Saturday, the 5th of September, was THE day! On this day, I participated in my first 100km hike.
I can tell you this was a great adventure! It was the day of the Mammutmarsch Wien (mammoth march Vienna), which is organized by Mammutmarsch.
The Mammutmarsch organizers
The Mammutmarsch organizers perfectly organized the whole event even due to all the Covid-19 restrictions. Every participant had to wear face masks to cover the mouth and nose whenever there was contact with other participants.
There were three starters groups to limit the groups of participants to the allowed number of people during sports events.
You can find more info about the organizers in my previous blog post about the Little Mammut Wien 55km.
The starting groups of the event
This time, the Mammutmarsch Wien 100km had three starting groups, and you had to sign up for one of them. This was necessary because of the Corona restrictions.
There were the following groups where you could register for:
- Group 1: Start time: 12:00, targeted finishing time lower than 22 hours
- Group 2: Start time: 13:30, targeted finishing time between 21 and 24 hours
- Group 3: Start time: 15:30, targeted finishing time between 22 and 26 hours
Since my goal was to finish the 100km in less than 21 hours, I signed up for Group 1.
Mammutmarsch Wien – the 100km hiking route
The Mammutmarsch Wien 100km hiking route started in the 10th district of Vienna. After the start, we followed the course through the 12th, 13th, and 14th districts and passed Schönbrunn, walked around the Lainzer Tiergarten, followed the Wienfluss, and headed up Schottenhof where the first supply station was located.
Over the whole course, there were four supply stations, always after approx. 20km.
After the first supply station, I followed to route, left Vienna, hiked through Klosterneuburg, and then back again to Vienna to the second supply station.
Then the route followed the Donauinsel, led us to Langenzersdorf, then back to Vienna into the 21st district, and then to the third supply station located in the 20th district.
By this time, we already passed the 60km mark.
Now the hiking route led us back to the Donauinsel until Mannswörth where the last supply station was.
For the last 20km, the course led us back to Vienna bypassing Schwechat and then hiking through the 11th district, and finally back to the 10th district.
My personal experience
As mentioned before, the whole 100km hike was an incredible experience. I was able to finish the course after 19 hours and 19 minutes. The first 80km went really well. After 50km, I had to take care of some blisters which I had on the heels of both feet. Besides that, everything was fine.
Unfortunately, the last 20km were tough because my feet started to hurt, and I could barely move in the end. But I finished anyway. It’s really a mindset thing if you are able to finish the 100km or not.
During the whole hike, I drank approx. 14-liter water, eat some High-Protein bars, and Protein Brownie from Myprotein, PowerBar Power Gel Shots with extra caffeine (amazon.de), and salted peanuts.
In addition to the food, I had the following liquid energy gels with me:
Dextro Energy Energy Gel (amazon.de) and PowerBar Power Gel Hydro (amazon.de).
Besides all the food I carried with me, I also eat something at the supply stations too.
As already mentioned, I finished the 100km after 19 hours and 19 minutes. It was just amazing to get this done!
I almost burned 8.000 calories, and I totally destroyed my feet.
More details can be found on my Strava profile.
Aftermath and what’s next
I already mentioned that my foot was totally over. I could only hardly use my right foot the weeks after the hiking event. Since I didn’t go to a doctor, I think I had tendonitis in the foot. My foot hurt so much, and I couldn’t move it to the full range. If you want to learn more about tendonitis, read this page.
I already plan to attend the next 100km hike, which will hopefully take place next year, but let’s see and regularly check the page here.
If you are interested in which other running events I attended in 2020, you can find them and a short history of my other attendances on past events in this blog article.
You are curious why I share this experience with you, no problem. You can get a hint here.
If you want to know more about me or even get in contact with me, you can find more info on my contact page.