It's been years since I've been skiing in Pitztal. But in the heart of Tyrol, you can not only enjoy skiing, but also running, so we decided to start at the Pitztal Glacier Marathon 2023. The marathon course led from Mandarfen at the far end of the Pitztal Valley almost all the way to Arzl, where the finish line in the Gruabe Arena awaited all marathon runners after a varied additional lap. For the half marathon runners, meanwhile, one hour after the marathon started from St. Leonhard, they went directly to the Gruabe Arena, where the atmospheric finish compensated for the athletic efforts.

Jonas had decided to run another marathon a good two months after his best time in London, so he started early. The starting signal was given at 8:00 a.m. at the valley station of the Rifflsee Mountain Railway. Via the various small villages of the Pitztal, the runners gradually headed towards Arzl. After only two kilometres, Jonas had a small lead, from then on he stormed towards the finish alone or escorted by two police motorbikes and a cyclist. Even though the gap to the rear kept growing and soon there was no one left in sight, he did not let up and finished in 2:29:52 hours, his fastest winning time in twelve years. In the end, his lead was around 16 minutes.

For me, the half marathon was back and forth. Two Hungarians started offensively, I did my best not to let the gap get too big and still save some energy for the tougher second half of the race. This plan worked so that I could win in 1:21:42 hours on the (officially) 290-metre-long half marathon course and shortly afterwards greet Jonas at the finish line.

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