INNSBRUCK, April 30, 2026 – The second day of the adidas Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival offered a mix of sporting highlights and cultural events. Under the motto “Come to hunt — or be hunted!”, the starting gun was fired for the first time for a unique elite race in a gruelling pursuit format. The organisers of the WMTRC 2023 once again invited the world’s elite to Innsbruck to compete for €30,000 in prize money over two stages. The first stage took place today on the Vertical Race course.In the evening, a spectacular film screening followed, leaving the audience in awe.
ELITE RACE TRAIL HUNT AND VERTICAL
On Thursday morning, the programme got underway with the first events at the Hungerburg: the Trail Hunt and the Vertical..
The first edition of the Trail Hunt kicked off at 11:00 am sharp, and in an incredible time of 48:45 minutes, Richard Omaya Atuya secured victory in the first stage, thereby gaining a lead going into tomorrow’s chase stage. “ It was a gruelling race, but this new trail running format is really fun, and you need the right tactics too ” said Richard Omaya Atuya, delighted with his victory. He was followed across the finish line by Ephantus Mwangi Nueri, with Daniel Pattis taking third place.
In the women’s race, Ruth Mwihaki Gitonga won in a time of 0:58:55, ahead of Hannah Groeber in second place and Laura Hottenott in third. Only the top 50 finishers in each gender from the Vertical Race, or athletes finishing within a 15-minute grace period, qualified for the second race and the overall classification. The women start tomorrow at 9.30 am, the men at 10.00 am, in a pursuit start with exactly the same time gap as in the Vertical. The pursuit course covers over 1,700 metres of elevation gain on a circuit along the Nordkette, starting and finishing in Innsbruck.
The participants in the Vertical Race set off together, or shortly after the Trail Hunt athletes. In the general class of the Vertical, Amelie Muss from Salzburg won with a time of 1:05:15 seconds; in the men’s event, Germany’s Tobias Ulbrich (53 minutes) triumphed ahead of Mathias Gwechenberger from Salzburg.
LIVE CENTER
All results are available here in the Live Center.
Tomorrow, the live stream of the final pursuit race of the Trail Hunt will run between 9:15 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Live Stream
Royalty-free photos: To the pictures