Florian Probst did not use the full competition time in Maria Alm.
But that didn't matter: The Raistinger won the 24-hour race at the “Special Edition” of the “Hochkönigman” trail run by a huge margin.
Maria Alm - For the suspended competitors, it may have been illuminating that even a Florian Probst can have enough.
So you were up against a human and not a machine.
The Raistinger could easily have put on one lap in the 24-hour race, which was advertised as the “Special Edition” of the “Hochkönigman” trail run.
So much competition time was left.
But Probst refrained from tackling the route from Maria Alm up to Prinzensee and back again.
Instead, he ran under the target arch with a smile on his face and arms raised.
Cross the finish line with a smile on your face
When he decided not to exhaust the competition time, he was by no means aware that he had long since run into the ground with everyone else.
“I didn't really follow the way the stand was,” reports the 39-year-old.
In any case, the result was impressive: Probst had completed 21 laps, which corresponded to 136.5 kilometers including 9240 meters of altitude.
The runner-up, the Austrian Wolfgang Zingl, had completed 14 laps (91 kilometers / 6160 meters in altitude).
The mere placement was of secondary importance for Probst.
"I don't want to call the performance a race like that," he says defensively.
It was important to him to see that his form did not suffer in the long time without competitions caused by Corona.
“Everything worked.
I had fun again. ”At the same time, the event was also a sign that the lockdown is now over.
The atmosphere in the field of participants was resolved accordingly: Probst found the atmosphere to be “very pleasant”.
“Everyone was happy to be able to do sports together again.
Nobody was dogged. ”This led to the fact that the athletes, when they met in opposite directions on the circuit, cheered each other on.
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There's always a smile: Florian Probst during the trail run in Maria Alm, during which he covered 136.5 kilometers with 9240 meters of altitude during the competition.
© Private
The competition format was still due to Corona.
The number of participants in the three competitions (6/12/24 hours) was limited.
The run was on a rather small lap (6.6 kilometers / 440 meters in altitude).
Each participant had to take care of their own food.
Spectators were not allowed.
And officially the whole thing ran as the “Austrian Championship”;
the quotas for foreigners were only small.
As an ultra trail runner, Florian Probst, who works as a physiotherapist and alternative practitioner, is used to long distances. He has already won the “Chiemgau 100” on the 100-mile distance (161 kilometers) once (2019) and took second place once (2020). The requirements for both types of competition are different, however: “You can't compare the two with each other.” He had twice participated in the 24-hour race in Munich as a mountain biker. From then he knew: To hold out on a constantly repeating course for so long "is more of a mental matter". The night in particular can be challenging. In Maria Alm, a violent thunderstorm and rain in the dark were a test of willpower.
According to Probst, the downhill passages are the crux of such a trail run over a whole day.
There “you can get unbelievably broken.” At the beginning a competitor gave a lot of gas on the Wurzelweg into the valley and had to pay for it quickly says with a smile.
He had run up and down the Hörnle twice in advance, ten times each time.
The character of the route there is similar to the circuit in Maria Alm.
The tests - once in snowfall, once in rain - were promising.
For training ten times in a row on the Hörnle
Probst divided his powers absolutely correctly in Maria Alm. Neither the rain at night nor the rather high temperatures during the day slowed it down. The father of a nine-year-old son even enjoyed the "great view" with a view of the Hochkönig and the Loferer and Leogang mountains. “You could get distracted,” said Raistinger. Probst did not take longer breaks. During the night he would sit down here and there to eat, but never for more than ten minutes. The ultra runner had provided a box for himself in the refreshment area, in which mainly gels were. With increasing duration, however, Probst got fed up with the sweet stuff. One of the assistants got some hearty buttered pretzels in the morning of the final day of the competition. “That was a dream.” Probst got an extra boost of motivation for the last few hours.
The successful start to the season gives him “a good feeling and an impetus for the year”, says the Raistinger. The aim is to start at the Ultratrail in the Stubai (in July) and the “Kitz Alps Trail” (August), a run over 100 miles.