Salomon Zugspitz Ultratrail
New Course Section Adds Panoramic Value
Press Release / 15.03.2016
The 6th SALOMON ZUGSPITZ ULTRATRAIL beckons racers with a course improvement in 2016. The latest race edition makes use of a new connector between Lake Ferchen and Partnach Canyon from which participants in all but the shortest races will benefit. The change in course promises new single-track trail sections, spectacular views of Schloss Ellmau, host of the 2015 G-7 summit, and the full panorama of the Wetterstein and Karwendel Ranges. The alteration has met with widespread accolades from local trail prodigies and promises to boost popularity of Germany's largest trail-running event.
Organizers of the SALOMON ZUGSPITZ ULTRATRAIL continue to prove innovative with annual refinements in course alignment and, by-now a staggering choice of different race distances. Striving for perfection in race logistics has been met with a steady increase in event popularity over the past five years and 2016 promises to be no different. So far, over 1,500 racers from 40 nations have registered for 17-19 June 2016, which should break previous visitor records.
Staggered starts from different locations along the loop course around the Zugspitz massif help spread out the field of racers. Care-free logistics prove appealing particularly for visitors from around the globe and, this year, from as far away as Aruba, Malaysia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico. Five resort communities – almost equally spaced along the perimeter of the Zugspitz mountain range – each host a start venue for one of the races that cover 100 km, 79.3 km, 60.7 km and 36.1 km and 25.1 km, resp. Unique for foreign visitors will be the fact that 3 of 5 host towns are situated in Bavaria, Germany, while the balance (2 hamlets) is located in Tyrol, Austria allowing for a visit of two countries in one go.
Novel in 2016 is a new-sprung course alignment between two of the last food stops (km 70 and km 80 on the Ultratrail course)– a trail section much dreaded by racers in the past. The competitors now detour from the beaten path after leaving Lake Ferchen to embark on a steep single-track descent towards Schloss Ellmau (castle) and, from there, right back up to the pictoresque Elmauer Alm. Competitors are rewarded for the toil with breath-taking views of the Zugspitze, the Alpspitze and Dreitorspitze to the West.
To the South and East, racers can feast their eyes on the Wetterstein / Karwendel Mountains and, weather-permitting, even the aesthetic Soiern Range. Switchbacks guide racers from the panoramic vantage point to the only bridge across spectacular Partnach Canyon. It's a climb to the penultimate food stop from here on out where the trail re-joins the course of previous years.
Heini Albrecht, Executive Director at Plan B event company GmbH, is convinced that „the all-new trail segment presents a marked improvement and adds yet another [trail]highlight for racers! The course change does away with the Banholzerweg, a double-track forestry road that had gained some notoriety in recent years. Instead, racers now can take advantage of challenging single-track trails. Breath-taking views along the new trail section will make up for much toil that racers will have endured by the time they get there. A heart-felt thank-you to Eugen Huber of the local Bavarian State Forestry Office who made it possible to tie this into the race. “
Detailed information on the new course segment, the five distinct race distances and registration formalities for Germany's biggest trail-running event is available at www.zugspitz-ultratrail.com.
SALOMON ZUGSPITZ ULTRATRAIL 2016 - race stats:
- Dates: 17. - 19. June 2016
- Ultratrail: 99.7 km / 5,412 m V+*, Start 07:15 am, Grainau/GER
- Supertrail XL: 81.4 km / 4,131 m V+*, Start 08:00 am, Ehrwald/AT
- Supertrail: 62.8 km / 2,923 m V+*, Start 09:00 am, Leutasch-Weidach/AT
- Basetrail XL: 39.3 km / 1,896 m V+*, Start 10:00 am, Mittenwald/GER
- Basetrail: 24.9 km / 1,595 m V+*, Start 10:30 am, Garmisch-Partenkirchen/GER
(*subject to modifications - conditional on land use licensing)
- FINISH: Grainau/GER (all courses)
- 2 countries: Germany, Austria
- 6 race categories (pending min. 15 participants): Men / Women, Master Men / Master Women (40+ years), Senior Master Men / Senior Master Women (50+ years)
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