GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN 2012
Billy Burns and Ben Abdelnoor claim the first stage
Press Release / 03.09.2012
It was under threatening skies in the small Bavarian town of Ruhpolding, that the stage was set for the start of the 2012 GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN. 300 teams from 32 countries around the world gathered at the start area in the town centre for the compulsory kit check, the nervous excitement levels running high. Heavy down pours on the surrounding mountains the day before resulted in a slight route change for stage 1, and with cold temperatures and light rain forecast throughout the day, running conditions were never going to be easy.
In the men’s category it was a suprise win for the team from INOV-8 Billy Burns and Ben Abdelnoor who crossed the finish line in 4:26:18.
Having only met the day before the event, Billy and Ben ran an impressive last 10km to overtake the second place finishers from Team Salomon, Iker Karrera and Philipp Reiter who finished just over a minute back in 4:27:24. Third place went to the Team Dynafit pairing of Marc Pinsach and Marc Sola crossing the finishline a further 11 minutes off the pace in a time of 4:38:53.
Commenting on their stage win today, Billy Burns said "The rainy and cold weather never really bothered us but with slight knee problems, the flat parts were tough." Phillip Reiter from Team Salomon, was quite humble about their second place seeing commenting "there are still 7 stages to go so anything can happen."
WOMEN
In the women's category it was the Italian pairing of Elisabeth Egarter and Petra Theiner from Team Sexten Salomon who opened their race with a brilliant effort, setting up a lead of more than 4 minutes over their closest rivals, crossing the finish line in a time of 5:35:35. Team Mountain Heroes Gitti Schiebel from Germany and Ildiko Wermescher from Hungary fell off the pace after the second half of the stage finishing in a time of 5:39:17.
MIXED
Once again, one of the GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN regulars, Gaby Steigmeier proved her pedigree finishing in first place with fellow Team Salomon Swiss team mate Roman Nef in a time of 5:26:01. It seemed to be a close fought battle all morning with the second placed duo of Team Buff, Che Bustillo and Nur Dominguez crossing the finishing line in second, a mere 1:35 behind them in a time of 5:27:36.
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