Markus blenk (LG bamberg) crossed the finish line in 46:33.1 minutes after twelve and a half kilometers, just a blink of an eye ahead of uwe bauerlein (TSV staffelstein / 46:33.2). Under the leadership of second chairman dominik prager and organizer adele ludewig, the sports friends had prepared everything well, and the weather also played along perfectly. The pleasant temperatures were perfect for the long-distance players. The mass start with 145 participants and different running disciplines was impressive – only the starting shot was a little bit too slow. But the runners did not mind much, and soon the favorites took the lead after leaving the sports ground. The route led through the village and over field and land consolidation paths into the autumnal forest and around the ruin and the forest area "raueneck.
Demanding course
the participants all spoke of a challenging course, which was finally completed by the climb from the valley up to the sports grounds of the spfr. Unterpreppach once again required all the strength of the runners. Even veteran uli pfuhlmann of the SG eltmann felt the "finale" was a success as difficult. Nevertheless, the 44-year-old runner held his own in the top group. The 19 year old kevin karrer (LG bamberg) from gerach, who is getting stronger and stronger, also proved his skills in unterpreppach and even climbed the podium behind the two favorites markus blenk and uwe bauerlein.
In the women’s competition bianka wagner won sovereignly
a thrilling head-to-head race took place between the two favorites, who ran the final lap of the sports field together and reached the finish line in almost equal time. The modern electronic timekeeping system, operated by jurgen lutsch, ingo heinemann and berthold schor, then determined the small difference of a tenth of a second. Bianka wagner (TV zeil) won the women’s race with a large lead ahead of elke schwarzmann (LG veitenstein) and claudia finzel (team hofff).
In the six-kilometer race, the youth took the lead. 19-year-old jan wagner (TS lichtenfels) won clearly with 22:36.4 ahead of lukas beierlieb and jan heusinger (both LG veitenstein). Among the female starters, the participants of the LG veitenstein were not to be beaten. Here, 13-year-old alina beierlieb won with 28:15.3, ahead of 14-year-old ronja reitz with 33:08.0.
Numerous starters from neighboring clubs
a good number of women and men also took part in the nordic walking competition over 12.5 and six kilometers. On the longer course, sylvia postler (physio nordic walking ebern) reached a time of 1:33:56.9, almost as fast as the male winner ronny pettrich (michelau), who finished in 1:32:32.6. On the short six-kilometer course, nadja schneider (team hofff) was even faster with 47:49.2 minutes than her male counterpart stephan wohlfromm (team hofff), who finished in 48:30.4 minutes.
The organizers were also pleased about the large participation of surrounding clubs and organizations. The strongest numbers of participants were represented by team hofff, physio nordic walk ebern, LG veitenstein and FC rentweinsdorf. With his 78 years, alfred zach from michelau was the oldest participant of the competition.