Hegemer Chlauslauf 2010 – 8.8 km
After the very short race last Saturday, another race was waiting for me on Sunday: the Chlauslauf in Winterthur, or Hegi, to be more precise. It was a single time trial with starting times between 10:00 and 15:00.
My mom and sister participated as well, and they wanted to start early, so I went to my parents' place at 10:00. Here's us runners before leaving (all pictures taken by my dad):
We then went to the school where I spent my elementary school days to get the number bibs. Real bibs, and made for children, it seemed. From the school we walked to the hill next to Hegi castle where the start was.
We were issued e-sticks (like they use them for orienteering) and could start whenever we felt like it. I wanted to do the 8.8 km loop, my mom and sister the 6 km loop. Here we are, probably deep in our mental preparations just before the start:
And then we started. It was very difficult to punch the e-stick into the right place while starting my Garmin, but I think i managed. Here's me after 10 metres running:
And directly behind me, the rest of the running family started. Obviously enjoying it!
The first kilometre or so was on grass, then the course switched to gravel paths. Because of the time trial nature of the race, there were only a few people running at the same time as me, but the atmosphere was super relaxed. Runners said "hi" when being passed, and the volunteers at the drinking stations seemed to have a good time. Not sure how that looked a few hours later, though.
The course went up and down all the time, and once inside the forest, there were some real single trails to run on, so I was happy to have brought my trail shoes.
I didn't feel super strong most of the time, but okay; it was hard to judge my performance because I was basically running on my own. After some time, I caught up with my mom and sister again, having done my extra loop now. They shouted after me that they'd seen me three times so far, and I just said "yes" because it went all downhill and the ground was slippery.
My dad was waiting on the hill and had a view over most of the course. This is about the last two kilometers, from the forest to where the picture was taken:
Some of the dark dots are runners. The course ended with a mean set of stairs just before the finish, seen here with a (very) junior racer tackling them:
Soon, one of the dots turned out to be me. I think this is my favourite running picture of 2010:
I started easy on the stairs, taking just one step at a time. It was hard anyway.
Soon, numbers 53 and 54 were approaching the stairs as well. They were discussing wether to let that guy behind them pass before reaching the stairs or not.
They decided not to. The stairs were not that narrow, so it was no problem.
After the stairs, there were just about 300 metres left, all uphill, and very very hard because the legs were close to not moving at all anymore. I punched in my e-stick and handed it in; the guy checking on the times was one of my trainers from the gymnastic club were I was a member 23 years ago. He even recognised me!
We got some hot tea afterwards:
We left very soon, it was still cold and it's not so much fun standing around with wet clothes. This is what the whole course looks like:
Later I saw that my time was good for a seventh place (out of 60) in my category, so I was happy with that. I checked a bit on the faster guys, and one of them runs the 100K of Biel every year, has done I don't know how many marathons and more than 200 events on record at the database of the biggest race timing service of Switzerland. Impressive.
Every runner was given a little cross:
We used to have ribbons in the colours of the gymnastics club where we put all these crosses from the different competitions and could wear them at awards ceremonies. Like that. Too bad I can't find mine anymore!
It was a nice race to do anyway, and I enjoyed in particular the single trail parts in the forest. Maybe next year again!