GORE-TEX® Transalpine-Run
Straight to the Nitty-Gritty!
04.09.2009
Five hundred participants, coming from 27 nations, will tackle what is possibly the biggest running challenge in the world. Eight stage days, 240 kilometres and more than 15,000 metres of elevation gain have to be travelled by foot to reach the finish in Latsch im Vinschgau, Italy.
The first stage of this year's western routing takes the teams from Germany into the new stage town of Lech am Arlberg in Austria, and is therefore, compared to the years before, an extremely hard start. A total of 35.03 kilometres and 2,543 metres of elevation gain have to be mastered and according to race director Wolfgang Pohl this is "anything but an easy warm-up as the course gets straight to the nitty-gritty!"
This is especially true of the first climb from Schwand up to the highest point of the day, the Fiderescharte (2,210 m), which will take a lot out of the participants.
Thereafter, the runners will pass the Mindelheimer Huette (2,006 m) and cross the Schrofenpass (1,681 m) before they reach the stage finish. Despite all the effort the difficult opener will require, the course set-up is worth it according to Pohl: "The first stage has improved greatly ,with much more variety and beauty for the competitors."
We'll carry daily updates here on SleepMonsters and you can see more at http://www.transalpine-run.com
To see a video preview go to the next page.
SleepMonsters
