Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival

Season-Opening 2016

The Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival is a trailrunning event taking place in and above the beautiful Inntal Valley in Northern Tyrol and marks the beginning of the Trailrunning Season in the Alps. For the upcoming Spartan Race Ultra Beast in Hawai’i in August, the 25K Trail Half-marathon seemed to be a pretty good training, so we signed up last minute for the 30th of April… 🙂

The festival took place at the courtyard of the Innsbrucker Landestheater, where a specially built “Trail-City” with a Trailrunning Expo welcomed more than 900 runners in front of an amazing backdrop-mix of mountains and city.

See you at the finish line 😉

Area Map of the IBK Alpine Trailrun Festival 2016

Trailrunning Expo in Innsbruck

The weather was more than perfect and with five different distances (K15, 25, 42, 65 und 85) there was something for everybody. We quickly found out that many Trailrunning Professionals attended the event and we somehow felt quite “small” with all the big names on the list. 🙂

25K Trail-halfmarathon – Get up early or go home!

The starting time of the 25K Half-marathon was 8 am and race briefing and preparations started at 6:30 already, so no chance for late sleepers on that day. 😉

Thanks to a previous day arrival, a perfect dinner with dumplings and cheese noodles (What else… ;-)) and a substantial breakfast at our comfy accomodation Gasthof Badl in Hall (a lovely little town right next to Innsbruck), we were well rested and ready to go!

Pre-race evening with map check 🙂

Yummy noodles at Gasthof Badl <3

Lovely Gasthof Badl in Hall/Tyrol

Late as always we arrived at the Festival area, where we picked up our starting numbers and ran right into our friend Cindy from Runfurther.de, a member of our Obstacle Racing Team “Munich Elite Warriors” as well and competing for the 65K Ultra-marathon. Despite the early hours, a few onlookers were already cheering at us at the starting line. 🙂

Area Map of the IBK Alpine Trailrun Festival 2016

Race Briefing in the morning light

At the starting line of IBK Alpine 2016

Equipment and Map ready to run!

The course was beautiful and diverse. After a short part in the city along the pretty Inn river, we passed the Innsbruck Alpine Zoo and quickly gained height. On forest trails and open paths with magnificent views of the Innsbrucker Alps, we covered the first 7k to the first checkpoint really quickly.

Route marks

Always time for a little selfie 🙂

Anja on the run

Overview Innsbruck

Going downhill towards IBK again!

Steep descent in the forest at around K10

Checkpoint 1 after 7,6km

What we found in terms of snacks and refreshments really toped our expectations: From local delicacies like cheese and tpyical Tyrolean treats to classical sport nutritions and supplements, everything was on the menu. 🙂

After a longer downhill passage, we came back to the Inn river, which we crossed right at the second transit station. With amazing views and a lot of sun, the second ascent was waiting on the other side of the river.

Greenish Inn in springtime <3

K25 Halfmarathon-Route at the waterside of the Inn

Running with panoramique views of the Tyrolean Alps the whole time <3

Maggy uphill 🙂

Anja uphill 🙂

The 3rd checkpoint at K19,5 was right atop of the hill in a lovely little village called “Birgitz”, where they even served NOODLE SALAD (as you can see in the video below… ;-))!

The last five kilometers went by as quick as the other ones did. The last meters up to the Natterer Lake brought us back to some more wooden forest trails and on this surface we merely felt our speed – we just ran!

Views from the Inn up the snowy mountains

Anja carrying her Camelbak up into the forest’n’mountains 🙂

3rd Checkpoint of the K25 in Birgitz, K19,5

Finish at Natterer See and Trailrun Festival

After 24,6K we crossed the finish line under the cheers and whistles of guests and fellow runners at the Natterer See! 🙂

We felt incredible and could merely believe that the whole run felt somehow easy for us. Sure it was exhausting and we felt our legs afterwards, but it was never agony or pain. We had a lot of respect upfront – and maybe that’s what payed off..

We layed in the sun and stretched our legs for another hour, before we watched the start of the 42K Trail-marathon. At 1 o’clock, the shuttle back to the Festival Area in Innsbruck picked us up. 🙂

Relaxing our legs in the sun

Many onlookers even at the starter/finisher area at Lake Natters

The perfect day!

Trailrunning Area in Natters/Tyrol

Natterer See

Starter of the K42 Trail-marathon getting ready

Relaxation spot at the waterside 🙂

Starting line of the 42k Trailrun-marathon at Natterer Lake

Funniest thing EVER: Neon green Zinc stick sun blocker :-DDD

Cooldown at the lake

Awseome selection of fresh snacks and refreshments on the route and at the finish

Back in Innsbruck, we got us some drinks and enjoyed more of the great race atmosphere. The finisher of the 85K Scott Heart of the Alps Ultra arrived and many more from the K65 and K42 followed. AND we pressed our very own “medal” (not a regular one, but it was selfmade” ;-))!

Swaging our own medal 🙂

Hanging out with Salomon at the Trailrun Expo

Still power for a handstand after 85k?

Finisher medal 🙂

Enjoying perfect weather in the heart of Innsbruck

For us, it was the perfect training and the perfect event! We had to cover almost 1000 height meters and got used to run with our new Camelbak hydration packs. The whole run was perfectly timed and organized and there was literally nothing we would’ve done different. We’re pretty sure we will be back in 2017 – maybe than for the ULTRA? 😉

We also took a nice little video which you can find on our brand new YOUTUBE-Channel, have fun watching:

In friendly cooperation with Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival and Tourismus Hall-Wattens. More information: www.innsbruck-alpine.at and www.hall-wattens.at – thank you!