Markus Brennauer runs with heavy legs in third place

Created: 03/25/2022, 00:30

By: Paul Hopp

Run on the podium: Markus Brennauer from TSV Penzberg at the half marathon competition in Unterallgäu.

© Lechner-Brennauer

After full training, Markus Brennauer started in Ottobeuren.

The Penzberger showed that he is always good for a top result in the half marathon.

Ottobeuren – The circuit on which the athletes ran at the tenth "Ottobeuren Half Marathon" was wavy.

According to Markus Brennauer, he experienced personal ups and downs over the 21.1 kilometers.

In the end, the 42-year-old from TSV Penzberg got a top result.

With a time of 1:15:28 hours, Brennauer took third place behind Simon Pulfer (Allgäu Outlet Racing Team/1:14:24) and Markus Kaiser (TSG Biberach/1:14:58).

In view of the terrain, the Penzberger was "quite satisfied" with the time.

According to him, there was a fair amount of trail and about 200 meters in altitude to complete.

At the beginning of the race, Brennauer ran in the leading group, which consisted of both half marathoners and 10-kilometer runners who started in parallel.

“The pace was relatively high.

But due to the light wind I didn't want to run alone and stuck to the other runners," reported Brennauer.

Route in Ottobeuren with a trail section

Until the turning point, after five kilometers, which was reached after 16:35 minutes, the Penzberger stayed in the leading group consisting of five athletes.

Then we went from the paved, slightly downhill bike path into the forest.

There, the runners expected dirt roads and some meadow passages that ran constantly uphill and downhill.

"On the first climb I had to let three runners pull away because the pace was clearly too high for me," says Brennauer.

One of the runners was the eventual winner of the 10K distance, the other two were half marathon runners.

When the route led back onto the bike path after eight kilometers, the man from Penzberg was just under a minute behind the leading duo in the half marathon.

"I was actually completely exhausted because I contested the race after a full week of stress," said Brennauer after the race.

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On the way up to the start and finish in the Ottobeuren stadium, the Penzberger was overtaken by Markus Kaiser (TG Biberach).

After one and a half laps in the stadium, the route led back out onto the paved bike path.

In the meantime, Brennauer had recovered a little and found his rhythm to some extent.

"When I saw that I was catching up on the two runners in front of me, I tried to keep my pace." In this way, the man from Penzberg managed to close the big gap again up to 16 kilometers.

Markus Brennauer closes the gap to the front

At the entrance to the forest he overtook Jonas Haiss (TSG Zwiefalten) and was level with Kaiser.

But the runner from Biberach pulled away again in the woods and in the course of the race came within 34 seconds of the leader Pulfer, who was struggling a lot towards the end, but still won with a course record.

The best in previous years had times around 1:18 hours.

For Markus Brennauer, the competition in Ottobeuren also served as preparation for the German Marathon Championships, which will take place in Hanover on April 3rd.

There, the Penzberger would like to undercut his five-year-old best time (2:27:15/run at the DM in Frankfurt).

The best time for the women in Ottobeuren was Susanne Pflügl (1:32:01) from Bad Wörishofen.

Verena Kögel from Burggen made it into the top ten for women.

With a time of 1:53:48 hours she was ninth overall.

In the W30 class, Kögel took second place.

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345 women and men finished the competition in Ottobeuren.

There was also a 10km run and a 6km race.

Thomas Nuber (34:20 minutes) from the SG Niederwangen and Charlotte Heim (39:11) from the "Allgäu Outlet Race Team" achieved the best times over the ten kilometers.

Over the short distance, Johannes Hillebrand (Allgäu Outlet Race Team) set a new course record with a time of 19:28 minutes.

Hannah Sassnink (LC Aichach) won the women's race with a time of 23:53 minutes and a lead of two and a half minutes.