Top prepared with the fresh gold medal winner of the European Championships 2022 and two Austrian running legends on January 26, 2023 at the Oberbank Donau Forum Linz!
"We keep moving" is the motto for the 21st Oberbank Linz Danube Marathon, which - after being held twice in the fall season - will now return to its traditional place in the spring of 2023. The Linz marathon season is traditionally heralded with the kick-off at the Oberbank Danube Forum. This year the top star of the current German-speaking running scene, the reigning European marathon champion Richard Ringer, will be taking part in the event.
When the running enthusiasts meet at the Oberbank Donau Forum, there will be exactly 80 days until the next Linz Danube Marathon on April 16, 2023 - still enough time to prepare perfectly for the superlative local running event. Richard Ringer from Überlingen on Lake Constance knows exactly what is important when training for an exceptional task like participating in a marathon: "I also started small once. With planned training and ambition, I then made it to European champion. I'd like to give the running public in Linz an insight into my training so that they can go to the start in top shape and attack their best performances."
The breathtaking finale of the 2022 European Championship marathon in Munich will probably be remembered by every enthusiastic runner:in. Ringer, still in 3rd place 500m before the finish, is first able to overtake one of his teammates, then ignites the turbo and sprints over the leader Maru Teferi from Israel a few meters before the finish. "The last twelve kilometers I was in pain. You never know if you'll make it to the finish line, in a marathon it's always a surprise package," says Ringer, overjoyed at the finish line as a newly crowned European marathon champion.
Richard Ringer is not a typical competitive athlete. When he's not preparing for a major event, the 33-year-old business administration graduate works as a controller at a company in Friedrichshafen. So sport and career can definitely be reconciled: "I need this professional change from sports - also to come down, regardless of whether I was successful or not. The job even makes me strong in terms of my head. For me, it's a perfect combination."
Two greats of Austrian running are looking to talk to Richard Ringer this evening. At the "Round Table" in the Oberbank Donau Forum, marathon legend and Oberbank running coach Gerhard Hartmann and the former top Austrian athlete and current sporting director of the Linz Donau Marathon, Günther Weidlinger, will be discussing with Richard Ringer. Hartmann, record holder in Austria in the marathon for 26 years (PB 2:12:22): "I am delighted that we were able to win the European champion for the Kick Off at the Oberbank Donau Forum. Richard can and will give us a great insight into his preparation, and I'm sure everyone can take something away from it."
Kick-Off for the 21st Oberbank Linz Danube Marathon with Richard Ringer
Oberbank Danube Forum, Untere Donaulände 28, 4020 Linz
Thursday, January 26, 2023, 6:30 p.m., free admission.
