Here's my selected list of potential races for the coming year (assuming i can attach it). It's primarily trail orientated and is bound to be missing some but gives me more than enough to choose from, especially given some nasty clashes.

I did Zurich, the swiss alpine, alpenmarathon des alpages and lausanne marathons if anyone wants info about any of those.

gonna be skipping the next 2wks evening wednesday running sessions but do please somebody else take the lead and keep it going.

2009 Race Possibilities:


March 15 Cornwall Coastal Marathon
Or
Petit Ballon D Alsace => 23 km for women, 45km for men Nat. trail challenge www.salomonendurance.com

April 12 Signes Trail Salomon => 42 km for everyone Nat. trail challenge www.salomonendurance.com
19 Otzi-Alpin-maathon Naturns (I)

May 1 Sihltaller 10km www.sihltalerlauf.ch
2 L' Ardéchois => 54 km for everyone Nat. trail challenge www.salomonendurance.com
10 Geneve marathon www.genevemarathon.ch
17 Windermere marathon
30-31 Trail de Guerlédan => 21 km for women, 51km for men Nat. trail challenge www.salomonendurance.com

June 6 Liechtenstein Alpin marathon www.lgt-alpin-marathon.li
7 Internat. Sky race Valmalenco(I, Bernina area)-Valposchiavo (CH) 30.8k +1800ms www.international-skyrace.org
12-13 Bieler 100 www.100km.ch
20 Defi internat. Val-de-travers 41.7k +1346ms 74.3k +2952ms ½ marathon +722ms www.defi-vdt.ch
21 Alpenmarathon des Alpages ½ or marathon Anzere – leukerbad +1500+ms www.alpenmarathon.ch
27 Chur-Rothorn +2682ms
27-28 Mt Blanc 42k +2445ms 23k www.montblancmarathon.net
28 Aletsch ½ marathon www.aletsch-halbmarathon.ch

July 4 Zermatt marathon www.zermattmarathon.ch
4-5 Trail Verbier St Bernard 52k +4200ms/105k +7300ms www.trailvsb.com
5-11 Swiss jura marathon Genf-Basel www.swissjuramarathon.com
11 Annécime : 40 km for women, 80km for men Nat. trail challenge www.salomonendurance.com
8-25 Mongolia Sunrise-Sunset 100k www.ultramongolia.org
25 Swiss Alpine Marathon
Or
Stockhorn ½ +1724ms www.swissalpine.ch www.stockhorn-halbmarathon.ch

August 1 Leysin ½ +1650ms www.skiclubleysin.ch
2 Championnat du Canigou : 34 km for everyone
8 Gstaad-Glacier 3000 top 26k +2015ms www.glacier3000run.ch
9 Sierre-Zinal 31km +2200ms www.sierre-zinal.com
15-16 Rady’s Mtn marathon www.radys-marathon.ch
21-22 Inferno ½ +2175ms (der teuflische berglauf) Lauterbrunnen-Schilthorn

Sept 5 Jungfrau marathon +1829ms www.jungfrau-marathon.ch
5-12 Transalpine (pairs) Germany-Italy
12 Ultra Trail du Sancy : 70 km for everyone Nat. trail challenge www.salomonendurance.com

Edit: Attachment now visible. oops.

Good range of races there. I'm aiming to (finally) get back to some running again after a few years out. I'm liking the look of the 10k in May as a rough aim.
Marathons etc are a long way off tackling seriously.

All the best to those braving the weather to keep running.

a more comprehensive list should be available shortly in migros sport stores or thee is always www.datasport.ch

Also the Lausanne 20km (or 10km for wimps like me) on April 25th. Really well organised with 16,000 participants. The 10km is pretty flat but the 20km takes you all around the hills in town.

No runners are wimps in my book, as unless your a natural it's dead hard!

and 10ks are all good too, I just prefer going longer so i can chat my way round the race as opposed to feeling obliged to huff and puff as hard as a wolf.

Thanks for the list, Kate! All this plus the "non-races" (weeknight runs or bike rides) should keep us all in shape... or at least hopefully balance out some of the seemingly daily-required Swiss cheese and chocolate

And Robban, it was nice to meet you last weekend. Can't wait to meet up for a bike ride this summer, when we can all be "Team Swiss" with our matching Swiss jerseys (and socks!)

Thanks for the great list Kate - too many events and too little time!

After reading through each of the links you posted and considering the races I'd already committed to, I've made my picks and have finished the last of the registrations for the following events. Would be great to see fellow EFers at any of these!

April 19: Ötzi Alpine Marathon (MTB, Trail Run, Ski Mountaineering in Tirol/Italy) http://www.oetzi-alpin-marathon.com

April 26: Zürich Marathon (http://www.zurichmarathon.ch)

June 6: LGT Alpine Marathon (www.lgt-alpin-marathon.li)

June 27: Graubünden-Marathon (shown as Chur-Rothorn on your list) http://www.graubuenden-marathon.ch

July 4: Boucle Verbier St. Bernard 105K Trail Run (http://www.trailvsb.com)

July 25: Swiss Alpine Marathon (78K)

Aug. 23/30: Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc 166km (http://www.ultratrailmb.com)

The rest of the weekends will be for cycling, a subject for a different event thread I suppose!

Oh boy, now thats what i call a list of races, not much social running for you this year, can't wait to see the biking one.

I admire the way you set the bar at heights and go for it. Sounds fun.....my knee hurts just reading that list. Good luck and enjoy.

Biking one (Hillseeker version) just posted!
Bicycling: long-distance, mass-participation rides

Hi,

I'm really new to Basel and looking for regular running, swimming and cycling groups to train with. I've done a number of Ironman races but don't know where to start. I looked at the wildcats site and it looks like it's for very young particpants. I would appreciate anyones help and advice as to how they started training here in Basel.
I've been doing a lot of training on my own at the moment but starting to get bored with my own company.

Thanks in advance for your help

Is anyone running LGT Alpine Marathon (www.lgt-alpin-marathon.li) this Saturday? If so, I can offer you a ride if you are near (or can get to) the Thalwil area. Please PM me if interested. Cheers.

Best of luck with that little beasty, may you run faster than the wind and huff and puff less than an angry wolf.

Quick race report - LGT Alpin Marathon:

Beautiful and often brutal marathon course. Major rain during all but the first hour -- was a soaking wet day with 1800 meters of elevation gain over the 42km course. The rain never seemed to stop and it got colder as we climbed and the day progressed. I feel for the people who didn't bring a shell or hat. Even with my shell and gloves, I was shivering by the time I crossed the finish!

Nice and easy flat 10K to start and then the first big climb (10km itself), which was sometimes runnable but often so steep that walking was in order for all but the elite. Quick descent down to Steg to close out the 1/2 marathon section. I had it in my mind that the bulk of the climbing was in the bag by this point -- which is entirely the wrong thing to have in your mind when you reach Steg!



From Steg (center-right in the photo below), you begin a long climb (partly runnable with some rolling sections early on). This part of the course is very scenic (especially, I can imagine, when the weather is clear!). There are some very steep bits, especially the end push to the pass that overlooks Malbun (top of photo just left of center). 30km+ into the race -- this climb hurts and seems to never end.



After topping out on the 2nd big climb of the day, you're rewarded with nice views and the feeling that you're on the home stretch -- you can see Malbun and soon even hear the Finish Line announcer. This is a cruel joke though. After descending to the edge of town, you climb back up again high above Malbun -- a 5km tour of the town that packs a huge punch in tired legs that were expecting an easy push down (and only down!) to the Finish Line. Half way through this tour, you drop back down toward Malbun and climb up again (toward the top of the Malbun ski lifts). With the big day of rain, we made countless crossings of small streams and splashed through endless mud. It was a cold, wet, and dirty day of racing -- great fun of course!

Finally the climbing ends and you have a rippin' descent to the Finish Line. Good SWAG at the finish (nice technical shirt plus a nice Swarovski wine bottle stopper). Even with my dry post-race clothes on, it took me half an hour to stop shivering. I saw people being treated for hypothermia -- which reinforces the need to take mountain weather seriously.

I'm looking forward to next year's race, when the weather will hopefully cooperate! Next up, the Graubünden Marathon -- which I just noticed has nearly 900 additional meters of elevation gain over the LGT. Doh!

Maybe next year, it reminded me of one of my fav rave runs along the malbun skyline taking in the summit too.
Am ready-ing myself for the Aletsch halb marathon at bettmeralp myself, if anyone else fancies a more modest goal on one of the most scenic bits of CH.

Anybody else doing Graubünden-Marathon in a couple weeks? After the water-logged Malbun race, I'm hoping for a nice day for this one. Would offer to drive, but think the train will work well for this one.

June 27: Graubünden-Marathon (shown as Chur-Rothorn on Kate's list) http://www.graubuenden-marathon.ch

Zugspitz Extremeberglauf 19 July 2009. Not exactly in Switzerland, but nearby Austria...perhaps could be added to the list above.

I think that Extremeberglauf is my new favorite word in German. One simple word that describes so much! Looks like a great race. Loads of elevation gain on a fairly short track -- reminds me of the Matterhornlauf, just a bit longer and more elevation gain. It's a week before the Swiss Alpine Marathon, else I'd be tempted to hop over to Austria to run it. Actually, I'm still tempted.

A quick bump. is anyone else interested? Don't look at these pictures (atleast not in full resolution), else you might cave in to the temptation

But if you do, here are a few additional details: the journey takes about 6 hours from Zurich to Ehrwald by train. Will have to stay there overnight, as the event starts at 9 am. I would be booking my journey in a few days, so I hope I can find some English speaking companion before that Feel free to pm me for more details (but it is a debut for me, I am likely to be more confused )

Cheers!

Hi

I'm also running Swiss Alpine Marathon (78km) on Saturday...trying to get my points to run UTMB next year.

I have found it really hard doing the long training runs alone, is there anyone in the Bern area who would be interested in doing long runs next year?

Deb