Photo Report: Graz Bike Festival Stattegg 2023

13.06.23 07:23 7362023-06-13T07:23:00+02:00Text: NoMan (translated by AI)Photos: Bernd GruberOf everything, everything, round two: As part of the Sport Austria Finals, the Austrian National Hill Climb and Pumptrack Championships took place in the provincial capital - the former coupled with the Schöckl Summit Storm.13.06.23 07:23 7702023-06-13T07:23:00+02:00

Photo Report: Graz Bike Festival Stattegg 2023

13.06.23 07:23 7702023-06-13T07:23:00+02:00 NoMan (translated by AI) Bernd Gruber

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Of everything, everything, round two: As part of the Sport Austria Finals, the Austrian National Hill Climb and Pumptrack Championships took place in the provincial capital - the former coupled with the Schöckl Summit Storm.13.06.23 07:23 7702023-06-13T07:23:00+02:00

In Graz-Stattegg this year, as is well known, everything that the endurance-oriented sector of mountain biking has to offer was packed into two major events. Part one was the opening in May, and now it was time for the continuation with the Bike Festival.
The program promised a variety, with one day around and on the Schöckl mountain followed by a second day that took place exclusively on asphalt and in the tightest of radii – and still offered plenty of action.

2 Events, 3 National Championships
the Graz Double-Trio 2023

Schöckl Summit Storm with Austrian Hill Climb Championship

To kick off the event on the day of Corpus Christi, the mountain personality of the Graz area was waiting: The challenge was to conquer the 1,445 m high Schöckl; and whoever managed to do this the fastest could adorn themselves with the championship title in Hill Climb.
Among the men, Manfred Zöger – somewhat surprisingly for himself – achieved the fastest time with 1:09:05, followed by Christoph Spreitzhofer (+ 29 sec.) and Martin Rauscher. "I'm not exactly the classic climber in terms of physique. But there were also flat sections in between, so more all-around skills were in demand," explained the new title holder from the MTB Team Bucklige Welt his success.
In the women's competition, with weather initially sunny, then increasingly cloudy and finally rainy, Alina Reichert (1:20:02) was able to prevail over Marlies Feichtenhofer and Julia Sörgel and crown herself as the Austrian Champion in Hill Climb.

Alternatively, the 22-kilometer and 1,200-meter elevation Direttissima of the Schöckl Summit Storm served as the counter for the Small classification of the KTM Mountainbike Challenge. Those who wanted to collect points for the Classic classification or the Marathon Cup had to complete a few extra meters on the legendary Schöckl trails and reached the goal – and with it the legendary Kaiserschmarrn of the mountain inn – only after 55 kilometers and 2,500 meters of elevation. As changeable as the weather was the terrain on this ride around and on the local mountain of Graz.

In the end, veteran Andreas Dollinger dominated the Challenge long distance in the men's category, ahead of cross-country skiing Olympic champion Christian Hoffmann and Josef Hausleitner, with Blanka Krajnc leading the women's category. However, Andreas Waldmann and Karoline Neumüller were just a touch faster, having started in the Austria Marathon Cup classification.
On the Small course, the victory went to Matthias Temmel and Nathalie Schöffmann.

Ergebnisse Gipfelsturm & ÖM Hill Climb

Pump Track Escalation

Days later, the Graz bike club Giant Stattegg delivered - once again - a premiere: Coinciding with the opening of the new pump track in Gratkorn, the first Austrian Pump Track Championship was also held. So, pumping instead of pedaling, solid asphalt instead of rolling stones, and sprint power instead of endurance.

In the finals, one had to complete two rounds on the brand-new course as part of the Elite Austrian Championships. Championship medals were generally awarded from U13 upwards. However, in the hobby competition, everyone from U7 to U100 was allowed to start - and from the 16" tot to the experimentally inclined silverback, many took advantage of the new opportunity to experience a novel competitive atmosphere and to hone their riding skills.

Impressive then was the performance of many a pump track pro. Even though the increasingly popular wave tracks are low-threshold exercise options that can be used by participants of every level and age: to double at just the right moment, to take partial sections effortlessly on a manual, or not to mess up the light S-curve before the finish line due to impressive speed, that still requires very special skills - not to mention the basic technique of cornering.

With mountain, dirt, and BMX bikes, the fastest literally flew over the course - eleven, twelve, 13 seconds long, until - with a swift move and a wink - the round was already over.
In the end, Alexandra Eckert was able to rejoice over championship honors in the elite class, followed by Valentina Gruber and Elke Rabeder. Among the men, gold went to Eric Seifried, silver to Suljo-Marcel Sejdic, and bronze to Hannes Slavik.