Raiffeisen Montafon Arlberg Marathon

The Montafon Arlberg Marathon is an annual mountain marathon in western Austria, linking Silbertal in the Montafon with St. Anton am Arlberg. It has been run since 2003 and is organized by the Arlberg Runner’s Club with local partners in Silbertal and St. Anton. The standard route starts near the Silbertal fire station at 881 meters and finishes in St. Anton at 1,304 meters, with an eight-hour time limit that makes it a serious long-distance mountain race rather than a flat road marathon. The first couple of kilometers use some asphalt toward Schruns before the race turns into its main climb: about 18 kilometers through the Silbertal valley on forest roads to Obere Freschalpe at 1,890 meters. From there, runners climb a mountain path to the Silbertaler Winterjöchle, the high point of the course at 1,945 meters, below the Patteriol in the Verwall group. The descent passes the Konstanzer Hütte and follows the Verwalltal toward St. Anton, with a final rise through Nasserein and Au before the finish. Most of the marathon is off-road: roughly 26.7 kilometers on forest roads, 4.5 kilometers on mountain paths, and 11 kilometers on asphalt. Winners have come from Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic, and the course records sit just under three hours for men and well under three and a half hours for women.