Third annual Color Run gears up to splatter Brussels

Some 15,000 will gather at the Tour & Taxis complex in Brussels this Sunday for what is billed as the happiest race on the planet: the 5km Color Run. It’s taking place for the third time in the capital, promising to transform the jogging crowds into a moving, kaleidoscopic splatter-art piece.

The Color Run, one of a growing field of non-traditional races, finds both fitness types and just lovers of fun dressed in white t-shirts, to be sprayed with coloured powder (100% natural food-grade corn starch) as they pass through the run’s different stages. Celebrations then culminate in a mass throw of colour packets to create a rainbow cloud during a festival-type atmosphere.

The Color Run is loosely inspired by the Hindu festival Holi, where it is tradition to throw natural coloured powders as the seasons change from winter to spring. Launched in the US state of Arizona in 2012, this run version has proven wildly popular: More than 170 Color Runs are now being held each year around the globe.

Even with a €35 registration fee, the Brussels version is already Belgium’s third biggest mass participation event after the 20km of Brussels and the Antwerp 10 mile. Last month, organisers even launched a second Color Run, in Hemiksem, near Antwerp.

Everyone's a winner

The event isn’t really a race: There are no winners or prizes, punters depart when they want in a 90-minute window, and many of them walk. The route is a winding circuit around Tour & Taxis, taking in the redeveloped canal district with its refurbished warehouses and waterfronts.

Organisers emphasise fun over competition, connecting with friends and family, being active and enjoying oneself .The event attracts a wide demographic, including families, along with a higher proportion of women than most runs. For many participants, it is their first run. DJs entertain the crowd along the route, and participants are as often seen dancing as running, while rolling around in the powder.

The only directive is that participants wear white (the sign-up t-shirt is recommended), and organisers warn that clothing police inspectors will arrest deviants and put them in the Color Run jail if more than 11.8% of their clothing is a hue other than white.

The Color Run also supports a good cause: the Think-Pink breast cancer charity. This is particularly relevant for Belgium, where more than 10,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.

6 September, 12.00-20.00, Tour & Taxis, Brussels