Piazza and Pircher are the kings of the Ötzi Alpin Marathon 2016

For a long time it seemed as if this year would be the first time in the twelve-year history of the Ötzi Alpine Marathon that there would be a men's winner from Germany. With a lead of almost six minutes, Thomas Trainer from Berchtesgaden led Roland Osele from Merano in the first transition zone in Unser Frau. There the athletes got off their mountain bikes and put on their running shoes. Trainer reached the second transition zone in Kurzras, where the extreme athletes strapped on their touring skis, five minutes ahead of Georg Piazza (St. Ulrich/Gröden), who had now moved up to second place. But then came Piazza's big performance. The 37-year-old from Ladin gained meter by meter on the steep climb up the Grawand, finally passed Trainer and won the 13th edition of the Ötzi Alpine Marathon with a time of 3:27.57 hours. For Georg Piazza it was the second victory at the renowned South Tyrolean extreme sports event, after his triumph in 2012. The 28-year-old Thomas Trainer, whose specialty is ski mountaineering, collapsed completely in the last section and came second, 1.42 minutes behind . The podium was completed by 23-year-old Andreas Reiterer from Avelengo, who lost 6.36 minutes on Piazza. For trainers and riders it was the first podium at the Ötzi Alpine Marathon. Two-time winner Roland Osele (Merano) was happy about fourth place, the German Andreas Crivellin took fifth place.

Pircher is extremely strong on touring skis For the women, Nina Brenn dictated the pace at the beginning. The 37-year-old Swiss woman (Flims) was in the lead after the first two sections (mountain bike/running). When she last switched to touring skis, Brenn's lead over Anna Pircher (Latsch) was a good two minutes. On the final, 6,8 km long section with 1201 meters of altitude, which can be mastered with touring skis, the 42-year-old from Vinschger passed the Swiss and took victory with a new record time of 4:08.01 hours. Pircher had already won the Ötzi Alpine Marathon last year. Nina Brenn, the winner of the 2013 edition (on a shortened route), was happy about second place, 4.03 minutes behind. Third place went to North Tyrolean Verena Krenslehner-Schmid (she comes from Vils), who lost 8.17 minutes to the day's winner.

Favorite victories in the relays The favored Fischer team won the men's relay. The Austrian Hans Peter Obwaller (MTB) and the South Tyrolean local heroes Hannes Perkmann (running) and Philip Götsch (touring skier) prevailed with a time of 3:00.13 hours, staying just above the magical three-hour mark and were allowed to are still happy about a new record time. However, just like Anna Pircher's new best time for women, this is also partly due to the fact that the running distance was around 500 meters shorter this year, but the climb on touring skis was half a kilometer longer. The Telmekom Team Südtirol (Mattia Longa/Gerd Frick/Alex Oberbacher) took second place in the men's relays, ahead of the Giudicarie team (Patrick Facchini/Cesare Maestri/Alex Salvadori). In the women's race, the La Sportiva team consisting of Lorenza Menapace, Francesca Rossi and Elena Nicolini won in 3:47.17, exactly one minute ahead of the Tiroler Versicherung team (Marina Ilmer/Petra Pircher/Birgit Stuffer). The Telmekom team with Alexandra Hober, Edeltraud Thaler and Annemarie Gross climbed to the lowest step of the podium (3:51.59). This means that all three women's relay teams beat the previous record.

OK team draws satisfied conclusions At the Grawand mountain station, all of the more than 350 finishers were beaming. And after the exertions of the 42,2 kilometers/3266 meters in altitude, they could also feel like winners. There were also happy faces from the organizers of the Ötzi Alpin Marathon amateur club. “We saw an exciting competition. I would like to congratulate the winners on their strong performances. I would like to thank our 220 volunteers and the many sponsors from the bottom of my heart. Without their support, we couldn’t organize an event like the Ötzi Alpine Marathon,” said OC boss Peter Rainer, who hopes to welcome many of this year’s participants to the 14th edition at the end of April 2017.

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Piazza and Pircher are the kings of the Ötzi Alpin Marathon 2016

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