German cross- and country championship at Bärenfels Utratrail 63 km in Neubrücke/Nahe, Germany

My collegues from my running club already arrived at Friday evening and had a hotel. I drove to Neubrücke/Nahe with my parents Saturday morning. This year there was the German championship in cross- and countrysiderunning at the Bärenfels Ultratrail. Because of that, there were many people signed in at the ultra distance. At the short distances there were less starters compared to the last year.

Maybe the bad weather was the reason for that. It was the first time that this event had no sunshine and there were cool temperatures. At 8am there was a start for all distances. As in the years before the marathon had to run two and the ultra trail had to run three loops. It was no surprise that the course getting harder each year. This year there were some new single trails with some additional altitudes. In sum the altitude reached more than 2000 meters during the ultra distance. We passed the for first time the bear`s den. Then we went to the bear summit and then the direction of the biotope. Most of the altitudes were located during at the first 10km of the loop. At some uphill it was not even possible to run. Because of the rain the paths were slippy. So people had to pay very much attention. At the second half of the loop there were some wooden bridges. The “worst” part was at the biotope. During previous years people got wet feet at this part. But this year it was a big mud match. It was a big surprise that this part was better from the second loop on. Now there was a line of optimum. There was a path pressed into the grass by the mass of runners. We were very lucky with the weather. From the start there was from time to time some rain. During the race it was dry. A few times the sun tried to break through. Immediately it was feeling much warmer. But it was only for a short time. After that dark clouds covered the sun again. It looked like a lot of rain.

Even though it was much more difficult, there was no big change of the basic characteristics. What means basic characteristics? Simply that there were only a few half-marathon runners at the start, which were trying to run away from the ultrarunners. This group was immediately followed by four ultrarunners. With us also the first marathon runner. When he finished his course the first ultrarunners were not far away to finish their second loop also. Also that was nothing unusual. From the second loop on Sasha Felten and Daniel Weiser ran away. Markus Wagner and I followed them. Behind us there were only two marathon runners to see.

Fotos

Results of the organisation
Homepage of the organisation
Report of the Saarbrückener newspaper 07/17/09
Report of the Saarbrückener newspaper 07/20/09
Report of the Saarbrückener newspaper II 07/20/09
Report of the Nahe newspaper 07/20/09
Report of the DUV 03/09