Frei and Lohner win the opening race in Morgins
The first race of the iXS Swiss Downhill Cup took place in Morgins on the same weekend as the Downhill World Cup in Fort William. At the 13th edition of this traditional race, the number 13 did not bring luck to all riders: the two Swiss riders Lea Rutz and Basil Weber, the fastest in Saturday's seeding run, did not have the same luck on Sunday. Weber crashed and had to settle for 26th place, while Martin Frei (SUI) claimed the win. Laura Lohner (FRA) claimed victory in the women's race ahead of Alba Wunderlin (SUI). Rutz didn't let her luck run out completely and finished in third place.
www.ixsdownhillcup.com

Martin Frei on his winning run. Photo© extreme-pics.de / Benjamin Prescher

Broken ribs instead of a farewell race
The BMC Racing Cup race in Gränichen should have been Christoph Sauser's last Swiss race before he ends his career after the Marathon World Championships at the end of July. However, things turned out differently and Sauser spent the day in hospital. The reason: Sauser crashed due to carelessness while riding his bike back from the start number distribution. He suffered a few bruises and broke two ribs. Certainly not ideal for the upcoming Marathon World Championships, Sauser is nevertheless looking forward to them positively, as he told acrossthecountry.net.
www.acrossthecountry.net

Photo© Cape Epic

From bike to running shoes
Former marathon specialist Friedrich Dähler has discovered his love of running. His specialty: destroying metres in altitude and doing so successfully. Dähler came second in the Niesen Stair Run. In the race on the world's longest staircase with 11,500 steps, the former elite biker was only beaten by the Frenchman Emmanuel Vaudan. Dähler managed the 1,700-metre difference in altitude on the 3.4-kilometre route in a time of 1:00.59.73 hours.
www.niesenlauf.ch

Swapping the bike for running shoes: Friedrich Dähler on his way to second place. Photo© Friedrich Dähler/FB

First Alpine Challenge in Bludenz
The first Alpen-Challenge started on Thursday, June 4th in Bludenz, close to the border. This combined the four races "Bludenz City Challenge" with 30 kilometers, "Grosses Walsertal Challenge" with 60 kilometers, "Muttersberg Challenge" as an 8.5 kilometer mountain race and last but not least the "Brandnertal Challenge" with another 60 kilometers. Sarah Koba used this new race to put herself in the limelight. She was rewarded with second place for the four-day slog. The victory went to the Austrian Daniela Pintarelli. Christoph Soukup won the men's overall classification. The best Swiss rider was Thomas Rusch in tenth place overall.
www.vorarlberg-alpenregion.at/alpenchallenge-bludenz

Sarah Koba has not forgotten how to bike. Photo@ Sarah Koba/FB