50km German Championship at Kienbaum/Grünheide, Germany (03/25/2006)

Friday, after finishing at polytechnic, I went directly to Kienbaum/Grünheide. We arrived at the sports centre at approximately 6pm. After we picked up our starting documents the key for our accommodation and taking our stuff to the room, we went to the pasta party.  After our arrival we continually met more of our walking /racing friends. As soon as we finished dinner we returned to our accommodation, which was located approximately 1 km from the restaurant. The next morning we were able to sleep in, as breakfast was located in the building next to our accommodations.   After re-gaining our strength with a fantastic breakfast and finishing our preparations, we started the 50 km race at 9 a.m..

 The weather was crazy! Maybe, because it was nearly April and the weather was getting ready for crazy April. Never mind! Besides the cool temperatures, barely over the freezing point, there were some short rain showers. It had been advised for runners to protect themselves from the weather during the race. We were lucky, the weather remained pleasant for the 50K runners, no rain! After the race started, a small leading group formed. After the first loop at the 5 km mark, Christian Gunderner was in the lead, with Sven Karsten a few yards back, then me. All three of us were paced well ahead of the rest of the runners. At the end of the fourth loop this configuration changed. Christian speeded up and Sven accelerated. I let them go. Because of the routing it was possible for me to see, how Sven was outrunning Christian.  Both were several hundred yards in front of me.  At the end of loop seven I saw that Christian had slowed down.  When I passed the aid station Sven's supporter told me, that Christian was slowing down quite a bit. I suspected something like that was happening, but it is hard to forecast. I speeded up a bit and passed him quickly. At the ninth loop I saw, that Christian was already a few hundred yards behind me. Unfortunately he was not able to keep his pace and he also lost the third place. The award ceremony was a few hours later, in the presentation room of the polytechnic. Surprisingly a large number of Non-DUV runners, approximately 50%, were at the championship ceremony.  

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