Dispatches from the middle

Those of you who know me well and with whom I’ve discussed marathons have probably already been told of this race and subjected to emails full of YouTube links. I’m going to post about it anyway, however, as it’s one of the quirkier races I know about, and one of the goals of my blogging is to explore the weirder and more wonderful aspects of the distance running world.

This one takes place in a salt mine in Sondershausen, Germany, approx. 700 m below the surface and 500 m below sea level, which makes it the deepest and the lowest marathon in the world. The conditions are challenging, with 30% humidity, 25 – 30 C temperatures, and an elevation change of 310 m on each of the race’s four laps (totalling 1240 m). Issues of air quality and dehydration make it a relatively stupid thing to do, but therein lies the attraction!

There are lights placed at regular intervals along the course, but much of it is run in almost total darkness. Participants are required to wear helmets as the earth is still shifting and there is a danger of falling debris.

Here is a WDR (Westdeutschen Rundfunk) report on the 7th running of the Sondershausen Marathon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X93coPbdYlE

It’s in German, but has the best image quality of any of the videos I’ve looked at. A couple friends of mine have run this one and survived quite handily, though their times were comparatively slow. In short, it won’t kill you, but it’s definitely difficult and quirky enough to warrant mention!