryffel into it until he must have said "yes". In any case, an invitation in Ryffel's name arrived at the Swiss federation just a short time later.

"Longer training runs were on the program for a month - a few times over two hours. Of course, that wasn't enough. The initial pace wasn't a problem. After 15 km I was still running easily and relaxed and wondered what was so bad about a marathon. But after half the distance the muscle tension increased and after 27 kilometers the leading group continued to run at this pace. It had happened for me. I went through every possible stage and came close to giving up just before the finish. At the finish I said to myself "never again". After that, I could hardly walk for a whole week..."

Before the store could be fitted out, Markus also had to pick up a paintbrush, in line with the motto "DIY is cheaper".

Silver medal over 5000m for Markus Ryffel

A place in the final - that was Markus Ryffel's goal in Los Angeles in 1984. It became more, much more: Markus Ryffel crowned his magnificent career with the silver medal. It was the reward for his years of hard work, his perseverance and his courage. The courage to keep believing in himself. In Los Angeles, Ryffel arrived at the destination of his dreams, with the silver medal as a product of his vast experience.

Ryffel, in the form of his life, knew his strengths: "I was able to hold back in the preliminary and semi-final, saving my strength for the final. The pot of mental and physical strength was full to the brim." To Ryffel's credit, Pierre Délèze was able to find out that the Portuguese would set a fast pace - just to Ryffel's liking. "My confidence grew from lap to lap. I felt extremely comfortable on the LA fast train. Suddenly I realized that I could win a medal today. I realized that I could shift up a gear at any time and really got into a state of euphoria. At the start of the last round, I even thought I had a chance against Sad Aouita. But Aouita beat me to it with his attack - he was simply stronger that day."

In 1987, the idea arose to merge the various courses, events and functions into a separate Kurse GmbH. St. Moritz was considered as a potential location for the courses office. Based on this evaluation, Markus and Urs Ryffel opened a third sales branch in St. Moritz. Over the next three years, however, the Ryffel brothers realized that so much attention was being paid to winter sports in St. Moritz that summer sports were being neglected. The store was therefore closed after three years. The St. Moritz location proved to be unsuitable.

To further develop the company's mail order business, the first edition of the Ryffel Running catalog was published in 1990. As the ordered goods had to be dispatched immediately, the "Ryffel Running Versand" (Ryffel Running Mail Order) was opened at the same time, which processed and dispatched orders. This made it possible for customers to order clothes and accessories from the comfort of their own home. However, running shoes were not sent out as a matter of principle. The aim was still to find the right shoe for every customer. This goal could not be achieved by shipping shoes and the company would have lost professionalism at this crucial interface with the customer.

In 1994, two further companies were founded to organize courses and events. Bern was chosen as the location. The courses organized by Markus and Urs Ryffel were integrated into the company "Ryffel Running Kurse GmbH". The events, which until 1994 had the legal form of an "association", were transferred to "Ryffel Running Veranstaltungen GmbH". In the period that followed, workshops, leader training courses as well as further training and seminars were added to the range of services offered by Ryffel Running Kurse GmbH. It was important that the customer had a nice overall package with hardware (shoes, textiles, accessories) and software (events, workshops, seminars) to choose from.

Last implementation 2013

Last implementation 2012

In keeping with the spirit of the times, Ryffel Running opened an online store in 1999. As it is not possible for the seller to analyze the customer's feet and running style when buying over the Internet, as is the case with catalog sales, running shoes were also not sold in the online store. In this form of retail, the focus was on clothing and accessories. With this strict decision, Ryffel Running was able to continue to clearly differentiate itself from the competition, but still follow an important trend.

2008 saw the merger of courses and events to form Ryffel Running Event GmbH. The offices were expanded from a two-person office in Allmendingen to a 10-person office in Gümligen. The entire "software" of Ryffel Running was now once again united in a single company. As before with Aqua-Fit and Nordic Walking, there was a new zeitgeist. Social media, smartphones and a new generation of young people, most of whom found normal jogging boring, were making their presence felt. Ryffel Running decided to appear with the various events on social media platforms. The Swiss Women's Run Bern, the Greifensee Run and the Survival Run together have more than 27,000 likes on Facebook. At the same time, they wanted to bring a new event to Switzerland for precisely the generation described above: The Fisherman's Friend StrongmanRun. This was organized by Ryffel Running Event GmbH for its first three editions. After three years, Ryffel Running and Fisherman's Friend parted ways and decided to continue the event under a new name. The SurvivalRun in Thun was held for the first time in 2013 and already had around 2000 participants at the second edition. This is the first event organized by Ryffel Running that is practically paperless. Only flyers and advertising posters are printed. All other information and the registration portal can be found online. The strongest age group at the SurvivalRun is 20-29 year olds.

The internet changed communication forever. This also had an impact on the changing sporting goods market. New online shopping platforms, clearance sales and large sporting goods retailers increasingly divided the market. In the end, they had to bow to the spirit of the times and Markus and Urs Ryffel realized that it could be very difficult for Ryffel Running Shops to assert themselves against the "big players" in the near future. Huge purchasing companies enable the chains to offer very low purchase prices, against which even competence and professionalism would eventually no longer be able to compete. The Ryffels therefore decided to sell the stores, but to pass on the goal and spirit of Ryffel Running. Negotiations with SportXX began and the decision was made to sell Ryffel Running AG to 60%.

Following the complete takeover of Ryffel Running AG and its two stores by Migros, Ryffel Running Event GmbH is now also entering a new phase. With the change of name to Markus Ryffel's GmbH, Markus Ryffel is setting the record straight and making a fresh start: With great professionalism and passion, Markus Ryffel's ensures the development and organization of attractive running events (such as the Swiss Women's Run Bern, Survival Run, Nachwuchslauf, Greifenseelauf or Santarun), personal coaching, workshops, running seminars, vacation weeks (such as the Running and Fitness Week, Running and Nutrition Week, Ladies Days, Fit for Life Days or Run 'n' Yoga) and marathon trips. Running is our Passion!