Austrians Heinzle/Weiß celebrate 2nd stage win – respect for queens stage on Tuesday

Press Release / 06.09.2016

Two little-known Austrians are on their way to creating a sensation at the 12th GORE-TEX® Transalpine Run. Following victory on day one between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Lermoos, Florian Heinzle/Mario Weiß (Team Vertical Power) doubled down on Monday with their second win in two days. The duo completed the 32.5 km leg from Lermoos to Imst in a fast time of 3:10:00.50 hours ahead of the Italian-German favourites Daniel Jung/Helmut Schiessl (3:12:09.80 hours, GORE RUNNING WEAR®/Team Mammut) and Ivan Paulmichl/Michael Kabicher (3:14:34.80 hours, Italy/Austria). Going into Tuesday‘s 47.9 km queen‘s stage from Imst to Mandarfen, Heinzle/Weiß now lead the overall standings by 4.49 minutes from Jung/Schiessl in second and by 12.30 minutes from Paulmichl/Kabicher in third place.

Day two of the GORE-TEX® Transalpine Run saw all the top three teams keen to keep their cards close to their chest and save as much energy as possible ahead of tomorrow’s queen’s stage from Imst all the way up to Mandarfen at the end of the Pitztal Valley. Tuesday’s stage will be not only the longest of the race at 47.9 kilometres but also the hardest, with competitors having to complete 3037 vertical metres of climbing. “We are really happy to have won our second stage, but we weren’t expecting it at all,” said Florian Heinzle. “Let’s see how things go tomorrow. We don’t have a plan.” Despite conserving energy for tomorrow’s challenge, the Austrians still managed to beat the winning time that had been predicted by the organisers. “We are staying calm. The race really begins on the third stage,” commented Daniel Jung, currently second in the overall standings with partner Helmut Schiessl, adding: “Alpine conditions are our preferred terrain.” The Italian-German duo led the race for the majority of day one before falling back when Schiessl developed cramp. On day two he had clearly recovered and is now looking forward to the queen’s stage. “I just have to drink more,” he explained. “Daniel always reminds me to do so.” Currently in third in the overall classification are Ivan Paulmichl and Michael Kabicher. “We don’t have any pressure. At the moment we are just watching what the two teams up at the top of the standings are up to,” smiled Paulmichl.

Rainfall overnight forced the organisers to change the route for day two, which saw a couple of surprises. The Russian team of Kirill Rusin and Konstantin Ivanov now lie in fourth place, while the Japanese duo of Takuya Yamada and Shunsuke Okunomiya moved up to fifth. Matthias Dippacher and Uli Morgen, who had dominated the masters category on day one, finished 13 minutes behind the winners Florian Holzinger/Stefan Holzner and lost their lead in the overall standings. “We were surfing on a wave on euphoria, but now we are firmly back down on the ground,” commented Matthias Dippacher with a wry smile.

The racing is also fast and furious among the Mixed Teams. Kristin Berglund and her partner Gerald Fister (Sweden/Austria) came out on top on day two in an extremely fast time of 3:33:16.80 hours. “There are still a few days to go, so anything can happen,” said Gerald Fister, keen to play down expectations. Melanie Albrecht/Timo Zeiler finished third and managed to defend their lead at the top of the general classification, but all the signs point to an exciting three-way battle for the title in the Mixed Teams category with Tina Fischl/Markus Mingo taking a strong second place after overcoming health issues.

The 12th GORE-TEX® TRANSALPINE RUN has so far been shaped by the strong performances of female athletes, from Sweden’s Kristin Berglund and the experienced Tina Fischl to the 20-year-old Melanie Albrecht. All three are competing in the Mixed Teams category and have raised more than a few eyebrows with their high tempo running. The days of female competitors running in the shadow of their male partners and relying on them to tow them up the climbs are well and truly over. This generation of female trail runners is fast and self-confident.

“It’s better if I dictate the tempo myself,” explains former European Mountain Running Champion Melanie Albrecht. It is also interesting to see the large time gaps between the Mixed Teams and the fastest competitors in the women’s competition: Berglund/Fister won in 3:33:16.80 hours, almost 50 minutes ahead of the fastest all-female team of Manishe Sina/Lisa Mehl.

The German duo from Frankfurt and Esslingen continued where they left off with their second stage win in two days and are confident looking ahead to the next few days. “We really enjoyed running today. The clouds were very low and the trails were really beautiful. Of course we want to be the fastest, but it is also important to enjoy the surroundings, the trails and the running itself. This balance is essential for us and key to our success,” commented 34-year-old Manishe Sina, the reigning German ultratrail champion.

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