It is a cross running race with an obstacle parcour in between.
The cross running part was like an orienteering race with a lot of steep downhills, uphills through small "Wienerwald" valleys and flatter parts on forest roads. Then after 7km you have to make your way through the obstacle course. The highlight for the spectators is the definitely the crossing of two mud and water depressions and a "curtain" of electric current ;) After that another 3km running and 2nd time obstacle course to finish the race.
This year we tried to get a starting slot. We entered in May and were put to a waiting list because the limit of 700 runners was already reached. After some weeks we got the notification that we are allowed to start. See below the race map
Then in October the organisers announced that they had opened up another few hundred slots for the race.
So finally nearly 1500 competitors were entered.
From old videos and newspapers we knew a little bit what it will be.
On Saturday the day was there. I drove to Klammhöhe were the race should be. First problems occured when a long traffic jam started some meters before the parking slot. After some minutes I got a place on the meadow for the car. As I was already very late for registration I hoped to make it in time to register myself. The next surprise came some meters later where there was a long, very long queue in front of the registration. Luckily I found a side registration point were I could get the registration in 5 minutes, while the others were just queuing some more hours.
Warti and me decided to make a short tour to visit all obstacles. All seemed quite manageable even for me ;)
At 12 the start was planned and the organisers told us to start in small "waves" with the stronger runners in front. We got a position in the first waves and started very fast. In the first small uphill part Warti already got the lead and I was also just some seconds behind him. The pace was really high and I started to worry. Suddenly Warti stopped and asked where to run. Most of the other runners also didn't know where to go. I followed a runner and signs uphill again until some people shouted to us to return to the start area. I stopped and returned down. At that time Warti was already down near the starting area and started with the first obstacle because no one really knew where to go.....
When I reached the start again I hear people screaming to run in another direction. There I saw that a lot of runners of slower waves were already in front of me.
I was very angry but tried to push hard the next uphill part. Then the first steep downhill started. From there to the lowest point I overtook all runners in front of me and got the lead.
There started the first small valley uphill. It was very sttep and demanding so I had to walk. I turned my head when I was on top and saw that there were just 3 to 4 people about 30 seconds behind me (including Warti). So I pushed really hard the next downhill and uphill parts. After the last steep uphill only Warti was about 1 minute behind me and noone else.
Back at the starting area the obstacle course began and I took it very easy to be safe. It was a nice feeling to enter the obstacle course first and run alone through it.
The last running part was again with 2 valleys uphill and twice downhill. I managed to hold a good pace and entered the obstacle course the 2nd time. This time a lot of people populated the course which made it quite hard. Anyway I manged to finish first about 2,5 minutes before Warti. So it was a strong physical race after a lot of problems this autumn.
My time was also very good compared to other years. Of course they changed the course a little bit and removed the 3rd obstacle part but Warti and me even lost 4,5 to 5 minutes in the beginning due to the misleading.
I think most runners had problems because they all had no orienteering shoes which were perfect for this race.
From an organisational point of view the organisers were not able to handle these amounts of people. The course was also sometimes very poorly marked and when I reached the finish line I even had to ask if I am now finished because it was not recognized that I am the first in the finish....
Homepage of the organizers with results: http://www.wild-sau.at/
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