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The Aletsch Half-marathon/Switzerland - a mountain run in the only UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in the Alps - Welcome to the greatest half-marathon of Europe - Sunday, June 30, 2013 ©Aletsch Half-marathon
The Aletsch Half-marathon/Switzerland – a mountain run in the only UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site in the Alps – Welcome to the greatest half-marathon of Europe – Sunday, June 30, 2013
Since 2001, the Great Aletsch Glacier and its surrounding territories have been under rigorous protection, not only under Swiss law. The magnificent natural beauty of the area around Jungfrau, Bietschhorn and the Great Aletsch Glacier also attracted the attention of UNESCO, which added the region to its list of World Natural Heritage Sites.
This ranks the Aletsch region with Ayers Rock and Barrier Reef in Australia, the Serengeti in Africa and Yosemite National Park in the United States.
A unique feature of the race is that the runners can glimpse the achingly beautiful heart of this World Natural Heritage Site as they run through it. The altitude and the gradients in this half-marathon are vertiginous – but the view of the glacier and the 4,000-metre peaks are even more breathtaking.
The event from Sunday, June 30, 2013 on the original route!
Thanks to the warm weather from the last week and many helps from the volunteers we are verry happy to announce that allso the 28th edition from once of the most beautiful mountain run can take place on the original route!
For the first time in its history, the places for the Aletsch Half-Marathon were awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. This method has been adopted to help ensure the quality of this run in the future. The limit of 2,300 runners was reached in mid-June.
We like to welcome all the participents in the Aletsch Arena and wishes to everybody good luck and a lot of succees.
27 years of success
Since 1986, this top mountain run along the longest glacier in the Alps – the Aletsch glacier – has been organised in Bettmeralp. Since then this mountain run – also called the glacier run – has continuously progressed.
In the past, the distance up to the 2,650 metre high Bettmerhorn amounted to 17.5 km. In 2000, after careful preparation, the distance and route were adapted to the runners’ standards. Since then the glacier run has been known as the ”Aletsch Half-Marathon“.
As the name indicates, runners have to master a 21.1 km distance with an altitude difference of around 1,050 metres.
The marathon starts at 1,950 meters above sea level.
Though the number of runners taking part seemed to hover at around 550 before the year 2000, the number of participants has reached record levels since the run was renamed the Aletsch Half-Marathon. In 2004, the number of participants passed the 1000 mark for the first time. After 2000 runners from 20 countries finished the run last year, the number rose this year to a new record of 2245. This has meant we are slowly reaching our capacity limits and that is why we have decided to introduce a maximum number of participants to ensure that the efficient organisation of the event is not adversely affected. This has been set at 2300 registered runners for the main run, both male and female.
The decision was made with the aim of ensuring the continuation of the Aletsch Half-Marathon, where runners from near and far are offered a unique sporting experience amidst breathtaking natural scenery combined with outstanding organisational efficiency.
The online registration is closed!
Next event: Sunday, June 30, 2013
Attention: The number of partecipant maximum 2'300 is completed!
Thank you verry much for the registration and good luck to everybody
Aletsch Halfmarathon/Switzerland
