Former European champion Richard Ringer has said he will run the Frankfurt Marathon on Sunday for his daughter who was stillborn a year ago.
April Lucia Vivienne was stillborn on October 24, 2025, after Ringer and his wife were told two days earlier that the umbilical cord had become wrapped round their daughter’s little leg several times, preventing an adequate supply for the fetus.
Ringer has been running for his daughter since then and that will especially be the case on October 25 when the Frankfurt race marks the first anniversary of the tragedy.
"She will definitely be there. I will see that I will give my all for her again," Ringer told dpa, admitting the race "won't be easy mentally."
Ringer said that he always thinks of his daughter when he runs and that he and his partner, German-Austrian runner Nada Ida Pauer, "try to do everything in such a way that she is proud of us.
"Running definitely helped me deal with it," he said.
Ringer and Pauer went public with the tragic news via Instagram, and Ringer said is was the right decision in retrospect because "we got a lot of support. That certainly did a world of good."
Ringer won the European title in 2022 and is a co-favourite for first place in Frankfurt where the two other German top runners, reigning European champion and national record holder Amanal Petros and Samuel Fitwi, are also present.
Petros' best is 2 hours 4 minutes 3 seconds, Fitwi's 2:04:45 and Ringer's 2:05:46.
Ringer hopes to improve his personal best while challenging for the German record will also depend on how Petros and Fitwi do. All three are competing just two months after the Euros where Petros won, Fitwi was ninth and Ringer 10th.
"Amanal, Samuel and I made a conscious decision to embark on this adventure with only a short preparation period because we were determined to perform in Germany once more,” Ringer said.