DS Smith team building for the long run

DS Smith’s European teams rallied together to complete a gruelling team building exercise and run the Acerta Brussels Ekiden relay marathon on Saturday, October 15, 2016.

1,700 teams, made up of 10,000 runners, attended the marathon event which took place at the largest stadium in Belgium, Le Stade Roi Baudouin.

Participants came from DS Smith’s recycling, paper, plastics and packaging divisions. This year, the size of DS Smith’s team grew with an additional 30 employees taking part. You can see photos of the enthusiastic #PackagingStrategists running on the DS Smith Facebook page.

They included employees from Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, UK, Spain, Hungary, France and Belgium, who took part in the traditional Japanese relay marathon, Ekiden.

In Japanese, Ekiden is combination of two words: "Eki" meaning place, and "Den" meaning delivery. The Brussels marathon reflects the traditional delivery service in Japan whereby documents were transported at fast speeds on foot.

The marathon is staggered in incremental distances meaning teams must work together to achieve the full distance of 42.195km.

Runner, and CEO of the Packaging Division at DS Smith, Stefano Rossi, commented:

At DS Smith we value our employees and help them to reach the best of their ability, whether that is in the workplace or at a physical event such as this.

— Stefano Rossi

 “Around 90 employees from across the business took part in the marathon, working together in teams to achieve the full 42.195km. And in our experience, being a true partner for our customers isn’t a sprint, but a marathon.

“Every member of our team works together in relay to create a solution for the customer as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“This event embodied this and was a great way of inspiring and focussing on teamwork, all for a great cause. The commitment showed from all of our team members was exemplary and mirrors the commitment we offer to our customers.

“The popularity of the event has increased year-on-year and we intend on having another 20 teams ready for next year.”

Orphan charity SOS Kinderdorp was the charity beneficiary of the event. SOS Kinderdorp raises funds to find orphans new homes in Kinshasa and to fund school places for the orphans and children in neighbouring villages.

So far this event has helped 150 orphans find new homes and has provided spaces for 168 children to go into education.

To make a donation to SOS Kinderdorp please visit: www.soskinderdorpen.nl/