Crosslauf Echsenbach

Crosslauf Echsenbach is a 6.6 km cross-country race on the local Echsenbach course, typically featuring a small, competitive field rather than a large participation event. Thirty regulars lined up on a Saturday afternoon to test themselves against each other and against a course they clearly know well. Echsenbach’s course is met with both affection and dread; the report jokes that it felt almost too easy without snow, ice, freezing temperatures, mud, slippery ground, or a hard headwind. This time the ground was firm and there was even a tailwind for much of the route, so the race ran fast, but runners still finished exhausted. Horner ULC sent Markus and Markéta Hengstberger, Christian Kraus, and Franz Eidher, while the front of the field was quick: the winner ran 23:53, and the first woman finished in 26:25, close behind the top three men.