Best performance for Innerhofer

The Pinzgauer Hans-Peter Innerhofer celebrated a great half marathon victory, who achieved a personal best of 1:06:47 hours. Among the women, the German Verena Cerna was the fastest. The comeback of the running festival was successful with intoxicating running emotions.

It was an all-round successful running day that Hans-Peter Innerhofer (LC Oberpinzgau) experienced. He complemented his successful running spring with personal bests in the marathon and in the 10 km road run on the fast route of the Salzburg marathon with a personal best in the half marathon. In a time of 1:06:47 hours, he stayed 31 seconds below his old best from the 2021 state championships in Carinthia. “I'm very happy and despite the high temperatures I was able to do what I set out to do. I always ran alone from the start to the finish, so I had no opponents to push me.” The 26-year-old is focusing on the mountain running season next summer, but has found great enthusiasm for road running and is thinking of another Marathon towards the end of the year.

Jan Vetchy from the Czech Republic and Leon Fian from Austria climbed onto the podium alongside the superior winner from Salzburger Land (1:13:52 and 1:14:08). The women's victory went to Germany's Verena Cerna, who finished in a time of 1:22:32 ahead of Natalie Thompson, a Canadian living in Linz (1:25:45), and Clara Carste of Germany (1:26 :36) prevailed. “When I realized that I was in the lead – that was a huge motivational boost. I took part in a run in Salzburg for the first time and would love to come back,” said the 41-year-old winner.

"When the running festival calls, you just have to be there!"

The first finishers of the day were the fastest in the Hervis-10K Salzburg CityRun. In the men's race, Mahdi Sareban, a sports physician at the Institute for Sports Medicine at the University Hospital in Salzburg, broke away from the rest of the field early on and reached the finish line as the winner in a time of 32:35 minutes. “When the running festival calls, you just have to be there! The atmosphere along the route was great, there were many fans and groups there to cheer,” said Sareban happily. Dominik Hirczy (33:23) and Peter Müllner (33:30) finished second and third. The superior winner in the women's category was the Czech Adela Stranka in a time of 35:58 minutes, just twelve seconds above her personal best. As the second and best Austrian, Cornelia Stöckl-Moser reached the finish at Max-Reinhardt-Platz with one of the most beautiful views of Hohensalzburg Fortress in a time of 40:15 minutes. Her husband Andreas Stöckl finished fourth in the men's race. Former Paralympic star Tom Geierspichler completed the Hervis-10K Salzburg CityRun on a handbike. "I love starting in Salzburg," he said. Yesterday evening he gave the starting signal for the One Mile For A Smile - Inclusion Run by Coca-Cola.

The participants in the Hyundai relay marathon enjoyed a special team experience. The British relay team South West Road Runners was the first to reach the marathon finish in 2:35:36 hours ahead of the Upper Austrian relay team of the LAC Amateure Steyr (2:44:21). All four participants were allowed to complete the last steps together. In the most prominent season, alongside Peter Herzog, ski jumping Olympic champion Jan Hörl and two winners of a competition ran.

An emotional weekend dedicated to the running festival

More than 6,000 registrations were received for the competitions of the running festival in the city of Mozart, which celebrated its comeback after a three-year break with a colorful and varied program of competitions over three days. Two thirds of the athletes took part in the different distances this Sunday and, together with thousands of spectators who were enjoying the wonderful early summer day at the edge of the route, transformed the city of Mozart into a running city and thus set the outstanding atmosphere of Friday and Saturday away. "Apart from the somewhat high temperatures for the marathon runners, it doesn't get much better. It was such an emotional start, with so much joy on the faces of the participants, that the hardships of the last three years were suddenly forgotten,” said organizer Johannes Langer, describing the impressions from the start phase.

With the comeback, the running festival completed its proven, three-day program with the event centers in the Volksgarten on Friday and Saturday and in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Salzburg's old town, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, with the finish area in Hofstallgasse and the start of the main competitions on Ferdinand-Hanusch-Platz. "Our concept with a focus on togetherness, the connecting factor worked perfectly. From the women's run to the junior marathon and the OneMileForASmile to the main competitions - all have their place at the running festival in the city of Mozart, we saw so many smiling and happy faces everywhere and at all times," said organizer Johannes Langer. "This is exactly how we want to portray running!"