Organising the "Rund um den Traunsee" (powered by Dynafit) mountain marathon around Lake Traunsee has become a year-long job: Harald Buchinger's team is already working flat out to make sure that the 28th mountain marathon turns out to be as unique an experience as ever.

Primarily, what this means is that further improvements and changes have been made for participants.

• It is a well-known fact that the greatest source of stress for mountain marathon runners is the registration process because of the high demand for places. The following measures are intended to alleviate this situation:
  
  
  • On 1 February 8 p.m., the registration process for 250 starting places will open. These will be for the entire route.
  • On 2 February 8 p.m., the registration process for 150 starting places will open. These will be for the route between Ebensee and Gmunden.
  • On 3 February 8 p.m., the registration process for 100 starting places will open. These will be for the route between Gmunden and Ebensee.

  NEW:

  Anyone who has taken part in the mountain marathon five times or morewill be automatically entitled to a starting place this time around! How to apply: All starters who qualify can apply for their starting place from December by contacting harald.buchinger@bergmarathon.at . They will then receive a confirmation so that they can register officially between 2 and 20 January.
  
  
• The increase in the number of starters has brought about several other changes
  
  
  • The bib numbers for all the routes will only be issued between the hours of 2 p.m. and 8 p.m on the Friday before the mountain marathon.
  • The registration process has been outsourced. From now on, it will be managed by Race Result, who will also be responsible for runner monitoring.
  • Cancellation insurance will be offered as part of the registration process. It will no longer be possible to reimburse the entry fee unless this insurance has been taken out.
  • Stern & Hafferl and ÖBB will operate a free shuttle service between Gmunden and Ebensee and between Ebensee and Gmunden.
  • In light of the ÖBB timetables, the start time in Ebensee has also got to be changed. Henceforth, this will be between 8.30 a.m. and 9 a.m.
  • The times for passing through the monitoring checkpoints are also being changed (see below).
  • A special offer will be available during registration in the form of the Dynafit Enduro 12 // limited edition mountain marathon rucksack (cost of the special edition bearing the mountain marathon logo: just €69.00!),
    
    
• And finally, there is a little bit of bad news: To enable us to provide all of these improved services and cover the higher costs involved, the entry fee has got to be increased to €55.00. However, when it comes to events of this class, the mountain marathon remains one of the very cheapest.

The new checkpoint times:

1. Traunstein Gedenkstein 07.30
2. Traunstein 10.00
3. Kaisertisch 11.30
4. Karbach 12.30
5. Spitzelsteinalm 13.30
6. Ebensee 14.00 (kein Weiterlaufen mehr möglich. Zielschluss Halbmarathon bis 15.00)
7. Feuerkogel 15.30
8. In der Kreh 17.00
9. Mühlbach 18.00
10. Grasberg 19.00
11. Gmundnerberg 20.00
12. Zielschluss 21.00