Transalpine Run: South Tyrolean triumph at the end

With five out of eight possible stage wins, the two-man Dolomiti Superbike team with Irene Senfter and Stefan Tschurtschenthaler won this year's Alpine crossing in the mixed class. This was Senfter's fourth overall victory after 2006, 2007 and 2009. She achieved her first three victories - with different partners - in the women's class. Tschurtschenthaler already won gold in his first participation. This brought the number of South Tyrolean victories to eight in eight years. The 40-year-old from Lanan and the 38-year-old from Sexten needed 320:37 hours for the 35.42 km long route. They beat their closest competitors, the Spaniards Rodriguez Bustillo and Azpeleta Che Dominguez, to second place by just 49 minutes.

“We dreamed of victory,” says Stefan Tschurtschenthaler. “Our tactics worked because we made gains day by day and finally tapped into the necessary reserves.” His partner, Irene Senfter, is also overjoyed: “We prepared hard all summer and trained around 1500-2000 kilometers off-road. For me it was revenge because I had to give up on this route two years ago. The audience supported us and the reception by the Sesto Citizens Band at the finish was something very special.”

In the Senior Master category, Peter-Paul Steinhauser and Hermann Schaiter were able to defend their second overall place on the last stage. In the category with a total age of at least 100 years, the Germans Gerald Rüschenpöhler and Jörg Schreiber won with seven of eight stage victories.

“The last stage was the most beautiful,” says 66-year-old marathon specialist Hermann Schaiter. “It was a great event because the athletes are the focus and that’s not always the case,” adds his 59-year-old partner Peter-Paul Steinhauser from St. Jakob im Ahrntal.

Iker Karrera and Philip Reiter were confident winners in the men's and general class. The Spanish-German duo covered the entire route in 31:53.29 hours. The 37-year-old from Tolosa in the Basque Country and the 21-year-old from Bad Reichenhall in Bavaria only decided at short notice to take part in the Alpine crossing. Karrera was registered for the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc, where he wanted to win this year after his second place last year. Because the route had to be changed due to extreme weather conditions and was therefore too flat, he decided to start in the Transalpine Run, just like his partner, who was only at Mont Blanc as a spectator.

Due to various complaints, several strong South Tyrolean teams had to give up. So the second-placed women until the third stage, Elisabeth Egarter and Petra Theiner (tendon and knee problems), then the second-placed Senior Masters and defending champions Rudi Schöpf and Hans Hörmann as well as the Steineggers Alfred Psennner and Jens Kramer in the men's category.

This year the Transalpine Run took place along the eastern route. Five of eight stages were in our country: Prettau, Sand in Taufers, St.Vigil in Enneberg, Niederdorf and Sexten. South Tyrol has hosted a stage a total of 29 times.

Since its premiere in 2005, the Alpine crossing has been considered one of the most demanding stage races for trail runners in the world.

The Transalpine Run was evaluated in five different categories: men, men's masters (together over 80 years old), senior masters (together over 100 years old), mixed and women.

Overall ranking 8th GORE-TEX® Transalpine Run:

Mixed : 1.Team Südtirol Dolomiti Superbike Senfter Irene/Tschurtschenthaler 37:35.42 2.Team Buff Bustillo Rodriguez/Che Dominguez Azpeleta Only +48.55 3.Team Paparelo 70 Rodriguez Santos Alvaro Manuel/Arcos Zafra Mercedes + 4:52.01

Senior Masters : 1. Trail Team Kempten Hildrizhausen Rüschenpöhler Gerald/Schreiber Jörg 37:26.13 2. Team Ahrntal Steinhauser Peter-Paul/Schaiter Hermann +3:23.15 3. Team Allgäu speed.de Schlachter Rolf/Sinz Eugen +7:46.59

Men : 1. Team Salamon International Karrera Aranburu Iker/Reiter Philipp 31:53.29 2. Gore Running Weare Team Holzinger Florian/Rolfes Volkmar +1:54.40 3. Eybl Salomon Runnuning Team Russegger Gerhard/Frickh Markus +3:36.31

Women: 1. Team Mountain Heroes Schiebel Gitti/Wermescher Ildikó 41:28.40 2. Team SCLT Breitenbach Buschmann Jutta/Berglund Kristin +2:56.43 3. Team Schwizer Bärggaise Hauser-Ruckli Cornelia/Ogi Helene +6:37.18

Master: 1. Team Salomon Masters Stork Christian/Veit Michael 34:25.57 2. Team Hour of the Heart Tough Stefan/Klisch Ralph +1:15.01 3. Team Orthomol Sport Drechsler Thomas/Lang Stefan +3:06.45

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Transalpine Run: South Tyrolean triumph at the end

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