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ULTRALSACE 2020

We are two weeks into the de-containment period. Have all the sporting events been cancelled because of the current health crisis....toutes? No. One small valley, populated by die-hard Alsatians, is still resisting the cancellations.

Bitschwiller-les-thann, 146 days after the detection of patient 0.

At Speck Sports, we're keen to share in the daily sporting lives of our friends, our customers and all the sports enthusiasts in the valley. That's why we quickly came up with the idea of creating a sporting event: a virtual race.

A virtual race? What is a virtual race?

It's a race where you print out your number and choose your route. It's a great way to challenge yourself over 10 or 15 km, or even more for those who want to run a lot, or less for the faster runners! We know our runners, whether on the road or in the mountains! As soon as you mention a race number, you awaken their competitive spirit and motivation, and that's exactly what happened!

788.49km in total! That's the number of kilometres covered by the participants in this virtual race! And even though the initiative was born in the heart of the Thur valley, many runners from all over France and even the world decided to take part and line up at the starting line over the weekend of 16 and 17 May. (France, Morocco, Abu-Dhabi, Belgium).

More than 50 of them accepted the challenge: to run the number of kilometres of their choice by printing their race number and choosing their favourite number. They also took a finisher photo with a pretzel, a prerequisite for entering the draw to win one of the many prizes on offer. It's fair to say that many of them had overflowing imaginations and culinary talents worthy of our Alsatian restaurants!

For his part, a young runner from the valley, who was behind this sporting initiative, set off on a course of several dozen kilometres in total autonomy with the aim of completing the route of the Ultralsace: an ultra-endurance race (of +-100/120km with +-5000/6000 D+). He completed a distance of 75km, carefully recording his route so that he could later offer it to other runners. For the moment, more than half of the route has been laid out in the Thur valley, but his itinerary should include part of the Florival valley. The jewels of the Alsatian mountains are on the programme (Le grand Ballon, le Markstein, le Thanner Hubbel, le Hochstein, le Col du Hundsruck and many others!)

If you are interested in volunteering for this event, please send an email to: ultralsace@gmail.com

We'll let you admire their photos of the finishers and congratulate them once again!