Zugspitz Trailrun Challenge

The Highest and Toughest Marathon in Germany

Press Release / 26.12.2015

­SCOTT Sports title sponsors Zugspitz Trailrun Challenge - registration activated for 22-24 July 2016 race event

Accomodation in the Zugspitz Arena Bavaria-Tyrol could be hard to come by 22-24 July 2016 as SCOTT Sports has teamed up with tried-and-tested event organizers and the tourism region as title sponsor of the Zugspitz Trailrun Challenge. The trail-running festival has become a reputable one-stop platform for competition, fun and expert knowledge around the up-and-coming sport of trail-running. A wide spectrum of races for extreme athletes as much as beginners, for young or aging athletes, and bonvivants as well as all-out competitors is on offer over the course of the weekend.

SCOTT ROCK THE TOP - Zugspitz Trailrun Challenge is the official new name as of 2016 for the trail running festival at the base of famed Zugspitz Mountain on the German-Austrian border.  Julia Conrad, Project Manager, and Heinrich Albrecht, Executive Director of  race organizer PLAN B event company GmbH, are thrilled to have signed  SCOTT Sports as the fitting title sponsor.  

The trail-running event is truely a concerted, international effort by German and Austrian communities at the base of the Zugspitze, the tallest and most imposing peak in that part of the Alps. The festival has attracted notable EU-funding though its INTERREG purse - testimony to the fact that even higher powers support the development of the region's attractive trail networks for the benefit of the public. The festival affords participants a small taste thereof on six different courses.  

The limelight event once again should be the Zugspitz Marathon, Saturday, 23rd July 2016. A bona fide marathon over the trademark distance of 42.195 km, the race reaches for the top of Germany's highest mountain and accumulates no less than 3,809 m of vertical gain along the way. Arguably the highest and toughest marathon in sports-crazed Germany, which surely will bring even the experienced international posse of marathonistas and sky racers to their limit.

Anyone unwilling to go the extra mile but vieing for the shortest, most direct track to the same summit, should look no further than the  Zugspitz Berglauf - also on Saturday, 23rd July 2016. In contrast to the Marathon, the Zugspitz Berglauf course cuts all corners along the relentless, continuously steep way to the top of the Zugspitz (9,718 ft.), covering a distance of just 16.3 km for a cumulative positive vertical of 2,127 metres. Racers head out of Ehrwald on the straightest line possible and ascend the exposed and imposing "Gatterl" - the only non-technical pass across the massif's southern buttresses. With the summit in plain sight from here on out, racers would be well advised to pace themselves as no less than half of the total vertical gain still lies ahead of them.

The trail passes historic Knorr Hut and crosses the glaciated Zugspitzplatt before the steep scree slopes below the summit give way to fixed-rope trail sections hewn-into bedrock just before the summit finish (9,700 ft.).

Definitely not for the faint of heart but with incomparable views!   

Peter Nagel, Director of Tourism Garmisch-Partenkirchen and a local who grew up in the looming shadow of the Zugspitze knows all too well about the area's trails: "SCOTT ROCK THE TOP - Zugspitz Trailrun Challenge - that equates to breath-taking, spectacular  borderline adventure on varied trails that will exact all from participating athletes.  Beginners won't be short-changed though as the Kids Race, the AOK City Sprint and the lively Pasta Party promise lots of fun for anyone not wanting to go the whole distance. We welcome all trail-running enthusiasts and hope that all enjoy the upbeat festival spirit and will come away from the Zugspitz Arena Bavaria-Tyrol in one piece and with many memorable sights and experiences in their hearts".

The festival kicks of Friday afternoon, 22nd July 2016, with the Kids Race, which caters to aspiring runners age 3 to 13. A variety of age categories are available for youngsters strong enough to compete on a 1.8 km loop through Garmisch-Partenkirchen's pedestrian zone and municipal park.

The AOK City Sprint takes place that same afternoon on a new, quite challenging loop track through town. This competition is open to both teams of racers as well as individual participants. To some it'll be the only race event they'll take part in during the long weekend, for others it'll be the warm-up for the three-day race series. The sponsor of the City Sprint, AOK Insurance, challenges corporate teams to register in a special race category, which pegs staff teams of different businesses from nearby and afar against one another in a friendly competition for inofficial title of "the fastest business" out there. The corporate race is open to teams of 3 to 13 participants to boost workforce spirit and staff fitness.         

Two more races beckon on Sunday, 24th July 2016: the Half-Marathon (22.3 km / 1,032 m V+) and the Short Sprint competition (10.1 km / 554 m V+), which take place on thrilling trails around Ehrwald, Tyrol. While at first sight these races may seem to pale compared to Saturday's humdinger events in terms of distance and vertical, they are high-speed events for experienced expert trail runners who master the wide spectrum of the sport or thrive on fast-pace tracks. Given the shorter distances and the limited vertical these competitions naturally lend themselves to newcomers to the sport as well.

With that much going on, anyone considering participation in the races is advised to sign-up early for the 2016 SCOTT ROCK THE TOP - Zugspitz Trailrun Challenge. Those finding it difficult to commit to any one race that long ahead of the festival, might take a liking to the unique race flatrate which allows competitors in Friday's AOK City Sprint to make up their mind after that race as to which of events they'd prefer to race in  on both consecutive days. That way, participants experience a maximum of flexibility without missing out on the action. Additional information on the festival is available at www.zugspitz-trailrun-challenge.com