Fantastic final at the 11th GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN: After 268 kilometers and an overall vertical gain of more than 14,000 meters, one of the most popular trail run events ended on Saturday with the well-deserved victory of Oscar and Marc Casal who thus became the successors of last year’s winners Mirco Berner/Stephan Hugenschmidt. After a slightly weaker start, the Casal brothers grew stronger and stronger over the eight days from Oberstdorf (Germany) to Sulden/Ortler (Italy) and finally deservedly won with a lead of 17.14 minutes ahead of the Italian team Daniel Jung/Ivan Paulmichel and the surprising team from Germany, Benjamin Spoerl/Lukas Naegele (time deficit: 1:18.19 h). The final stage from St. Valentin to Sulden/Ortler ended with a sportive, fair and very nice gesture. The three leading teams crossed the finish line in the tennis hall in Sulden arm in arm after the exact same time of 3:43.57 h and thus were all together ranked as stage winners today.
What a great finish, especially as the families of the athletes ensured a joyful and loud welcome. “So far, this was our greatest and most important victory at an ultra-trail run. We still can’t believe that we have really made it” said the two Andorrans obviously deeply moved at the award ceremony. It was the time for big emotions and tears of joy. The six top runners of the 11th GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN crossed the finish line together after they had fought against each other on a very high sportive level for the last eight days. They all gave everything and pushed themselves to their limits. “This fantastic finish was a really great show. Our second place to me is worth more than all my victories on the mountain bike”, said Daniel Jung who showed an impressive performance together with his partner Ivan Paulmichl. “I am really happy that it is over now. For two days I could barely eat anything and so I am totally exhausted and tired now. For me, this second place is like a victory”, said the exhausted Paulmichl. For four days they were the overall leading team, but in the end they had to succumb to the technical superiority of the Casal brothers. The Iberians, only weighing 57 kilograms each, came to the start as sky-run specialists, but over the course of the 11th GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN they proved that they are also excellent runners on distances over 25 kilometers.
The young German team Benjamin Spoerl and Lukas Naegele smartly stayed in the slipstream position, demonstrated their strengths on the flat passages and finally won the prestigious duel for rank three ahead of the Swiss master runners Urs Jenzer/Ruedi Boertschi who, nevertheless, dominated the category “Master Men”.
The final stage over 39 km from St. Valentin to Sulden/Ortler packed a punch again. Rainer Schlump, marketing manager of SALOMON Germany, sent the remaining 519 athletes on the Vinschgauer cycling path to the South at exactly 7 a.m. this morning in a constant rain and with cool temperatures of only 6 degrees Celsius.
Due to the extreme weather conditions, the trail could not lead over the 2880m high Baerenjoch and followed an alternative route instead. Fresh snow made the crossing of the highest point of the 11th GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN impossible. “The decision was the only reasonable one. In this weather you just cannot cross the Baerenjoch”, says Paulmichl very relieved and happy with the decision of the organizers.
Although the alternative route at least on the paper was not one of the hardest ones with a vertical gain of 1590m, it demanded a lot from the remaining participants. The long descent over more than 15 km down to Glurns especially suited the German street runners Sperl and Naegele as well as the brothers Matthias and Marcus Baur who stepped up the pace significantly. Thus, the only ones able to keep up were the leaders from Andorra and their pursuers from South Tyrol. This group of for teams remained at the head of the field until the last ascent. First, the Baur brothers (Aalen) fell back and then also Sperl/Naegele could not keep up with the others anymore. But with a huge energy output they caught up with the leading group at the third refreshment point again.
The category “Senior Master Men” witnessed a 7 day catch-up race of the Italians Richard and Oscar Wenin who had lost over an hour of time on the first stage due to sickness. Until the 7th stage in St. Valentin Joerg Schreiber and Dr. Thomas Miksch, suffering from a tendonitis at the tibia, managed to defend their lead. On the 8th and last stage, however, the Italians celebrated their 6th stage victory with a lead of 23 minutes and thus clinched the overall victory in their category ahead of the Germans Schreiber/Miksch with a total lead of 12.57 minutes.
In the other categories, the balance of powers remained intact. The Scotts Helen Bonsor/Claire Gordon celebrated their 7th stage victory and overall rank one in the women’s category, the French Caroline Freslon-Bette/Maud Gaubert achieved overall rank two. In the category “Master Men”, the Swiss team Urs Jenzer/Ruedi Boertschi was unbeatable; the Hungarian team Tamas Karlowits-Juhasz/Csaba Németh achieved the second place here.
Also the two mixed classes did not see any changes in the rankings anymore. Although the Dutch-Spanish combination Ragna Debats/Pere Bove Aurell was defeated by Landie Greyling/Christiaan Greyling (South Africa) on the 8th and final stage, they nonetheless celebrated a sovereign overall victory. A real surprise was the stage victory of the German duo Eva Faerberboeck/Mathis Bode in the category “Master Mixed” ahead of the overall winners Annemarie Gross/Franz Kroess (Italy).
The best individual finisher was Anton Steiner who had to run alone from day two on. The Italian completed the Alps Crossing in 32:55.15 hours ahead of Gerhard Herbort (Munich, 34:21.12 h) and Juergen Kurapkat (Miesbach, 35:19.11 h).
Not only the sportive side of the 11th GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN was fantastic: The so-called west route from Oberstdorf to Sulden/Ortler was well received by the athletes from 33 nations. Also the rally star Andreas Mikkelsen, starting for Volkswagen motor sports at the WRC rally world championships, participated as a guest runner and showed an impressive stamina over three days. Gorgeous landscapes, perfect trails and spectacular downhills ensured a great atmosphere among the participants. The stage locations Oberstdorf, Lech am Arlberg, St. Anton am Arlberg, Landeck, Samnaun, Scuol, St. Valentin and Sulden/Ortler presented themselves as great and strong hosts. The weather was a bit moody. The first four stages were dominated by a great heat, the mountain sprint and the final stage were cold and rainy. But therefore, stages 6 and 7 provided the athletes with perfect conditions at temperatures around 15 degrees Celsius. Last but not least, almost 250 of the originally 300 teams arrived at the finish in Sulden/Ortler.
Pic: Lars Schneider
