German chapmionship 50km in Kienbaum, Germany

This year the German championship on 50km was located at the sport training centre in Kienbaum. The course was well known, because there were many 100km and 50km championships before. A drawback of this event was the location. It was a long journey for people from the south. Kienbaum-Grünheide is located at the Spree forest, about 60km east of Berlin. Therefore many runners had a far way to get there.

It took me about five hours to do the 500km driving. I was already in Berlin area, so it was a short way on Friday. The rest of my running club left on Friday noon. Because of an accident and the resulting traffic jam they had some delay. While I was waiting, I picked up the bibs at the ORGA-office and went to the central office. We could not have planned it better, because the whole team of the LG Würzburg arrived there at the same time. The central office and the canteen are located at the entry area of the centre, while the parking area for runners, the ORGA-office, the accommodation and the start are located on the other end. After we had picked up the keys, we went to the rooms. It was not even 50m away from the start line. The runners had to get their breakfast earlier than the other athletes, because there was a separate runners breakfast on Saturday, next to the ORGA-office. The dinner was at the canteen, so we had a relaxed 1.5km night walk to get there. The dinner- and the breakfast-buffet where included in the room price. After having dinner we went to the sports bar next to the canteen. When we arrived there one table just became free, so we were lucky. We relaxed, talked and laughed while having some beer and finished the evening.

While the 100km runners had to start at 6:30am, the 50km runners can have a longer sleep. We started at 9am. Our team met at 7am for breakfast. Normally it is much to late for me to start so late, but sometimes you just can not change things. After having a good breakfast, we built up our supporter table, told my wife Grace what to do as a supporter and finished the rest of the preparations. There was still plenty of time left before the start. So, why to stand around at the starting line? We would just boarder the 100km runners and cool out. That was why we went back to the rooms and took the time to get mentally ready for the race.

Five minutes before the start we met up for a group photo. There were not many runners at the 50km race. One reason was the long travelling, but also because of the 100km.Runners had the chance to run the qualification for the national team. Even many fast runners started at the 100km, also there will be some very fast 50km results. At the beginning of the 50km race Niels Bubel and Adam Zahoran took leading position. Four little groups followed them. My team colleague Gerald Lehrieder and I were in the fourth group. On the flat 5km loop the field pulled apart quite fast. The course was designed in three loops. Therefore it was easy to see the front and the following runner easily. After the start we left the area of the sport training center until we arrived at the bitumen sheeting. There we went to the first circle. To have a total loop length of 5km, we had to run a shortcut through the woods. This was the only part of the loop, which was not on road. After we finished the bitumen sheeting, we continued to run around the training center. At the main entry gate we entered it again and ran back to the start area. There was another small circle around the inner courtyard. So the speaker had enough time to welcome everybody. He broadcasted some information about everybody. The aid station as well as the self-support was located just after the start line. So, it was possible to eat and drink every five kilometre. Later, about 3 hours after the 50km started, another water station was built up in the end of the bitumen sheeting. It made sense, because the temperatures rose from 6°C in the morning to 17°C at noon. More than half of the course was not shadowed and the sun burned on the runners. Also most of the runners are very pleased to have more support opportunities in the second half of the race.

After we finished three loops, I pulled away from Gerald. I started to catch up the group in front of us. They were still visible, but it took a few loops to catch up. In the front Niels built up the distance between him and Adam more and more. He had a personal best on marathon under 2:40h, but still he had to prove his endurance on the 50k and he did, he finished eight minutes in front of Adam. For Adam it was just a little satisfaction, he also was faster than the old course record. Also the woman newcomer Nele Alder-Berens won the championship. Pamela Veith, which ran almost the same time as last year in Bottrop, was on second place this time. Compared to Bottrop we were more lucky with the team. Last year we missed by less than one minute the third place. This time we were almost two hours faster than the second placed team. The 100km race was very interesting as well. Some of the runners had planed to run sub 7:15h. It was the mens A-classification for the national team, but nobody was successful. Still first placed women Grit Seidel (09:32:06h) and first placed man Florian Böhme (07:20:08h) had a great race.

The 50km award ceremony was already at 3pm, while the 100km award ceremony was much later. While we had our award ceremony, there was another 10km run. It was organised the first time to extend the runners field. They finished the ceremony very quick. After the ceremony Gerald, my wife and I went left towards home. The rest of the LG Würzburg team stayed until Sunday.