the Herzogenrath International Volkslauf: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The race starts on the track at the school centre's stadium on Bardenberger Strasse. After a lap of the track the field leaves to the north-east and drops down Ruifer Strasse into the Broichbach valley. From there the loop runs upstream through Ruif and Noppenberg, on towards Zopp and the Broichtal sewage works, turns, and comes back along the southern side of the valley via Ottenfelder-Allee and Roemergasse.

The loop measures just under 6.9 kilometres and is covered three times, with two extra stadium laps and the 87-metre home straight on the track. There is no single big climb: the smoothed profile registers no section as a climb at all. The gain comes from the constant exchange between a valley floor at around 112 metres and settlement edges at a good 140 - roughly 75 metres per lap, three times in identical order.

The Broichbach valley is a green corridor between Herzogenrath and the villages of Ruif, Noppenberg and Zopp: the stream, meadows, a small lake by the Waldstadion, and the residential streets of the villages in between. In late October this is run in low light and often damp valley air; the half marathon is the first event of the day at quarter past eleven, with the shorter distances following only in the afternoon.

Pacing Strategy

A course run three times is a gift for pacing: after the first lap you know every ramp and every dip. Which is exactly why the first lap is the classic mistake - it gets run too fast, because it is new and the drop into the valley feels easy.

The race is decided on the return along the southern side of the valley, which carries the same climb back up to the school centre on every lap. The third time, just before kilometre 20, that same ramp costs far more than it did the first time. If you have a target time, plan it so the third lap is no more than a minute slower than the first.

The trap is the gap between the description and the profile. On paper it says "flat course"; the profile says a good ten metres of gain per kilometre. Pace it as pure flat running and you attack the valley flanks too hard. Add the season: late October often leaves cool, damp air in the Broichbach valley, in which an over-warm race kit becomes a problem on the third lap.

Training plan for the Herzogenrath International Volkslauf: 12-week build

For a typical age-group runner this half marathon lasts somewhere between about 1:25 and 2:15. The demand is a long, even aerobic effort with regular short waves: no anaerobic spikes, but no genuine recovery sections either, because every ramp comes round again within a kilometre.

Repetition is what decides it. The same climb three times under growing fatigue asks for strength endurance, not hill skill. A fitting emphasis is undulating steady runs of 90 to 110 minutes on a loop you cover several times, plus tempo runs of 8 to 12 kilometres on gently rolling ground.

The course is asphalt throughout and DLV-measured, with no technical sections - trail work transfers nothing here, while track and road intervals transfer a lot. Useful sessions are 5 x 1,000 m or 3 x 2,000 m at half marathon to 10 km pace, set in a week with one long run and several easy ones.

Conditions come from the date: a Saturday morning in late October in the Rhineland, cool, often damp, with a start on the track and a quick drop into the valley floor. Worth doing are a few sessions in cool weather with a longer warm-up, because there is no opening hill to ease you in here, and a clothing decision made for the third lap rather than the first.