As of: March 10, 2024, 11:03 a.m
By: Tobias Gmach
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Franz Weingand proudly presents his start number and medal from the 100th Wasalauf, in which he last took part.
Pure contrast to the 57-year-old's everyday life.
“Usually I’m always alone on my farm,” he says.
© Andrea Jaksch
At the age of 57, Bachhausen farmer Franz Weingand got on a plane for the first time in his life - to take part in the toughest cross-country skiing race in the world.
The story of a frugal man who plunged into a huge adventure without training or knowledge of English, but with passion.
Bachhausen – It was a chance encounter that would give Franz Weingand the adventure of his life.
In midsummer 2023, he was cycling along the shores of Lake Starnberg when Georg Hofer came towards him on roller skis.
Weingand found this strange and shouted: “You need some snow.” Hofer, an Austrian who also lives in Percha, paused briefly and explained that he was training for the Wasalauf.
This interested Weingand because he had never heard of it before.
And so the two men cycled and rolled side by side for a few minutes, and Hofer told the farmer from Bachhausen about the largest and toughest cross-country ski race in the world in Sweden.
The 90 kilometers from Sälen to Mora, which he had already completed twice.
Seven months later, Franz Weingand, 57 years old, would get on a plane for the first time in his life, be unable to sleep for three nights, look for his pair of skis among 16,000 others, fall, get up again, without ever having trained specifically , arrive at your destination after twelve hours.
Anyone who wants to speak to Franz Weingand often reaches him on one of his tractors.
The farm with the 30 young cattle is his life's purpose.
And anyone who gets to know the Bachhauser with the sunny disposition, the stubble beard and the strong hands will experience a man who is satisfied with little.
Who almost never ends up in a foreign-speaking country.
“As a farmer you get nowhere.
You have to be in the stable,” he says.
But he makes it to Seefeld in Tyrol every now and then.
For cross-country skiing, nothing more than a hobby for eight years.
At 49, he stood on the long, narrow boards for the first time.
“I was laughed at because I had alpine poles,” says Weingand.
He is definitely not a dogged athlete.
Looking after the animals, making firewood – that’s his everyday life.
What he likes about cross-country skiing is the exercise and the fresh air.
And: “There you are among people, you can have a coffee afterwards.
I’m usually always alone on the farm.”
Briefly unbuckled: Weingand, in a great mood, during the race.
But there were also lows.
© private
One day he would find himself in the depopulated and wooded region of Dalarna in Sweden because of Martin Tauber.
The 47-year-old competed for Austria at the 2006 Olympics in Turin and came eighth over 15 kilometers classic.
A year earlier he had come 21st out of thousands of participants in the Wasalauf.
Today the Tyrolean runs a cross-country skiing and biathlon school with a shop and rental shop in Seefeld.
“Franz suddenly appeared in my shop,” he says.
Tauber realized relatively quickly that Weingand had completely the wrong equipment with him – “skating stuff for classic”.
The Bachhauser says: “Someone had ripped me off.” Tauber lent him the right equipment, and Weingand was soon to run the longest distance of his life over the course of the day: 40 kilometers.
The farmer only came across Martin Tauber because Georg Hofer – the cross-country scooter skier on Lake Starnberg – mentioned the name.
Tauber organizes group trips to the Wasalauf.
And “Franz” finally asked him if he could come along.
It worked extremely spontaneously.
Because one participant canceled due to illness, a place became available.
Weingand competed in Sweden last Sunday with the number 8044 around his neck.
“I was terribly excited.
“I was completely overwhelmed at the airport,” he says.
Tauber picked up the 57-year-old at the Höhenrain motorway service station; Weingand's mother, 84, who lives with him on the farm, had accompanied her son.
“She told me that I should bring the boy home safely,” reports Tauber.
Weingand emphasizes: “I felt like I was in good hands with Martin.
I was sure: Nothing could go wrong.” He already felt a bit like a father, says Tauber in an interview with Merkur.
By the way, Weingand told him that he always liked to go to the airport just to have a look.
However, he never made it.
The work.
The Wasalauf is a traditional event in Sweden and is considered the largest and toughest cross-country ski race in the world.
The professionals start at the front, followed by amateur athletes.
Some Swedes see it as an obligation to take part in the Wasalauf once in their life.
© Ulf Palm
According to Tauber, it turned out in Sweden: “Franz was the hero of our group; everyone wanted to get to know him.
The others said: 'You're the hottest guy.'" Weingand still felt lonely 1,700 kilometers away from home - among 16,000 people.
At starting block number eight - the others in the group started somewhere else - he first had to take off his skis before getting ready for the race at the team bus.
However, he wondered how he would later find them again in the colorful sea of people and hats on 50 trails next to each other.
“It's all huge, people are running all over the place like ants.” And he couldn't ask anyone directly: “I don't speak and don't understand a word of English.” His luck was with the Swiss woman who put a balloon in his hand.
He tied it to the skis and marked them that way.
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Back to the farce
When Franz Weingand reports on his adventure, he repeatedly talks about tasks.
The day was a real challenge for him - apart from the 90 kilometers of cross-country skiing in the wet, heavy snow.
The conditions couldn't have been tougher.
At times my motivation waned: “There were few people around me in the forest, it was drizzling, it was foggy.
Then I asked myself: Why are you doing this to yourself?
You have enough work at home.” But he was at exactly the 100th Wasa Run, which, by the way, is intended to commemorate the historic escape of Gustav I Wasa on skis from the soldiers of the Danish King Christian II in 1521.
But Weingand was thinking more about the day exactly a year before, about his serious fall in which he broke his ischium and two ribs.
“Nothing can happen to me, I have a farm at home,” is how he describes his thoughts.
Blueberry soup and Swedish “Heja-Heja” cheers as motivation
The blueberry soup at the aid stations and the Swedish “Heja-Heja” cheers from the side of the track motivated him again.
But at some point it became dark in the forest.
Weingand fell but got back up.
At times, as if in a trance, he bit through.
After the start at 8 a.m., he heard the stadium announcer say his name shortly after 8 p.m.
He had actually done it.
But the tasks were not yet finished for him.
He had to hand over his skis and organize his clothes bag again.
And get on the right bus.
The latter only worked on the second attempt, and after a phone call with Martin Tauber – via “remote maintenance,” as he says.
The Norwegian cross-country skier and Wasalauf winner Torleif Syrstad needed 3:52:43 hours to cover the 90 kilometers.
Franz Weingand’s time: 12:11:03.
He was among the last.
But: several thousand had given up.
And Tauber also emphasizes: “I had trained athletes with me who didn’t see the finish.” Franz did.
He says: “I definitely didn’t want to disappoint Martin.
When he cared so much about me.”
Something of a friendship developed between the two men.
The Bachhauser farmer likes to bring eggs from the farm in Tyrol and he can park for free at the cross-country skiing school.
From Martin Tauber's point of view, he is simply "a very nice, honest person who has the greatest fun with simple things." Franz Weingand can imagine being able to do more than just the Wasalauf in the future.
He says, sitting thoughtfully on his tractor: “Maybe the universe helped me along.”
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By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Starnberg newsletter.
You can find even more current news from the Starnberg district at Merkur.de/Starnberg.