Schwanberg race 12,5km from Iphofen to Castell, Germany
6pm Friday evening. The runners are coming to the Knauf in Iphopfen. There the traditional Schwanberglauf starts at the Rödelseer Tor. At the beginning the course goes slightly up hill through the wine hills. Starting with a small narrow pass it goes the last meters steep up to the top. The problem at this part is the up hill as well as the muddyness of the small trail. At the top of the hill the course is mainly flat, till the end of the woods. There is a steep down hill part. After the runners left the woods they can see trough the wine hills the finish in Castell. At the bottom of the wine hills they have to cross a small trail part and the last few meters uphill to the wine festival in Castell. Every runner is welcome there and gets a bottle of water and a glass with a coupon as a small trophy.
The Schwanberglauf was founded by the CSU representive of the state parliament Franz Brosch and the regional hospital 20 years ago. The money of this race was and is a benefit for the hospital. But this year it was similar, because Franz Brosch wasn`t chosen again. Now the TG Kitzingen (Running Club) and head of the administration of the district Tamara Bischof helped to continue this race. They have got although an automatically time stop per computer. Up till this year every runner was stopped by a traditional clock. Now every start number has got a small chip to take the correct time. Another thing was new. They have several start blocks, to give every runner a chance to position at the right result time. The shuttle bus from Castell to Iphofen was still the same. Because of this every runner have the chance to park his car in Castell and take the bus to Iphofen.
The weather was, like the most years, sunny and quiet warm. After 37:01 Uli Pfuhlmann won. Second was Johannes Kroiß in 37:26 and third Wolfgang Pulzer in 37:53. The first woman was Lauri Pugh in 46:34, followed by Christine Karl in 48:26 and Bärbel Wicht in 50:22. This year I was 49. in 46:34.
