To mark the 70th anniversary of the city partnership between Stuttgart and Cardiff, MTV Stuttgart 1843 eV was able to embark on a very special journey in October 2025: A small delegation of young Frame Runners, their parents and supervisors visited the Cardiff Dragons Frame Runners to lay the foundation for a new sporting friendship.
We are delighted that this encounter has marked the beginning of a new international partnership in inclusive sports . The personal exchange with the Cardiff Dragons was a great enrichment for us – both professionally and personally.
We are especially grateful for the intensive training sessions, where we learned a great deal about balanced and individualized training in frame running . A special thank you goes to head coach Derrick Stephenson , who clearly and practically explained the three classic race positions and the associated frame settings . We will incorporate this knowledge into our training at MTV Stuttgart.
The trip went smoothly from an organizational standpoint as well. We learned how natural and enriching it is to travel together with people who use a wheelchair for mobility . This experience brought us even closer together as a team.
A highlight was our visit to the training session on Wednesday, where we had the honor of meeting Deputy Lord Mayor Michael Michael , Beverly Watson (International Relations), Lorrain Price, the manager of Cardiff Athletics, and Claudia Boes , the president of the Cardiff Stuttgart Association. We were delighted by their interest and appreciation for our exchange.
Besides the sport, culture was not neglected either: The visit to the Cardiff History Museum and the St. Fagans National Museum of History was impressive – we only wished we had more time to delve deeper into all the exciting impressions!
Our very special thanks go to Gabriela Todd of the Cardiff Dragons. Her initiative and warm communication made this trip possible in the first place.
We are looking forward with great anticipation to next year, when we will be able to welcome our new friends from Cardiff to Stuttgart – for the Stuttgart Run 2026 , where we will continue to celebrate togetherness in sport.
And there’s more: We’ll soon be launching a crowdfunding project to purchase our own running frames , so even more children and young people have the opportunity to try this inclusive sport. We’re really looking forward to it – and you can too!
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made this encounter possible – for inclusion, movement and friendship across borders!
mtv-stuttgart.de/aktuelles/news/newsdetail/neue-freundschaft-ueber-grenzen-hinweg-mtv-stuttgart-zu-besuch-bei-den-cardiff-dragons reproduced with permission