The baroque town square of Wels will be the scene of the world premiere on August 7, 2021: the first Sprint-Cross-Event will feature six single- and one team competition to find out: "Who are the fastest in the entire country?".
What the hell is Sprint-Cross? Very simple:
- finally an event for everyone who likes running fast,
- a sprint that does not require a stadium (but leads for the ancient "stadium length" of 192.27 meters),
- a sprint that does not have a tartan track, but is carried out on asphalt,
- a sprint without running tracks: the entire track is available for the 4 starters of each heat, physical contact can hardly be avoided, but deliberate jostling is prohibited,
- a sprint with corners: sometimes radical changes of direction included,
- a sprint in knockout format: after the single qualification, the two best of each run proceed to the next round (round of 16, etc.).
Top sprinter and creative mind: The Sprint-Cross inventors
Two guys, well-known in Austria's business and sports scene, are standing behind the Sprint-Cross idea:
Andreas Berger, still Austria’s 100-meter record holder, European champion for 60 meters and 27-time national sprint champion. In his after-athlete-career, he is a successful organizer of various running events such as Red Bull 400, Traunsee Half Marathon, business2run and the Loverun.
Sigurd Meiche, long-time global sports director at Red Bull. Among other things, he led Felix Baumgartner's Stratos mission and is co-inventor of the Ice Cross World Championship (Crashed Ice) and the Wings for Life World Run, world’s largest run.
Together they created the first sprint competition for a wider audience for everybody, and Sprint-Cross was born!
An important “ingredient”: the run for the length of the ancient stadium distance. Because of it’s tradition: At the first Olympic Games in 772 B.C., this was the only discipline which is now, 2,800 years later revived by the idea of Sigurd Meiche and Andreas Berger!
Limited starting slots!
It will be a moment steeped in history when the command: “Sprinters ready?” will be giving on August 7th in Wels. In the first edition a total of 200 athletes can compete in the various single classes, as well as 16 teams of three. So not only for your performance on the track but also for your registration: Be fast!