Ralph Schürmann was born in 1953.   
Although born into a family of cycling he never competed in the cycling sport himself. 

Once -during a 6-day-race in Münster- his father Herbert put him (as a child) on a track bike and held him vertical to the surface into the center of the curve, which had some 56 degrees inclination. This was it for track cycling and Ralph. Even a beautiful "Cinelli" children-racing bike, which his father brought home from a job in Italy couldn't help.   
Only later -after building tracks himself- he overcame this impressing experience and learned to ride a track. 

Ralph had a traditional humanistic and scientific education and already early accompanied his father to many building sites of cycle tracks.   

Being still in the school he already helped his father to calculate tracks (at this time still on mechanical calculation machines).   
In 1971 he could make his first practical experiences of building, when he was part of the carpenter crew for the Olympic track of Munich.

Following the family tradition Ralph almost "automatically" started his studies in the field of architecture in 1973, which ended in 1985 after engineering and architectural diplomas at the academy of Münster and the Technical University of Aachen. 

Like his father he first made his own experiences as an employed architect with general architectural tasks, but when the health of his father Herbert went worse in 1985, he joined the family office and started to continue the family tradition of designing cycle tracks. Together with his father he designed and built his first tracks and was introduced into all secrets and techniques of designing and constructing tracks.    

Since then he has already designed more than 50 international tracks on his own. Among them the Olympic tracks for Beijing 2008,  Rio de Janeiro 2016, Tokio 2020 and Paris 2024.

Ralph is very much interested in the scientific aspect of track design.  
 
With today's help of sophisticated computers and self written programs he is analyzing the design criteria of all the tracks, which have been built by the Schürmann-family and tries to still improve and refine the design methods. 
The basis of all is nevertheless still the practical and reliable experience of grandfather Clemens and his very successful evolution process.  



But also the practical execution of Schürmann Tracks is the key to the acknowledged first class quality. 

Herbert Schürmann was named "Don Millimetro", when he worked in Mexico for the Olympic tracks and likewise Ralph is strongly addicted to utmost precision within frames of the millimeter.

Only with a very precise execution the track can deliver the most possible ideal surface for the best performances of the athlets.

In addition Ralph is not only designing the tracks, but also complete stadia (the Velodrome) or hall.

He won the Plechnik-price (in cooperation with architect Marjan Zupanc) in Slovenia, the 1st price in the International Architects Competition for the Olympic Velodrome in Beijing, designed the Palma Arena in Mallorca/Spain and -only recently- the German Track Cycling Center in Cologne/Germany, which shall be opened by 2026/7.

Ralph Schürmann is member of the Architects Chamber of North-Rhine Westfalia, the Colegio Oficial d'Arquitectes Illes Baleares, the IAKS (International Working Group Sport Facilities) and the BDR (German Cycling Federation).