About a hundred enthusiastic cross-country skiers from Salzburg and Upper Austria met on the trail in the Rettenbachalm for the first race of the Energie AG cross-country cup powered by evil eye this winter. After a lack of snow in Schöneben in January and a foehn storm in Liebenau in February made it impossible to hold the event, the first classic race on the Rettenbachalm in Bad Ischl was now on the program – with some delay. In the class for students I male, Thomas Erhard from SC Waldzell was in a class of his own. He won with a clear lead over his pursuers Rudolf Pernkopf and Fabian Eckschlager (both WSV Bad Ischl). In the class II male Jakob Hackl from SC Hohenzell confirmed his improving form with second place.
Georg Huber was not at the start this time. His season had started perfectly with places four and five in the Austria Cup, but then Rieder was injured in an indoor soccer game. Since then he has been working together with a physiotherapist and trainer Hans Gattermann to get back on the trail as quickly as possible. Whether that will still happen this winter is questionable, however, because there are only a few more races on the program. “This season is difficult. Especially in January it was dead. So many races were canceled due to the weather – it’s not easy to keep the boys in line,” says Gattermann. But he succeeds.
2000 kilometers in the car
In order to help his boys to cover as many training kilometers on snow as possible, the trainer has been behind the wheel for many hours over the past few weeks. He covered almost 2000 kilometers on trips to Rosenau and other training locations. “I definitely want to get the boys out on the snow. Every kilometer in the snow counts,” the trainer is convinced. The results of his cross-country skiers speak for him.
In addition to Thomas Erhard, Georg Huber and Jakob Hackl, the man from Schildorn has also been training Peter Flotzinger from Waldzell for some time. “He’s a good Nordic skier and a really good cross-country skier. Just like the others he’s developed well and it’s a pleasure to watch the lad. It’s also nice to see that the effort and effort is worth it young people who are enthusiastic regarding sports,” says the man from the Innviertel region.
Weather permitting, there are still races planned in Hintersee, on the Tauplitzalm and on the Höss until the end of the season. “A few more competitions would do them good, because the young people learn something new with every race. They are euphoric and want to show what they are training for and what they are capable of. This year they have already managed to do that several times. This shows that our path, even if it’s not always easy, it’s fine,” says Hans Gattermann, rightly proud of his four cross-country skiers.
author
Elisabeth Ertl
Local editor Innviertel
Elisabeth Ertl
