The Worldmasters for all ambitious Trail, Marathon, Mountain, Triathlon and Long-Distance Runners
November 6 to November 8, 2009
It was certainly not what I had expected when I first heard
about the event. The inaugural Windstopper®
Trailrun Worldmasters weren't held in some picturesque, quaint village with
a postcard scenery backdrop, nor was the title a reference to an age group competition.
Instead this three day event was set against the backdrop of a former blast
furnace in the industrial suburbs of Dortmund and Worldmasters, translated from the German Weltmeisterschaft, could also have read Worldchampionship.
As a result the athletes at the top of the field where of
impressive calibre and competition fierce right to the end. The exceptional
location gave the event a uniquely urban and industrial atmosphere - trailrunning
was coming to the city - and there was plenty of challenging terrain to be found
in and around Dortmund: Technical and varied urban terrain around the start and
finish area, extensive woodland trails with surprisingly undulating terrain
further afield.
The first event on Friday was the Phoenix-Sprint: a pretty
flat but surprisingly tricky circular course over a mere 4.6km. This was
followed on Saturday with the Ruhrklippen-Trail: 35.2km and 864m of ascent. A linear course which
included some beautiful and undulating forest trails, country tracks,
river-side paths and another challenging section through the industrial arena
near the finish. The final event on Sunday was the Bittermark-Run: 20.5km and
319m of ascent through similar terrain as the previous days’ run – with slightly
less aggressive gradients and more of the gentle woodland tracks. All in all
about 60km and over 1000m of ascent: not bad for a weekend’s racing.
The event was superbly organised. Unimaginable amounts of marshals
and endless tape guided runners through the course. Kilometre markers in
reverse order helped with the mathematical tasks one tends to invent to keep
the brain from getting to focused on the pain (17km to go, so 18km are done, x
minutes have elapsed, my pace has dropped by y%: Can I make it to the finish
before dark?). The drink and feed stations were well stocked and manned with
more enthusiastic marshals.
Electronic chip timing meant that by the time runners
staggered back into the big hall for the post race pasta party results were beginning
to appear. During the pasta party photos of the day, as well as a video of the
day were shown – this was followed by the prize giving to the top three runners
of the day in the four categories (Open men, open women, V50 men and V50 Women).
Then the leader jerseys were handed out… On the final day, even though the
prize giving was only a short time after the race, finisher tee-shirts were
supplemented with certificates that showed each days time and standing as well
as the overall result.
This may have been the first Windstopper® Trailrun
Worldmasters but they were certainly not the last. This event is organised to
perfection and is sure to become a popular fixture in the calendar of all those
who enjoy competition on challenging, interesting courses.
You can watch the video here:
