Internationaler Steyrer Sparkasse Christkindllauf: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

Start and finish are in front of the Altes Theater on the Promenade. From there the lap runs up the Promenade, turns into the Schlosspark and climbs the Schlossberg, crosses the Blumauergasse at the top and drops back down the Berggasse into the old town until it rejoins the Promenade at the Brucknerplatz junction. Those 2.6 kilometres are run twice.

That makes the course considerably more undulating than a 5 km city race suggests: around 70 metres of climbing in total, barely a quarter of the lap genuinely level, and close to 40 per cent of it running uphill. These are not long ascents but two short ramps, each taken twice, with an equally quick descent in between.

The surface changes constantly. About half the course is asphalt, close to a quarter is cobbles through the old-town lanes, and the rest is the compacted gravel of the Schlosspark paths. All of it is run in the dark, in the middle of the Christmas market, and there is homemade gingerbread and tea at the finish. The main race is capped at 500 runners and the prize-giving is held in the baroque Altes Theater.

Pacing Strategy

Deliberately run the first lap too easily. The course is short and the start sits in the bustle of the market, so the opening pace is almost always too high, and you get the same climb a second time if lap one was expensive. On the way into the Schlosspark it is better to be a touch slower than feels right.

The race is decided on the second climb up the Schlossberg. If you can still run it evenly, you get the time back on the descent that follows; if you come apart, you lose twice over, because running downhill also asks something of your legs.

The real trap is the footing in the dark. The descent down the Berggasse runs over cobbles that in November can be wet, leaf-covered or frozen, and the park paths go soft in the wet. Take that descent with short, quick steps rather than long strides; more time is lost there in this race than is ever won.

Training plan for Internationaler Steyrer Sparkasse Christkindllauf: 12-week build

For a typical field the main race takes something like 22 to 35 minutes. The demand is not steady but undulating: two short climbs, two quick descents and flat sections in between, all of it twice. That means repeated changes of pace and a heart rate well above average on the climbs and below it on the way down, so what you prepare for is an intense, variable effort rather than a steady one.

Short hill intervals therefore belong in the training. Climbs of one to two minutes, run at target race pace and repeated several times, match the demand better than long sustained ascents. Add one weekly session with tempo blocks on the flat so you can hold your base pace over the level quarter of the lap.

Downhill running deserves its own attention, because here it happens on cobbles and in the dark. Practise descents deliberately with a high cadence and an upright posture, ideally on varying surfaces, so your quads can still absorb the second descent.

Conditions are the second training theme. A 5:30 p.m. start in November means darkness, cold and often wet ground. Do some sessions in the evening under lights and in cold air, settle your shoe choice for wet cobbles in advance, and plan a warm-up that actually leaves you ready to race at low temperatures.