Jungfrau Marathon - 26.2 Miles Up the Mountain

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Run 26.2 miles up to Kleine Scheidegg!? It's killer just to walk it. But thousands of runners have done just that, each year, for the past 14 years. It was an amazing thing to watch. This year the race was held on Sept. 9 and it was a beautiful, sunny, cool day. Just perfect for a long race.

We were at the start in Interlaken and watched as over 1000 runners passed us on their way to Bonnigen on Lake Brienz. From there they started the uphill climb to Wengen and continued on to Kleine Scheidegg. As for us, we caught the train up to the finish, had lunch, and positioned ourselves at the finish line in plenty of time to see the first arrivals.

Most of the race follows a slow steady climb upwards to Wengen. Then the ascent gets more difficult. By the time they reach the portion called "The Moraine" it is a narrow, steep track along the glacier that's at the base of the Jungfrau.

In only 2:59:34 the male winner arrived at the finish. The female winner was only 25 minutes behind him. It was impressive to see how good they looked as they passed over the finish line. (I would have been crawling on my hands and knees gasping for air!!)

Runners from all over the world were there to compete and hundreds of spectators were there to cheer them on to victory. It was a great day and a great race!!

This is the last of the Swiss installments. We are now in Yellowstone National Park and woke up to 3" of snow this morning!!! Where did that come from in early Oct.??? The photos of the animals and the park are beautiful but aren't the fall colors that I had envisioned. In a way, this is even better!!

Till next time,
RPM

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Photos

The male winner
Tesfaye Eticha from Ethiopia won with a time of 2:59:34.

The female winner
Simona Staicu from Hungry won with a time of 3:24:26.

Comments

[Jody]

Thanks for the visit/preview
Hi Pam and Ron, I am so glad I got a first hand replay of this amazing race...it was great to see you both last week and I hope your visit across the cornfields went well. Take care, hugs to both...