Sporty: At the Trail Running Festival, the city was conquered “running”.
There were alpine challenges and an urban city experience for the runners at the “Trail Running Festival” in Salzburg.
SALZBURG. With almost 1,400 participants, the “Trail Running Festival”, which took place in the city of Salzburg at the weekend, set a new participant record. For the organizer Josef “Sepp” Gruber a confirmation of the uniqueness of this sporting event. “The combination of city flair and mountain experience and the opportunity to experience and get to know the city continuously is only available in this form in Salzburg. That can be described as a unique selling point,” says Gruber about the eleventh edition of the festival.
Trail marathon over three days
The “Trail-Marathon” introduced for the tenth anniversary, in which the runners covered a distance of 42 kilometers – made up of the Nightrun, the Festungs-Trail and the Gaisberg-Trail – was very popular again this year the athletes. “Here you really have the alpine challenge and urban running experience in the old town,” says Gruber. Elena Braun won the trail marathon for women and Michael Fölsner for men. Even the youngest could gain their first running experience on the “Diaper Trail” and the “Children’s Trail”. A total of 198 children took part in this competition.
With a new course record of 2:45:42.89, the former professional triathlete and Olympic participant Lukas Hollaus from Salzburg won the Trail Amadeus in front of a mountain and trail running specialist, also Hans-Peter Innerhofer, from Salzburg. The Trail Amadeus consists of the Festungs-Trail and the Gaisberg-Trail. “I was fully motivated, but I didn’t expect to win. At times it was really steep, especially on Sunday in the direction of Kühberg, and that’s when I realized it was going to be tough, I had to stay on it, otherwise it wouldn’t work out. I am all the happier now that I can stand here as the winner,” said Hollaus.
Spectators create a mood
Gruber was pleased that the audience was there again without restrictions and that it certainly provided an additional motivational boost for the runners. “We also had many participants in the corona-related app run, but the sports experience and the atmosphere are of course not comparable to spectators on site,” emphasizes Gruber.
A report on the Crime Festival in Salzburg in November can be found here:
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