Salzkammergut Trophy marathon celebrates 10th year with Fisher

The Salzkammergut Trophy, Austria's largest marathon event, will celebrate its tenth anniversary on July 14 along with Gary Fisher, who will tackle the 110km course option.

Although Gary broke his ankle in October, he is still a favorite for his age group. But if he doesn't end up on the podium by virtue of his race performance, he'll be up there presenting the trophies to the winners of the 110 km and 209 km courses. Fisher will be on hand signing autographs and demo'ing his fleet of bikes.

The full-length 209km course will feature 7,000m of climbing. The first half will run from Altaussee to Bad Ischl and back to Bad Goisern as in recent previous editions, but instead of a second lap, the course will continue through Obertraun, Hallstatt and Gosau as it did from 1998 to 2003. Some new sections include the newly built bikeway along the east bank of Hallstätter lake as well as the passage between the Hallstätter Salzberg and Rossalm towards Gosau, which will avoid a hike-a-bike.

The course will run through the UNESCO World heritage region Hallstatt-Salzkammergut. Highlights include the Dachstein Mountain ridge and the track through "the Ewige Wand," the Eternal Wall.

The B-distance option will only cover on the new portion of the course and will last 110km. Short course options include 24 or 53km, but their routes remain unchanged for 2007.