|
Reports 2016 |
|
|
Baltic Run - 325 km from Berlin to Karlshagen (Usedom) in 5 days, Germany |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| <Pre race> <1><2><3><4><5> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
01. stage at 07/24/2016 from Berlin to Hubertusstock, (day: 63km / overall.: 63km)
Breakfast starting at 5:30am this morning. Therefore the helpers had to be ready at 5am. While we still slept they prepared the breakfast. The breakfast was enough and there are many different things again. Just before 7am the buses arrived. They will bring us to the Lustgarten in Berlin. There we had the official start. We arrived there quiet early, that is why we had enough time to take photos. Just before the start it was check, if all runners are there. In time at 8am was the start. Well, actually it did not work out as it was planed since the gun had some stoppage. But it did not prevent 75 runners and 5 one day runners to start. It did not matter if there was a bang or not. After the beginning Nils and Dirk went away in the front. I did not want to speed already at the beginning and started slowly. It did not take a long time till both of them are out of vision. In front of me was also Christian. I caught him after about 5km and we continued together till aid station 4 (VP 4). Already during the kilometres before the aid station we get slower. Therefore I started to speed up again after the aid station. So I did not lose too much time. An advantage of not being on the leading position is that you know about the times of the runners in front of you. What happens behind of yourself you only know in sometimes. He was only a stage runner. As an overall participant he also would be too fast for me. But I was not sure with Dirk. I did not know him, so I only could speculate which does not help at all. Besides it was only the first stage which does tell you nothing about the race. The first ten kilometres of the course was leading out of Berlin. Well, actually we ran much longer on berlins territory, but there was no city feeling anymore. After, we continued to run for a long time along the railway tracks as well as the river Panke. While we saw the Panke very often it was almost nothing to see from the railways. Only by the voices of the trains and the over- and underpasses it was possible to recognise them. It was a very idyllic area and we ran a lot in the shadow. Just after VP4 I saw also some markings from the permanent IVV walk of Bernau. We continued on the permanent trail for a while through Bernau. Later we ran through some wood area, which also provided shadow. Actually we were lucky with the weather. Not because of the sun shine but because of the cool temperatures. The sun did not brake through till the afternoon. Before the sun was always a little bit covered, therefore her real power was prevented. My wife and Susanne were doing aid station VP 6. From there to the finish was only 16k. The distances between the aid stations were well chosen. At the beginning there were larger distances and in the end there were shorter distances. Besides the kilometre information are very precise. After I saw the information for helpers before the race I did not suspect anything else. Also the marking was done exemplarily. I heard that Dirk got lost just before Bernau, but I did not know why. A negative aspect of the marking was the new sticking arrows. Those who know the marking of Deutschlandlauf or TransEurope know what I am talking about. On these races there are neon red stickers of 7x3cm with a black arrow. These stickers are also used at the Baltic Run before and still today. Unfortunately they are not produced anymore. Instead of neon red, now the stickers are dark red. That is why the arrow is hard to see on the surface. Besides, the stickers are not as obvious. After I had arrived at the finish, I had some snacks and something to drink. Todays finish was located at the Ringhotel Schorfheide. That is why we had a real bed in double room. For a stage race a real luxury. Furthermore, it was not just a standard hotel. Dinner and dayly award ceremony was at 7pm. Today stage runners and overall runners are together in the same list. Tomorrow it will be different.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
