Great Wall finale for Rally China
Provisional itinerary includes a Great Wall finale
Norwegians tackle 100km foot race
Almost 5500 metres of climbing in the German mountains, more than 100km of competition and up to 24 hours on the road. It sounds like an extremely tough day in the WRC but for Andreas Mikkelsen and co-driver Anders Jaeger their latest challenge won’t have a rally car in sight.
The Norwegians tackle the Zugspitz Ultratrail tomorrow (Saturday), a gruelling foot race which scales Germany’s highest mountain at 2968 metres as well as several other peaks in the Wetterstein range.
To say the race will be out of Mikkelsen’s comfort zone is somewhat of an understatement. His longest run so far this year measured 13km!
“I haven’t prepared at all and I’m a bit far off the schedule but we love challenges,” Mikkelsen told wrc.com. “I’m not sure which one of us came up with this stupid idea, but we challenged each other to try and make the finish. I’ve been focusing way too much on the rallies lately and not the running.”
Mikkelsen, Jaeger and a group of friends from Norway have signed up for the longest of the five Ultratrail races at 101.60km. They have 24 hours in which to complete it following the 07.15 start in Grainau.
“It’s way too long! My shape isn’t nearly enough to do it in a fast time, so our goal is to use as long a time as possible within the 24 hours. Just to finish would be really nice,” said Mikkelsen, who tackled three stages of the Transalpine-Run last year.
Two thousand runners and 49 nations are represented in the race, in which competitors must carry basic first aid equipment, a rain coat, gloves and a hat.
“We’ll have fun, or at least I hope to. I have a week to relax after that before going to Poland for the next rally and I think I’ll need it!” added Mikkelsen.
