Spare moments - Rennsteig race attracts 15,000 runners to participate.
Saturday was a perfect day for 15,000 recreational athletes and hikers who took part in the annual Guths-Muths Rennsteiglauf in Thuringian Forest. The challenging, long-distance event in the forest was back to its pre-pandemic numbers after last year's record turnout, as reported by the Rennsteiglaufverein president Jürgen Lange.
Many participants joined the various races, hikes, and walks on offer. Among the popular choices was the half marathon, where around 6,700 people registered. 2,800 people signed up for the classic marathon, but as per the organizers, not everyone made it to the starting line. Samsom Tesfazghi Hayalu, a runner from Eritrea who represents the SV Sömmerda, claimed the title in the men's marathon with a time of 2:42:30 hours while Annika Oettinger of Hamburg won for the women (3:08:17 hours).
The supreme course, a grueling 74-km distance from Eisenach to Schmiedefeld, had two more winners - Marcel Bräutigam from Erfurt clocked the fastest time of 5:06:56 hours, and Kristin Hempel from Erfurt topped the leaderboard for the women with 6:12:16 hours. All the races finished in Schmiedefeld, with the participants receiving not only applause but a "runner's beer" from a Thuringian brewery.
From a law enforcement perspective, the event went smoothly. The increased traffic caused by the runners and the road through Thuringian Forest led to some road restrictions for vehicle users, according to a police spokeswoman. However, there were no accidents reported in connection with the race.
The Guths-Muths Rennsteiglauf, a name identical to the 18th-century pedagogue, spanned an almost 170-kilometer stretch of the Thuringian Forest, varying in elevation from 500 to almost 1,000 meters from Hörschel near Eisenach to the Thuringian-Bavarian border at Blankenstein. The runners participated in its 51st staging this year.
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Source: www.stern.de