What started as an idea to save a running section

The New Year’s Eve run in Peuerbach had to wait two Corona years to be able to celebrate its 40th anniversary this year. On December 31, this marks a turning point: inventor Hubert Lang hands over to Carsten Eich as chief organizer. “I wish that the run would not just be organized, but staged,” says Lang, referring to the diverse program that has accompanied Austria’s top-class New Year’s Eve run for the past four decades. From wine blessings to Ferraris on the route, our own New Year’s Eve run stamp to musical delicacies such as Jazz-Gitti or Waterloo – Peuerbach always put the event in the spotlight. “We will keep that in order to further develop this race,” promised successor Eich, who is the record winner with six victories – four of them in the previous race in Natternbach (until 1996). The election for “Miss New Year’s Eve Run”, which no longer reflects the spirit of the times, has had its day.

Eich has been taking care of athlete management in Peuerbach for ten years, now he has to expand his area of ​​responsibility. “I’ve never set up an advertising board or organized a roadblock,” says the German, who can ask Lang “24 hours a day” and ask for help.

With Vojta and Mayer

For Lang, a portion of melancholy resonates with the step to the side. In 1981 he had born the run out of necessity because his athletics section in Natternbach owed 26,000 schillings at the time. “We had 88 participants in the first edition, and twice as many in the second,” Lang remembers. Since then, he has not only made the run a platform for young people, but also for Austria’s best runners. This is also the case this time: This year, the 47-time national champion Andreas Vojta and Austria’s record holder Julia Mayer are trying to get a podium finish over the 6.8-kilometer route in the top international field. It is already certain that the course record holder will come with the Serbian Elzan Bibic.