Exciting Races and Great Atmosphere at the Zugspitz Ultratrail 2022
Press Release / 19.07.2022
At 10:21 in the morning of July 17, after 108 kilometers, 5120 meters of altitude and exactly 27:11:36 hours on the trail, Michel Leisner was the last runner of the Zugspitz Ultratrail to cross the finish line at the Richard-Strauß-Platz in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And is thus one of 2756 finishers of a total of 3022 runners from 56 countries who started in the five competitions of the 10th Salomon Zugspitz Ultratrail 2022 powered by Ledlenser (ZUT); almost a third of them women.
Surprise for the Ultra Runners, Top Speed for the Basetrailers
Already the evening before, Thomas Ungethüm from Vogtland surprisingly won the legendary ULTRATRAIL after 13:16:45 hours. "I am not yet so experienced on the Ultratrails and had a hard time especially with the technical sections. The fact that it was enough to win in the end is probably called a successful premiere." Volker Sauerzapf came in second ahead of Thorsten Reichert. Matthias Baur from Team Salomon, who was in the lead for a long time, had to settle for 4th place in the end.
Lada Stalzerova from the Czech Republic won the women's race in 15:20:16 hours ahead of Anni Johann from Germany and Katrin Vock from Switzerland.
The first finishes were already early on Saturday morning around 9:30 am. The athletes of the 24 km BASETRAIL, which started at 8:00 a.m. and is part of the Golden Trail National Series of title sponsor Salomon, raced over the trails at a speed never seen before at the ZUT: Thomas Roach from Great Britain crossed the finish line after 1:24:10 hours, only a few seconds ahead of the two Italian brothers Manuel and Hans-Peter Innerhofer. The women's race was similarly exciting and close: Belgian Charlotte Moermann (Salomon Suisse) won in 1:47:23 hours, just half a minute ahead of South African Bianca Tarboton (adidas Terrex) and German Lena Lakner from Salomon Team Germany.
Great Performances and International Podium
Probably the strongest runner at this year's ZUT and internationally one of the fastest trail runners at all, the Englishman Robbie Simpson (adidas Terrex), won the BASETRAIL XL sovereignly with a large margin; 3:47:53 hours were on the clock after 50 km and 1660 hm; ahead of Marcel Hoeche, also adidas Terrex and Sebastian Hallmann from Team Volkswagen R, who was able to celebrate an emotional comeback and at the same time secured victory in the Master Man category.
A sensational performance was shown by the South African Toni Mccann: In 4:21:37 hours she crossed the finish line beaming just a few seconds after the second-placed man. Reason for joy also for her adidas Terrex teammate Kimi Schreiber, who finished second ahead of Kim Strohmann.
The SUPERTRAIL was won by the Swede Petter Engdahl (also adidas Terrex) in 6:01:41 hours ahead of defending champion Flo Reichert from Team Volkswagen R and the Austrian Alexander Gepp from Team Luve.
In the women's race, Lisa Mehl of Team Willpower snatched victory in 8:31:00 hours. After her success in 2017 on the ultra distance, this is already her second big victory at the ZUT. Second place went to Poland's Patryrcja Malecka-Len ahead of Germany's Miria Meinheit from Dynafit Trail Heroes.
Markus Mingo and Anna Hahner win the German Championship
It was exciting at the SUPERTRAIL XL over 82 km and 3680 hm. In the end, the Peruaner Remigio Huaman Quispe (adidas Terrex) was in front in 8:31:14 hours, only a few minutes behind the strong Markus Mingo from the XC-RUN team, who thus secured the "German Ultramarathon Championship in Ultratrail" for the second time - and was a good half hour faster than his last victory on this route from 2017.
In the women's race, victory went only to Anna Hahner of Team adidas Terrex. And she lived up to her role as favorite in 9:59:07 hours - winning not only the SUPERTRAIL XL, but also the German Ultramarathon Championship in the Ultratrail. "I didn't know you could enjoy such a long distance so much," she beamed after her emotional finish. A good half hour behind, American Meg Lane (Team Salomon) finished in second place ahead of Anna Jansen from Grafing.
Trailrunning Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
The fact that the ZUT 2022 became more than just a sporting competition was due to the great external conditions, which turned the ZUT into a great trail running festival: the best weather, a large and well-attended expo with 36 exhibitors, great promotions by the partners on site, numerous running public in the heart of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, as well as live recordings from the course, which were streamed directly on a video wall in the finish area and thus allowed the spectators to participate in the race action.
Race and course director Martin Hafenmair, who cheered on the runners at Wannigjöchl, the highest point of the course, was also completely overwhelmed: "The Zugspitz Ultratrail has always been special. But I have never experienced such enthusiastic and grateful participants as this year. It was simply magnificent."
The next Zugspitz Ultratrail will take place from June 16 to 18, 2023.
Info and results at https://zugspitz-ultratrail.com