Thrilling three-way battle in the 12th GORE-TEX® Transalpine Run. Just a matter of minutes separated the three top teams on the first stage of the race between Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany) and Lermoos (Austria) measuring 36.50 km in distance and taking in 2088 vertical metres of ascent and 1791 vertical metres of descent. The Austrian duo of Florian Heinzle and Mario Weiß (Team Vertical Power) claimed a surprise first place in 3 hours 34 minutes and 50.36 seconds. Second place went to the favourites, Daniel Jung from Italy and Helmut Schiessl from Germany (3:37:30.04), who had led the race until the final seven kilometres. Ivan Paulmichl from Italy and Michael Kabicher from Austria (3:42:46.14) finished in third place. They were followed in fourth by the best masters team of Matthias Dippacher and Uli Morgen. The fastest mixed team was Timo Zeiler/Melanie Albrecht (3:55:58.43). The quickest women’s team was Manishe Sina/Lisa Mehl (4:54:27.89). The second stage of the 12th GORE-TEX® Transalpine Run takes place on Monday, 5 September, and leads 33.80 km from Lermoos to Imst.
If any of the athletes taking part in this year’s GORE-TEX® Transalpine Run were hoping that the first stage would be a relatively gentle affair then they were in for a nasty surprise. Cheered on by the many fans lining the start area, the 600 runners set off at 10:00 sharp from the foot of the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain, on their way to Lermoos in Austria. Though this first leg topped out at a relatively low altitude of 1616 metres above sea level, the undulating course and humid conditions made for exhausting racing. First to arrive at the finish in Lermoos was the Austrian team Heinzle/Weiß with a lead of 2:40 minutes over the pre-race favourites Jung/Schiessl (GORE RUNNING WEAR®/Team Mammut). “We are slightly surprised ourselves,” admitted Florian Heinzle. “This is our first long trail run. Let’s see how things go in the next few days.”
As had been expected, it was the German-Italian duo of Helmut Schiessl and Daniel Jung, who finished second last year, that took control of the race during the early stages. At the second feed station they had built an advantage of two minutes over their closes rivals and seemed certain to win the stage as they powered up the climbs. However, on the section leading down from the top of the cable car connecting the Austrian village of Ehrwald with the top of the Zugspitze mountain, Helmut Schiessl slipped and then suffered cramp. “The important thing is that we work together as a team. That works really well in our case,” commented former mountainbiker Daniel Jung. “Problems like Helmut’s cramp are part of the race, but all in all I am confident. There are still six long days of racing to go.”
Two athletes who succeeded in finding their own rhythm on day one of the event were Ivan Paulmichl and Michael Kabicher. Paulmichl, who finished second last year alongside Daniel Jung, was however quick to play down the importance of the first day’s result. “It was really hot today. I don’t generally perform that well in hot conditions. I think the extremely long stage to Mandarfen on day three will be decisive. Our main aim is to reach the finish line in Bressanone together,” said the athlete from the Vinschgau region in South Tyrol.
In the mixed teams classification it was Timo Zeiler and Melanie Albrecht (Team Salomon/Inov-8) who dominated proceedings by claiming first place almost 17 minutes ahead of Lea Tauern and Josef Vogt (Switzerland/Liechtenstein) and the German duo of Markus Mingo and Tina Fischl. In the women’s race the two German competitors Manishe Sina and Lisa Mehl were similarly dominant. Sina, the reigning German ultratrail champion, and Mehl, 27 years her senior, finished 16 minutes ahead of Johanna Erhart (Austria) and Nina Koch (Germany) and more than 30 minutes ahead of the Italian sisters Melanie und Priska Gasser in third place.
INFO:
GORE-TEX® Transalpine Run
GORE-TEX®
