SleepMonsters Adventure Racing

Gore-Tex® Transalpine-Run

Jung and Paulmichl Defy the Heat

Press Release / 30.08.2015

Goretex Trans Alp Day One / © Philipp Reiter

This year, the 11th GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN started with a heat battle.

Temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius turned the first stage (34.6 km) leading from Oberstdorf (Germany) to Lech am Arlberg (Austria) into a real knock-out race. In these hard conditions, the Italian duo Daniel Jung/Ivan Paulmichl (Team Gore Running Wear) impressively proved their heat resistance. After 3:54.42 h the two men from South Tyrol crossed the finish line 11 minutes ahead of the second team consisting of the two brothers Oscar and Marc Casal from Andorra (4:05.57 h). Ruedi Bärtschi/Urs Jenzer from Switzerland came in third after 4:06.30 h and thus were the winners of the first stage in the category Master Men. As expected, todays’ fastest women’s team comes from Scotland. Helen Bonsor/Claire Gordon (Team Mammut) crossed the finish line after 4:32.33 h. Ragna Debats/Pere Bove Aurell (Netherlands/Spain) made up the fastest Mixed-Team today and reached the finish after 4:19.01 h.

What a crazy start for the 11th GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN. Under the eyes of a great number of spectators, about 640 athletes from 33 nations started their race with a run through the sunny town of Oberstdorf. After only 6 kilometers, the participants already faced the hardest ascent of the day – the climb to the top of the Fiderescharte at 2190 m above sea level. The runners had to master a vertical climb of over 1440 m on a distance of only 10 kilometers. Oscar and Marc Casal reached the highest point of the day first - 20 minutes ahead of the schedule and still 17 seconds ahead of Jung/Paulmichl. But the way to the second refreshment point in the town of Warth was long and extremely hard. The teams not only had to master several intermediate ascents (Mindelheimer Hut at a height of 2013 m and the mountain pass Schrofenpass at a height of 1688 m) but also had to cope with the great heat in the valleys. “This heat was unbelievable. We are from Andorra and are not used to conditions like that”, says Oscar Casal trying to explain his brother’s physical collapse. It was definitely not a good day for Marc Casal - although he celebrated his 33rd birthday today.

The two athletes from Andorra somehow managed to defend their leading position until the refreshment station in Warth, which they reached 20 minutes behind schedule. However, afterwards, they had not much of a chance anymore. It was quite obvious that Marc struggled with the heat, that he had probably overreached himself. Then he even had to lie down for several minutes before he continued the race with his brother. He fought for the rest of the way and finally reached the finish in Lech am Arlberg completely exhausted and over 11 minutes after the leading team.

And what about Jung/Paulmichl? The team that was third to finish last year completed a tactically very smart race today. To be on the safe side, Ivan Paulmichl (“I had more problems with the heat than Daniel”) made the pace for his team.

“We just did not want to overreach ourselves. Therefore, we always stayed in sight of the leading team but did not attack in the beginning”, explains the former mountain biker Daniel Jung, who can be regarded as one of the favorites in this race after his third place at the SALOMON 4 TRAILS.

“I work in a sauna, so the heat doesn’t bother me. During an infusion we have temperatures of about 90 degrees Celsius all the time”, says Jung with a smile on his face. The 32 year old racer from South Tyrol even had time to run to the Mindelheimer Hut to get some water for his partner!

The two Ladies from Scotland, Helen Bonsor and Claire Gordon, could only smile about these remarks. “In Edinburgh we have 10 degrees Celsius at the moment! And here you have this unbelievable heat. It was really a hard day” says the Scottish team – in unison and with highly read heads. Despite these hard conditions, it was a very successful day for the winners of the first stage in the women’s category. Helen Bonsor, the winner of the SALOMON 4 TRAILS, and her strong partner Claire Gordon, who actually had problems with cramps on the last part of the stage, impressively proved their power and ran an outstanding race today. This meant overall rank 15 when they reached the finish where many of the athletes went for a cooling swim in the river Lech.

Lukas Nagele/Benjamin Sperl (Freiburg/Kassel, 4:09.34 h) were the best German participants today and came in sixth. “The valley basins were like cooking pots and the downhills extremely technical and exhausting”, say Nagele/Sper who were obviously quite impressed by the first stage of the GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE-RUN.

WRC Rallye-Fahrer Andreas Mikkelsen who is running three of the eight stages, was also amazed. „It was tough, but also lots of fun“, said the Norwegian who is taking part together with his team partner Anders Bidne. They arrived in Lech after 6:43,15 hours.

Results overview:

Men