Fichtelberg Ultra 2024

A few months after nailing a sub-4h marathon in London (that was just a one-night run — let’s never speak of it again! 😅), I’m back on the dirty trails 🏃‍♂️🌲, spending my Saturdays climbing stairs in Humboldthain Park, north of Berlin. More determined than ever to explore sub-50k events and finally earn my ultrarunner badge, I found myself on the starting line of the Fichtelberg Ultra — a low-profile event in Sachsen that I’d heard a few runners mention before. 🎽⛰️

I don’t have much to say about the race. I had fun running it 😄, but probably not enough to go back another time. There’s nothing particularly special about it — except maybe one thing I really liked: the route is more or less a 50 km straight line ➡️ to the Fichtelberg, the highest peak of the Erzgebirge. It’s a small mountain range along the Polish and Czech borders where I love to run, just a three-hour drive from Berlin. 🚗🌄

Runners gather at sunrise 🌅 in front of Klaffenbach Castle, south of Chemnitz. The whole event feels like a backyard run organized by a veteran couple 👴👵. We drop our backpacks and poles into a car 🚙 that drives them to the foot of the Fichtelberg, where we can pick them up later. The start is nothing more than a quick countdown and some clapping 👏. Everyone just takes off — I don’t think there are more than 50 of us, and that’s probably the average age too! It’s one of those “What am I doing here?” moments 🤔, so far from the massive trail events you find in France. But that’s exactly what I love — getting back to the essence of the sport: just a bunch of dads who had a few beers 🍻 and decided to run 50 km to the highest peak! 👨

Not much to say about the route itself. It’s mostly hilly, rocky paths and endless forest trails 🌲⛰️. What gives the event its charm is that you don’t run a loop like most races, but a straight line to the Fichtelberg, which you can actually spot on the horizon quite early 👀. After the first “wow, that’s pretty far away” moment 😳, you get the pleasure of watching it inch closer after every section, until you finally reach its base, where you can grab your poles and start the final climb 🦵🪢.

The finish line is right at the top — a great way to end a race 🏁. I’ve done plenty of events where the peak sits in the middle of the course and you have to drag yourself back down afterward 😫. But here, once you’re done climbing, you’re done. After a long and exhausting 1 km ascent, you reach the Fichtelberghaus 🏔️, a massive building at the summit, where you get your medal 🥇, a beer 🍺, and a large plate of pasta with mushrooms 🍝. Eventually, a bus takes you back to Klaffenbach, where you can sleep like a baby 😴.

All in all, it’s a humble but enjoyable event — the kind you can register for three days before without spending half a month’s salary 💸. I had a good time running it, apart from getting stung by 3 pretty aggressive bees 🐝🐝🐝 at a water fountain. But don't let that be a deal-breaker, if you’re in the area 😉.