(ethereal music)
(footfalls) (heavy breathing) (gentle guitar music) - [Narrator] There are many
mountain races around the globe. Still, only a handful are truly iconic. For 15 years, the Transalpine
Run has been standing out from the mass, not just
because of the distance and altitude, but because
of its unique spirit and the magic aura of
comradery it's surrounded by since day one. (starting gun fires) (crowd cheers) Eight days, three countries,
270 kilometers to cover, 16,000 meters to climb. More than 300 teams of two brave athletes will be involved into a world of its own embedded in the most
beautiful mountain landscape of the world: the Alps. - I run the Transalpine Run
because I test my limits. I prove to myself what I can and can't do and I push myself further
than I ever could. It's been on my list for seven years, so finally do this with
the timing in my life and with my friend. I’m a bit nervous, of course. It’s a bit like Forrest Gump: “Life’s like a box of chocolates – you never know what
you’re going to get.” At the TAR it’s eight boxes of chocolates, a new one each
day – and each one contains a little surprise. Let’s see what
happens. I am curious what it will be this year. I want to have fun and make it to the finish. That’s the aim. It’s my first time running with a partner. I’m sure we’ll make it work – in the past I’ve always just
about made it through. - I think it's gonna quite
an emotional experience. I think it's nice that this is an event that you have to do with a partner. I think going through the experience over the course of a week will be personally really rewarding. I think that our relationship will be strengthened because of it. So, I think it's a challenge that you're going through together rather than an individual challenge so that's quite unique, I think. - This will definitely push
me outside of my comfort zone. Also love being in the mountains,
it's so beautiful here. And it's eight days of adventuring, which is a pretty good way
to spend a week, I think. I think if you push yourself
outside of your comfort zone, that's what living is about. You feel alive if you've
gotten that little bit further than you thought you could go and it just gives a real boost, I think. If you get to a point
where you reach a limit, then that's fine too, but you've gotta try and you've gotta see if you're can edge just a little bit further every day. Sure I’m nervous. It’s a new experience for me. Eight stages back to back with such long distances each day
is something I have never done before. I am a little apprehensive. My main aim is to make it through the eight days and cross
the finish line with a smile. (idyllic music) - [Narrator] Running as
a team is both a blessing and a challenge. While you may benefit from
your partner's strength, your team is only as strong
as your weakest link. - So basically, my
partner Marcus is coming around the corner at any
time but I've gotta wait for him until I cross this line here. If I cross that line without him, or if there's a larger
gap than two minutes, then we get a disqualification. So there's no point in me racing ahead, it's not just about me. It's about me and my
partner, we're a team, so I'm just going to
wait as long as it takes and then we'll go and refuel together. (water trickles) - I had no idea what to expect. The whole time I was just afraid I didn't train hard enough. I think I had this idea that maybe I'd survive it feeling good (chuckling) as opposed to feeling crushed. I'm pretty crushed right now. (spray can hisses) - You good? We have to cross that
line together, my man. (chuckling)
(murmuring) - [Marcus] My legs and my head. - He doesn't wanna finish the last 10 K. That's it, I'm done for this year. I had won the bib number and didn't train very much. I started off to fast with the other guys and didn't have enough strength left in the end But that's ok, I'm fine. - [Narrator] While most
teams start to settle into their groove, for
some, the journey ends on day one already. A lot of things have to fall into place to overcome the physical
and emotional struggles that can haunt you anytime. (intense guitar music) My name is Stefan, I am 25 years old and I study geology at university in Bern. When we were young we would go on lots of walks hikes and ski tours with our parents. Sport was part of our childhood, but I didn’t really do much
running. My name is Martin Lustenberger, I am 31 years old and I come
from Griens. We grew up in a family that liked doing mountain sports. Later on I did athletics until I was 17 or 18. Stefan was also involved in athletics when I started running
in the mountains. After a couple of years he started doing mountain running
too. For about 4 or 5 years I have been doing trailrunning, mountain running, skyrace or whatever you want to call it.
There are so many different words! My brother is definitely the calmer one. He likes to plan and think things through. That’s good for me, because I am often the one who has too
much energy or gets really into something. We knew that we could run fast, but we didn’t know quite how
fast. The TAR with its eight stages is totally different. We didn’t know what to expect, so we set ourselves the goal of making it through to the
finish in Sulden. - [Announcer] Good morning,
here in Lech am Arlberg, second day, second stage of the
Transalpine Run by Gore-Tex. Today, the stage two; St.
Anton, then Lech am Arlberg. 27.7. Today we had to get up at 5am, yesterday it was 7am. But that’s good, because it is a bit colder and the motivation levels are high. (upbeat music) - My name is Todd Savard and I'm from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I've known Adrienne for five years. When I started running with her, we had the same philosophy
about running, right? The same mindset. And I think in a race like this, you have to have similar philosophy. - I'm Adrienne, I live
in Calgary in Canada. It's right by the Rocky Mountains. That's kind of my, I guess, home turf. I guess, being injured has
been a bit of a struggle for me just because I'm not as
strong as I feel I should be. - She's doing well. She's motoring along,
her ankle's a bit sore. But she's strapped in,
so if she beats me up, I beat her down. Or so I hope. - I think downhills are
usually where I'm the fastest. And I feel like that's
where I'm going the slowest. So it's a bit frustrating, but, (breathing heavily) not
much I can do about it, so. - [Todd] I think if you
ask anybody that's here, they'll say the same thing right? Strengths and weaknesses, right? Me and we. More we, right? - [Adrienne] Yeah! - Less me. My partner's the injured one
and she's all the way up there. And today I'm just gonna try to keep up. Well, sometimes our
strengths are our weaknesses, and how you sort of,
like yin and yang, right? How everything works together. So I think sometimes her
and I are like yin and yang. And it's that sometimes
I'm gonna slow down, she has to wait. I think we do a good job of
complimenting each other. - Whatever comes his
way, he rolls with it. When I said I rolled my
ankle and I was like, "Well, I don't think I can run", he just said, "We'll make it work." (upbeat music) (cowbells tinkling) - My name's Marc Rosenkoetter,
I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. I'm running with one of my best friends, a guy named Russ Watts. We've been friends for
almost 20 years now. He's just turned 50 and I just turned 40. - I think he came up
with the idea of saying, "Let's celebrate our birthdays
by coming and doing TAR", and I said, "Fuck, yeah; let's do that!" - And so this was the big
middle finger to just say, "Hey age, you don't have anything on us. We can still do something like this." - [Narrator] Despite all the doubt, there's an inner compass, your true North that guides you to way. It's your why, the
collection of all the reasons that brought you here, the summary of all your hopes and dreams, the bright gleam of your personality. This shining beacon will lead you through times of disappointment and anger. (uplifting music) - I have this little thing
on my foot, it's a blister. Right there, it's the smallest thing. I'm gonna just put a dry sock on. Dry sock makes blister happy. We just headed out onto the course without thinking too
much. We knew that we were strong, but we didn’t think we would be able to compete at the front
of the race. We will just see how things develop. My name is Sven Simon and I have been the presenter of the Transalpine Runs for he last 15 years. The Transalpine Run is always an emotional highlight. It starts already on the first stage. As the runners come into the finish. I have goose bumps - you can see how happy they are just to have made it through the first day. Things develop stage by stage – the emotions get more intense the closer you get to the
finish. The big highlight is the final Saturday. It is really emotional and exhausting even for me. I have been known to stand there and have goose bumps and tears in my eyes. I always have my TAR info folder, some call it my Bible, with me. It contains all the results from the TARs from 2005 until today. If there’s anything I haven’t got in my head, then it’s written down somewhere in here. I can always have a quick look to a fact or statistic while presenting. (chattering) - Day three, everything is all sore like it's supposed to be,
but the front of my calf, I feel like the front of my
shin is hurting pretty badly every step downhill when you have to lift the front of your foot up. And so I'm getting taped this morning to hopefully keep me moving. Yeah, so things are great for Russ and I. - Were ready to go crush it day three. It's even tender as you
rub your hand over it. - [Medical Assistant] It's a special one, it's a pink one only for you. - [Mark] Oh, is it special? - Yeah.
- Oh okay, what makes it- - [Medical Assistant] Only the color. - Oh (laughing). Last time this particular
injury happened to me, I took a week off and it was fine. But this time around,
with six more days to go, I need to make sure I stay in one piece. - [Narrator] The bags are packed, the athletes are on their way
to the starting line, again. Those seconds before the start are full of positive
tension and togetherness. Until the gun goes off and
everyone's on his own again. Again. (intense music) I witness a certain pressure made by ourselves. We are definitely ambitious and the pace is fast every day. We are both not the type of person who only aspire for success and have to show that we're the best. I can definitely imagine that it (our success) ends during
the last stages. But we are giving our best. We'd still be satisfied, even if the last three stages don't
go well and we do not win. But yes, there's definitely a certain
pressure. - [Narrator] The fraction of a second determines the outcome of the entire race. One brief moment of carelessness and a piercing pain
shocks your body and mind. Call it tough luck or
fate, it doesn't matter. It's over when it's over. The pain was getting stronger. Then it went pop. (tore) first of all we take the shoe off. Yes, something is definitely wrong. (spray hisses) Game over. Is it the ligament! Thats it. I don’t know if its torn, but I have to get someone to look at it. Race over. (suspenseful music) (jolly music) - This is all the important stuff, this is the nectar of the gods! (laughing) Nectar of the gods (laughing). - So, Todd likes to
linger at aid stations. He will spend a long time at aid stations and you can chew up a
lot of time just wasting at aid station, and I tend
to be more of an in and out. (laughing) (shouting) (footsteps running) (chattering) - Russ always, always, has such
a good and positive energy. If I'm feeling like my
blood sugar is dropping and my starting to bunk,
he's there with jokes, and obviously we get me
sugar or whatever I need to get back up, but aside
from the nutrition aspect, he's just got such good energy. - You're fucking great! You could've ordered a better
day, but I don't think so. - Feeling good despite the expected pains and yeah, holding up. - 'Cause he has a heart. He has a heart.
- From Outdoor Physio. - Yeah. Love. - Time to warm up, get some
food and get back on it. - [Russ] The sweepers,
they're the true heroes. - Seriously.
- They are the true heroes. These folks, they give us food and clean and make sure the trails are, we love you. - We started off at the very,
very back of the pack today. Intentionally, because of my ankle. No, don't put those away yet. - [Event Marshall] Plus two hours, yeah? - [Russ] 15, 16, 17? - 17, yes. And time now is 15-26. - [Russ] So, hour and half. - [Event Marshall] Yeah. - Is that reasonable? - [Event Marshall] 8 K. - And so I wanna be with a partner that is able to have
fun when it gets crazy. And so that's what I like about him is it doesn't get serious and
like, "Oh, this is hard". Like, "Oh, this is fucking hard, all right, let's turn it up!" To be honest, there's not that many people I would want to do this TAR race with because a lot of it's psychological and a lot of it has to
do with your partner and whether they're willing
to push their limits, whether they're helpful
in pushing your limits. And so, yeah, Marc is a
person of exceptional quality. - [Narrator] Despite all
the battles you fight with yourself, this race
is about togetherness. You're only as strong as
your running partner is, and in many cases, your
constitutions will emerge. But that's exactly what
makes the fascination of the Transalpine Run. You run as a team, but you
also laugh, curse, suffer, struggle, and rejoice as a team. (haunting music) - Morning on day four. It's still painful a
lot and when you wake up in the morning, your body feels
like you're hit by a truck, but here we are. My shin is still a bit of a problem, so at the request of the massage folks, I went to the medical tent
and they sprayed my leg with an ice spray and now
I'm here to get taped up and ready to go for day four. It’s a special experience for me. I have never run such a long distance, neither in training nor in a race. I will be interested to see if I can run for 5 or 6 hours. We might have to slow down a bit from our normal tempo so that we can hopefully enjoy the queen’s stage. Let’s see how things develop. The first climb will show us what kind of form we are in. We will choose the right speed for us wich feels
comfortable. (ethereal music) My name is Harald Wisthaler, I am an outdoor photographer from South Tyrol in Italy. The hardest part of the Transalpine Run is to keep up with the runners. They are all really strong, even those in the middle of the bunch. We photographers often run certain sections or even half of the course. Now we’re off to the next spot at the second refreshment
station. We have to hurry. We can drive a couple of minutes by car, but we will have to
do the rest on foot. In the evening it is really cool to see my own pictures and
those of others. You can see the emotions and how happy people are to see out
work. That’s exactly what you want as a photographer. (intense guitar music) - [Narrator] After a few days out there, the raw beauty of emotions takes over. Who you are is now more
important than what you do. Your true nature, the desire and hunger that pushes you forward, the fear and disbelief
that holds you back. It all comes to light and is being shared with the kindred spirits around you. That's when a group of participants
turns into a community. - When you're up there and
you feel that you're at one with the ground, with the earth, like when I was at the top of the clouds, I realized I got to the
top of the mountain. You look down and you see all that clouds, you realize two things. You realize how big you
are, but you also realize how small you are just
in that environment, just the surroundings. And I think that's what I enjoy. I think that's what brings me peace. Yeah, I broke down. I was just so emotional
because it's just the... (chattering) - To mentally do it one day, you're like, "Yeah, I got this", but
then, day after day, you start to break down more and more and I think mentally it
becomes very challenging. It's you did this yesterday,
you're gonna do it tomorrow, it's gonna hurt every day no matter what. I think that strips
away some of your energy a little bit. - What I did find is that
there was on that first climb, you've got the energy from everybody else. Everybody just, one step at a time. You didn't wanna stop because
you didn't wanna break whatever energy was connecting us all. So, I'm marching, she's marching and she's there for me
and I'm there for her. And I picked a metaphor of getting to the top of the mountain is something that we use all the time in our everyday. And today, it wasn't a metaphor, it was actually a reality! So, you're thankful for your husband, for your wife, for your partner,
for your parents, you know? This doesn't happen just with us, right? It happens to so many
other people supporting us. - It's camaraderie, it's
you're all suffering together. And if you're all suffering together, you're more of a one than
you are an individual. You're one, a group of people that are, you're being, yeah, together, brain fried. - Everyone has pain in
their body at this point. And I'm happy to say, I
think I got this one kicked, meaning if I can make it
through the last two days, I can keep going. (heavy breathing)
(dramatic music) - [Narrator] While most
stages turn into long days with the little time to recover, the fifth stage is very different. Hardly eight kilometer to go with an altitude gain of 850 meters. A short timeframe of pure energy where all hell breaks loose. It's you and the mountain,
nothing else counts. (intense rock music) (crowd clapping)
(crowd cheering) (chattering) (emotional strings music) Naturally, you will face ups and downs, but owing to the magnitude
of the challenge, your body will eventually bend and break. It's a tough sport, but that's
one reason why they chose it. - We'll see you again today and tomorrow, but I wanted to say thank you. - Thank you so much. - A small thank you to the
staff at Outdoor Physio for every single day
we've come for a massage, a treatment, a taping, and
it's made all the difference. They’re really nice guys. They are really ambitious and want to make it through to the
finish. I wish them all the best and hope they make it. - [Announcer] Four, three, two, one! (starting gun fires) (dramatic music) - I think anybody will
tell you the same thing. I have no idea what day of the week it is, it feels like it's just a block of time. And usually when we run 100-milers, we always tell people
you're gonna live a lifetime in 30 hours. And you do, you get these emotional highs and you get these lows and
there are people cheering, and then sometimes you're
in the middle of the night, two o'clock in the morning with your poles and you're all by yourself. So yeah, to say we are living
in a bubble right now, we are. It's a cool bubble. (crowd clapping) What happened? I fell on a forest road. Shoulder, rib, knee, head. totally stupid No doubts, i am still in the race, but I didn’t need something like this today. Two years ago I ran my 100th stage here and it was great. Today it’s a crash stage… (emotional piano music) - It is hard, yeah, it was really hard. I was super tired. And just kinda felt gassed all day. But, yeah, it was fun, it was good. It was rainy, yup. - Rainy?!
(laughing) We had little bullets coming
down, it was pretty awesome. It was nice, yeah. I'm glad it's done. - We had a hail storm that
was pelting us, it hurt. - Yeah, we had a crazy
hail storm, it was nuts! And it was like a scree
field going up to the top. I mean, it was absolutely gorgeous. Frankly, it was my favorite day. - Yeah, easily. Hard, hard, really hard,
but favorite, yeah. - My shin is holding up. My stomach was probably the thing that hurt me the most today, but I think it was just
being up at like 9,000 feet. And here we are. (suspenseful music) - I'd say I'm a bit done. And I think a little bit of frustration in terms of not being able to
run the way I would like to. Yeah. (emotional piano music) (crowd clapping) Yeah, having the injury for
sure has been mentally hard and it's added another
challenge to the race for me. For sure, it's been
hard; very hard mentally. And Todd has been a really
great support that way, he'll let me go first down the hills and just hang out behind me. I can't imagine doing this race by myself or as a solo person. Eight days on the trails for
six, seven hours by myself, I wouldn't do it. (enthralling strings music) - Holy shit, this is amazing! What! The best I've ever been, in, around, wow! Totally monumental. - You can try to express the experience. But I think that you can only
tell people you have to come. It's spectacular, it's
amazing, it's fabulous. (gentle music) (thunder rumbles) - [Narrator] The weather
can change as quickly as the scenery the runners pass through. Pouring rain, fierce winds and freezing cold. That's the pact you
make when participating in a multi-day mountain race. After all, such conditions can be grueling and heartening at the same time. (dramatic piano music) You can go for a run. You can go for a long run. You can even run through days and nights. But running in the mountains
for eight days in a row will take you to a place inside of you you haven't been before. Unlinked from your everyday life and focused on the one sole
purpose, you will thrive. - Is it hard? Yeah. You can't come here
half-ready, that's for sure and this is, it's hard. If you're gonna come here
and be under-trained, it's not gonna work. If you're gonna come here and not really believe
in what you're doing, it's not gonna work. You definitely have to commit and say, "This is what I want to do." You can't second-guess it, you gotta say, "Whatever
happens, this is where I go." There's only two things to think about: you commit, you finish. (gentle piano music) - Morning on day eight. So yesterday my left shin went out, so now both shins are bad
so I'm here to get taped one last time to power
through the last day. The harsh reality of
the world is coming in. I already have to check in for my flight, because by now I'll be on a plane heading back home tomorrow. So, it's mind-boggling
to think that I have to go back to the real
world here in a minute. But before now and then,
gotta go crush another day of the Transalpine Run. - I've got it in me to keep running and so physically I'm sad that it's over because I feel like I could do more. But yeah, I'm sad that the
friendships that we've created will end for the moment and
hopefully will continue, whether it's another TAR or people coming and visiting in Italy
or other races similar. (speaks German) (crowd clapping) - So it's final day of
the Transalpine Run, the 15th edition of this iconic
event, crossing the Alps. And it always astounds me as to what goes through the minds of
runners to get themselves from the start to this finish. Eight days later, you
know, almost 300 kilometers of absolute massive mountains
all the way across the Alps, it really is just an incredible feat. And I think for the runners to
overcome something like this, it takes an absolutely gigantic efforts from day to day to day, just
to keep themselves motivated. I think nothing's more evident
of how the emotions run, of how high the emotions
run at the Transalpine Run, than at the finish line on the last day, and it's just incredible
to see how runners, it's just this release,
this overwhelming release of emotion that comes over them. Some crying, some absolutely laughing and excited, others collapse. It's a momentous task
to get across these Alps and you can certainly see
that at the finish line. You can really get that sense of energy and that energy sticks with you when you leave this final day. (crowd cheering) (emotional music) (gentle piano music)
