With over 1,300 entries, the german cross-country championships in ingolstadt had one of the highest numbers of participants in the past ten years. A challenging 1.1-kilometer circuit with several climbs, obstacles, and sharp turns was set out in the middle of the city’s hindenburg park. Four runners from LSC hochstadt took to the starting line in the 4.1-kilometer middle-distance race for men. Actually there should have been six, but two sportsmen were prevented for health and private reasons.
In the starting field, which was peppered with top german runners, a leading group quickly formed with the eventual winner richard ringer from rehlingen. The chasing group was led for a long time by hochstadt’s martin weinlander, who had to let a few competitors pass in the last lap, but in the end delivered a strong performance as the best german in 18th place. The two-time bavarian indoor champion of the LSC, adrian konig-rannenberg, started the race a little more cautiously. He relied on his final spurt and collected a few more athletes that way. In the end, he finished in 27th place, in the first third of the overall field. Florian lang came back fresh from the training camp on lanzarote. In the first round he ran a little too offensively, which he clearly felt in the last round.
On the last meters even bernhard weinlander caught up with him and recommended himself for the team with overall place 50 of 53. LSC coach markus monius guessed 6th place in the team even before the official results list was published. In the end, it was even 5th place behind the strong regensburg with two teams, the LG nordschwarzwald and the LG karlsruhe. Once again, the small lsc hochstadt proved that it can hold its own as a single club against the strong athletics communities that often consist of five or more clubs.