ISPO Munich Night Run with over 500 participants - and a surprise winner from Warsaw

"I am pleased that so many participants have gathered here for our premiere of the ISPO Munich Night Run in the Olympic Park", said traidfair boss Klaus Dittrich at the sight of the many runners who had gathered in front of the ice rink to set off on the 5-kilometre circuit. The 30 possible late registrations were already out of print shortly after 3 p.m. when the starting number for the first ISPO Munich Night Run in Munich's Olympic Park was assigned. More than 500 participants thus conquered the Olympic mountain, most of them even twice - over 10 kilometres.

A tough test - the climb to the mountain was tough, over narrow trails and pavement stones, but the arduous pace race to the 552-metre-high Olympia Mountain (twice during the 10-kilometre run) was rewarded with a magnificent view of the stadium and the city's lights. Speaking of which, the area was excellently illuminated with lamps and signal lights. Rental shoes for a safe stop on the hilly terrain were provided by ICEBUG, the official shoe partner of the ISPO Munich Night Run.

"A great track and a great atmosphere," said Sebastian Hallmann, the former German champion over 10.000 metres, who started with the number 1. "I often run in the Olympiapark, but there were paths along this route that I didn't know so well."

Munich's home advantage could not be taken advantage of this time, as he had won the German run for the Wings for Life World Run in spring. Hallmann, running coach and author of a four-part series about Winterrunning on ISPO. com, was not really fit, weakened by a flu had entered the race.

"Actually, I wanted to race over 5 and over 10 kilometres," Hallmann told us at the start, but then he decided "only" for the 10k. And even though he couldn't go all the way and the course was quite ambitious with 219 meters of altitude, he finished in 37:31 minutes - second!

"I didn't see anything of the winner," Hallmann said, "the boy was just too good." The boy is Krzysztof Wolowczyk, a 22-year-old technology student from Warsaw, European orienteering champion and international Swedish orienteering champion in his youth. The Pole had travelled by car the day before, together with his parents, who work for a roller ski manufacturer Skike and are exhibitors at the ISPO Munich.

"The seven hours of driving in the car were a bit hard on my bones, otherwise it might have been even faster", said Krzysztof Wolowczyk from UNTS Warsaw laughing as he crossed the finish line after 35:36 minutes.

Felix Mayerhöfer won the 5000 meter race in 17:22 minutes ahead of Markus Stöhr (17:36). The editor-in-chief of ISPO.com came over 10k in 54:40 minutes with a gap of almost 20 minutes behind the winner as 115th in the finish line - this is expandable. At the ISPO Munich Night Run 2019?