Innsbruck to Host the World

Innsbruck, one of the Alps largest cities is no stranger to hosting large sporting events. Innsbruck hosted the Olympic Winter Games in 1976 and has been on the regular winter skiing circuit for decades. This week the attention is on summer trails when Innsbruck and the neighboring Stubaital region welcomes runners from all over the world to compete in the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (WMTRC) – (damn I wish they would come up with a better name for that event). And while this is all super exciting to follow along as pros race these trails, what makes this event unique in trail running is that for the Championships only pros, selected by their national associations will compete wearing the bib of their country. As I mentioned in a previous post, this is awfully exciting to watch and follow, but of course a departure from our regular trail running events where amateurs (you and me) can run the same events as the pros. To prevent FOMO Innsbruck has partnered with the Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival, an annual event held in the same region on several of the same trails as the WMTRC. This event has been on the calendar for several years and is organized by the Laufwerkstatt, an events team organizing various large scale outdoor sporting events in the region. So, The WMTRC is in great hands organizationally with the partnership of Tourism Tyrol and the Laufwerkstatt. And for folks wanting to get a taste of the trails pros compete on during the WMTRC, they can sign up to run the various distances at the Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival.

And for folks in the area looking for something to do they can come and watch the Trail Running Film Festival on June 9th at the finish line in Neustift-Stubai, which surely will be one of the biggest screenings on our 73+ tour.