GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN 2012
Karerra and Reiter claim impressive stage two victory
Press Release / 03.09.2012
The quaint village of St. Johann in Austria, the host town for the first nights stop over of the GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN, seemed alive with the anticipation of what lay ahead for stage 2. Start line nerves were soon replaced with raw excitement as the customary sounds of the Australian band ACDC’s “Highway To Hell” began to get louder and louder over the PA system. With the sun beginning to slowly filter through the breaking clouds, it seemed eminent that the competition was going to change.
An electrifying pace from Iker Karrera and Philipp Reiter of Team Salomon in the opening kilometers saw them open up a commanding lead over stage one winners Billy Burns and Ben Abdelnoor of Team Inov-8 Gore-Tex Footwear. With the sun looking like it was going to make an appearance sooner than expected, Karrera and Reiter made the most of the cooler weather to advance almost 5 minutes ahead of Burns and Abdelnoor, finishing in a time of 3:43.07.
Commenting on their stage 2 strategy, Reiter said “one of my strengths is climbing so we wanted to make sure we took full advantage of that early on.” Running for second place, a brief lapse in concentration saw Burns and Abdellnoor take a wrong turn mere kilometers from the finishline costing them an extra minute overall, finishing in a time of 3:50.22.
WOMEN
A commanding run by yesterday’s second placed finishers, Gitti Schiebel and Ildikó Wermescher of Team Mountain Heroes, saw them leading from start to finish crossing the line a massive 26 minutes ahead of their nearest rivals in 4:32.25. Stage one winners, Elisabeth Egarter and Petra Theiner from Team Sexten Salomon, had a somewhat off day, slowing their pace down quite substantially and finishing in 4:58.47.
MIXED
Another surprising change of the GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN leaders jersey took place in the Mixed Category with stage 1 second place finishers Che Bustillo and Nur Dominguez of Team Buff driving daylight between themselves and the rest of the field, finishing in a time of 4:32.32. Running strongly to finish in second place, Irene Senfter and Ste Tschurtschenthaler of Team Sudtirol Dolomiti Superbike, crossed the finishline in 4:34.50. Stage one winners, Gabi Steigmeier and Roman Nef dropped well off the blistering pace set by Bustillo and Dominguez to finish a further 18 minutes back in 4th.
MASTER
Continuing their winning streak in the Masters Category, Marcus Kröll and former mountain running world champion Helmut Schiessel from Team Salomon Austria Germany triumphed on stage 2, winning in a time of 3:55.12. Enjoying ideal running conditions, they managed to add a minute to their overall lead over second place finishers Christian Stork and Michael Veit of Team Salomon Matsers, who finished in 3:56.27.
SENIOR MASTER
Enjoying the intermittent sunshine was Gerald Rüschenpöhler and Jörg Schreiber of Team Kempten Hildrizhausen improving on yesterday’s second place, crossing the finishline in 4:26.00. Paul Steinhauser and Hermann Schaiter Hermannwere over 5 minutes off the pace finishing in 4:31.49.
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