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Engadin Ski Marathon

The Engadin Ski Marathon

The Engadin Ski Marathon is a cross-country ski race held each year in the Engadin, the region in the southeast of Switzerland that includes St. Moritz. Over ten thousand contestants take part, ranging from professionals with Olympic medals, to amateurs and even retired people in their eighties.

The race itself is 42km long and you can ski in either the skating or classic nordic style. The course is relatively flat with a couple of short hills. The start and the first third is over frozen lakes. The middle includes the Stanserwald with its (in)famous downhill section. It is the scene of hilarious pileups where hundreds of skiers attempt to overtake though an icy steeply sloping forest. Happily the organizers tie mattresses to the trees so the crashes are usually not very serious.

Pictures and Race Descriptions

Click on the pictures to read the race descriptions and view additional pictures.

1999	2000	2001
Story and Pictures.	8 Pictures.	16 Pictures.
2002	2003	2005
26 Pictures.	0 Pictures.	0 Pictures.

Race Results

The following are my race results since I started taking part in the marathon in 1999.

Year	Time ¹	Rank	Percentile ²
2005	3:28.25	6596 / 8838	25.4%
2004	Missed race due to knee injury.
2003	3:02.35	7353 / 11163	34.2%
2002	2:49.41	5626 / 8915	36.9%
2001	3:14.44	6875 / 9286	26.0%
2000	3:24.06	7857 / 9921	20.8%
1999	3:02.43	8180 / 9736	16.0%

Notes

My race results vary strongly according to the snow conditions. The snow conditions in 1999, my first race, were much faster that of the following year. Hence the slower time but improved ranking.
The record for completing the race is 1:18 which means that the top finishers are skiing over twice as fast as me. In most years the winner completes the cource in under one and a half hours. This means that their average speed is over 28 km/hour.
The Percentile column gives my ranking compared to all male contestants who completed the race. It excludes contestants with No Time. These are finishers who complete the race but request their time not be recorded in the official results.
A ranking of 100% would indicate that I won the race. Extrapolating the trend indicated by my results, I should win the race in 2012, at which time I will be 52 years old. Since most winners are under 35 years old, the likelihood of ever winning seems remote.