This is part 9 of a series detailing my experiences travelling to Europe and completing the Gore-tex TransAlpine Run. The TransAlpine Run is a 7-day stage race from southern Germany across Austria and into northern Italy boasting a distance of 250 km and elevation gain of 15000 m. Eight of us traveled there together as Team Ultra Crazy to attempt this huge goal.
I participated in the race in September 2016 but am just finished up the last few posts finally in June 2018. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
St. Leonhard in Passeier to Sarnthein
33.6 km | 2440 m ascent | 2153 m descent | 9 hour cut off

You may have noticed there aren’t a lot of photos during the first half (or the “up” portion) of the day for my TransAlpine posts. When starting this race, I quickly learned not to take many photos until descending because I desperately needed all the precious minutes and seconds to make the cutoffs. I’m not sure why I took a few this day, but it could have been a disastrous mistake. I remember this was an awesome but difficult day with the last cut off being really tight!
There was lots of beautiful and scenic climbing as per usual. We had to get up over the ridge, down some steep, technical, rocky terrain, through the alpine for a while, and then straight down into town. We saw more cows of course, by this point I was getting a little less nervous around them.



You may have noticed there aren’t a lot of photos during the first half (or the “up” portion) of the day for my TransAlpine posts. When starting this race, I quickly learned not to take many photos until descending because I desperately needed all the precious minutes and seconds to make the cutoffs. I’m not sure why I took a few this day, but it could have been a disastrous mistake. I remember this was an awesome but difficult day with the last cut off being really tight!
There was lots of beautiful and scenic climbing as per usual. We had to get up over the ridge, down some steep, technical, rocky terrain, through the alpine for a while, and then straight down into town. We saw more cows of course, by this point I was getting a little less nervous around them.




Chris stuck very close by me the whole race but ran off ahead a bit as we descended through farm land. It’s easier for him to run as his pace down than putting on the breaks to slow down to mine. Every so often he’d wait for me to catch up. So of course this is when I bailed.
I had been running down this weird cobblestone trail near a German lady when she fell. I stopped to make sure she was alright, although we didn’t speak the same language. She managed to continue on. Moments later I fell and cut my hand open on a rock. It wasn’t a big deal, however, I always feel a little off when I lose blood. I wrapped my Buff around it to stop the bleeding and caught up with Chris.
The next aid station was in sight below so I saw a first aid attendant there. He washed it out a bit, wrapped it in a ton of gauze and told me to get it checked out again at the finish line. Chris got me some sugary snacks while I sat and shook off my lightheadedness for a few minutes.


We finished this stage in 8 hours and 18 minutes. I believe we stayed at Hotel Alpenblick that night which was a short drive from the finish line. I remember ordering a three course meal which was heavily cheese and the salad bar was amazing!



More in the series:
- Part 1: TransAlpine Run 2016 – Preface
- Part 2: TransAlpine Run 2016 – Packing
- Part 3: TransAlpine Run 2016 – Before the Race
- Part 4: TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 1
- Part 5: TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 2
- Part 6: TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 3
- Part 7: TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 4
- Part 8: TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 5
- Part 9: TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 6
- Part 10: TransAlpine Run 2016 – Stage 7
- Part 11: TransAlpine Run 2016 – After the Race