Bavarian connection between top German trail race and Comrades Marathon

by Stephen Granger

Bavaria is a connecting thread between trail and road-running this week. Two of South Africa’s leading trail athletes, Toni McCann and Bianca Tarboton, take on Germany’s biggest trail event – the Salomon Zugspitz Ultratrail powered by Ledlenser -from the Bavarian town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen this weekend and the Comrades Marathon re-launched their product partnership with the non-alcoholic beer, Bavaria.

The Zugspitze at 2962m is the highest mountain in Germany and this year’s 10^th anniversary edition of the race offers the choice of five distances ranging from the Zugspitz BASETRAIL 24km to the ULTRATRAIL of 108km. The event has attracted no fewer than 3750 runners from 56 nations, a substantial growth following its 676 participants in its inaugural year in 2011.

The town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a centre for outdoor adventure in Bavaria and the 108km ULTRATRAIL, with 5100m of vertical ascent, starts and finishes on the town square. A strong Salomon Germany trio, Thorsten Reichert, Tobias Fritz and Matthias Baur, are looking for podium honours while Swiss athlete Katrin Vock starts favourite in the women’s race, ahead of Germany’s Annika Johann and Poland’s Anna Makselon.

McCann will be running the Base Trail XL over 50km with 1650m vertical ascent as important race-training preparation for her main target race this summer – next month’s Ultra-trail Mont Blanc OCC 56km in France. Timely intervention by French Consul-General in Cape Town, Laurent Alberti, to support her application for a talent-based Schengen visa to compete in Europe as an elite trail athlete enabled her to reach Bavaria in time for the race.

McCann faces tough opposition to earn a podium position, with Team Salomon’s strong-running German master athlete, Eva Sperger, and McCann’s adidas Terrex teammate and winner of the Madeira 42 km earlier this year, Kim Schreiber, favoured to be amongst the top finishers.

“I am loving being in Bavaria,” said McCann yesterday. “I had a lovely run today up to Scharnitzjoch (the pass below the main peaks at 2073m). It was really beautiful. My training has gone well and this race will form part of a big training block now for OCC, so I’m not really tapering for it.

“I’m feeling good though, but nervous about how fast the race is going to be. But otherwise I’m excited to see where I am at and what needs work still.”

McCann’s adidas Terrex teammate and fellow Cape Town athlete, Tarboton, enjoyed a win in an uphill 9km race in Austria two weeks back and the 2021 Otter African Trail Run champion looks forward to stretching her legs on the more runnable 24km course on the lower slopes of the mountains, taking on leading German speedsters, Lena Laukner and Suse Spanheimer.

“I felt stronger than I thought I would be, given the lack of harder training with an injury niggle, so I’m very happy,” said Tarboton reflecting on her last race in Austria. “It was a tough race running so high up. We ended at 2800m which was crazy! But I loved it.

“I’m very excited about Zugspitz! I think it’s going to be a very competitive race but I’m excited to be pushed and see where I stand amongst some fast women. My injury is so much better, so this race should be fine.”

The second running-related Bavarian connection came in the form of the Comrades Marathon product partnership. As the world’s greatest road race, there is no shortage of suitors offering their products or services, but the Bavarian beer has been a popular Comrades companion since 2019 and the alcohol-free beverage has struck a chord with their target audience.

“We believe the Comrade Marathon is the best vehicle to give effect to our communication platform, which we’ve partly built through two of our brand ambassadors, past Comrades champions Edward Mothibi and Gerda Steyn,” said sponsor’s representative Oliver Wills. ” Interestingly, the COVID pandemic with the emphasis on health and well-being and restrictions on alcohol sales actually helped our product.

“Our Bavaria beer is halaal and is perfect for the growing numbers of runners whose religious beliefs or strict athletics diet prevent or limit their alcohol intake.  That’s one of the differences between trail and road running – we have found that trail and beer are close companions, but road athletes are more cautious until after the race!

“Every participant at Comrades gets a Bavaria in their goody-bag plus the chance to win either an Edward Mothibi ‘original malt’ six-pack or a Gerda Steyn “apple malt’ six-pack, or even the big prize – a seven-day ‘wining and dining’ trip for two through South Africa.  And of course we want to welcome everyone to our beer garden at the finish at Comrades for additional refreshment.”

The road distance between Zugsptize in Bavaria and the Bavarian beer garden at the Comrades is over 13 000 km and for some distance athletes the gulf between trail and road is equally wide.

Athletes are divided on whether there is a beneficial cross-over between the two distance-running disciplines, but there is general agreement that the Comrades Marathon is a ‘must-do’ target event for anyone running ultra-distances, whether on track, road or trail.

But can road and trail be regarded as two sides of the same coin of distance running?  No, says South Africa’s legendary ultra-trail runner, Ryan Sandes, who sees the two as distinct sporting codes.  Yes, says rising star, Nkosikhona Mhlakwana, a favourite to be on the Comrades podium, who has excelled in both disciplines.

Sandes has raced Zugspitze in Bavaria and recalls the Ultra-trail race as ‘a really amazing route in a super-pretty place’.

“Trail running is really a different sport to road running,” Sandes argues. “For me trail stems from enjoying being out in on the mountains and in nature – a lot more about exploring and adventure.” But Sandes acknowledges that trail running has developed from more than one origin and points to clear differences between trail origins in Europe and America.

“You do see more Americans crossing over from trail to road.  In the USA trail and ultra-distance running stems from athletics programmes at high school, whereas in Europe people grow up on mountains, enjoying skiing and ski-mountaineering before adding mountain and trail running to their skill-sets. 

Sandes has yet to run Comrades Marathon, but agrees that it is an exceptional iconic ultra-race. “I will do it one day when I’m big,” he joked.  “But I’ve enjoyed 14 years of ultra-trail running and racing and I still have some important business in trail to complete before taking on Comrades.”

Mhlakwana has enjoyed considerable success in both disciplines, with most of his ultra-distance running training taking place off paved surfaces.  He has won high profile trail races, including last year’s Ultra-trail Drakensberg 62km, and has enjoyed success on the road, with his closely-fought second place in this year’s Two Oceans Marathon catapulting him into the distance-running limelight.

“It’s great news about Comrades and Bavaria – I’ve seen that it’s a non-alcoholic beer – that’s good in the game of running, so that should be a great partnership,” Mhlakwana reflected.

“Trail is tougher than road,” he argued “Running races such as the Ultra-trail Drakensberg definitely made me stronger. Trail racing helps me to prepare for road and also enables me to stay the distance mentally and physically when the going gets tough.”

Fresh from a win in the 35km sector of the Icon’s – Journey marathon in the Eastern Cape last week, Nhlakwana returned to a training camp in Underberg to complete his Comrades training. “Most guys in road running find trail really tough. Few of the upcoming youngsters have had a chance to be introduced to trail. They see it as a lonely sport and are cautious about getting lost in the mountains!

“Trail runners are tougher than roadies. Prodigal (Khumalo – his coach) and I have been running a combination of road and trail and that’s worked well for me. I think trail running is ideal for road runners to become stronger. Running the 100km Ultra-trail Cape Town was very tough but running on Table Mountain and climbing those tough hills made me stronger mentally and physically.

“(In terms of my training for Comrades) I feel I’m preparing now for the (56km) Two Oceans. I’m able to do faster, more intense training and with my trail background I don’t have any worries about completing the 90km distance.

“But I’ve never tried a Bavaria and look forward to doing so after Comrades.  And good luck to those running that great trail race in Bavaria in Germany this weekend.”