Participants of the Swiss Alpine Marathon
On May 6, enthusiasts aged 19 to 25 spent 18 hours and 31 minutes on a marathon across the country, making them new champions. The previous record holder, journalist Nicolas Rosset of RTS, traveled around the country in 23 stages in 2015.
The journey began at 5:23 AM in St. Moritz (canton of Valais) and ended at 23:54 in Airolo (canton of Ticino). Before setting off, the friends spent a long time studying the map of their home country and train schedules. They planned to visit all cantons in 18 hours and 27 minutes, entered all stages of the route into the CFF mobile app, studied station layouts, and thought about where to exit each train to speed up the «dash» to the next (some transfers gave the friends only one minute).
The idea to beat the previous record arose because Swiss trains periodically change their schedules. And if they change them, it is obviously done to improve the functionality of the railway network, and this increasing functionality should allow achieving a better result, the friends thought.
It is worth noting that 18:31 is not the final record, and one could have been even faster, as the travelers were hindered several times by unforeseen delays (the story here is slightly reminiscent of «Around the World in 80 Days», although Jules Verne's heroes had to contend with much more serious difficulties).
During the trip, our heroes took selfies and immediately posted them on social networks, accompanied by comments about where they were at that moment. The only woman on the team, Tiffany Bucciol, admitted in an interview with the newspaper 24heures that she «did not expect such success». The day before the challenge, mostly friends were following updates on their Facebook page, but by the end of the trip, the page had gathered 800 «likes».
However, the main thing was not the pressing of virtual buttons on a web page, but the fact that fans following their progress helped them several times when the friends did not have time to transfer to the next train or faced other difficulties. Words of support were also heard more than once. For example, an elderly ticket inspector, when the enthusiasts told him where and why they were going, exclaimed: «Great idea! Just don't forget to eat!»
«People truly empathized with us, and that surprised me quite a bit,» admitted the leader of the group, young doctor Stéphane Moreau. The friends are already thinking about a new «feat». Among the possible options is to travel along all the main transport lines of the canton of Vaud in 24 hours.
Interestingly, Nicolas Rosset was helped in drawing up the travel plan by a consultant for Swiss Railways (although when RTS asked whether such a journey was possible in less than a day, CFF initially answered negatively). Together they estimated the duration of the upcoming journey at 19 hours 35 minutes, and at the same time developed a shorter route taking 18 hours 8 minutes, but part of it went through Germany, which did not meet the set goal – to tour the Confederation without leaving its territory.
Interestingly, the Swiss travel by train often compared to European and world countries. In 2014, there were an average of 59 trips per resident of the Confederation, which is much more than in Luxembourg (40 trips), Denmark and Austria (29 trips), and certainly more than in Spain, Sweden and Norway (3-12 trips). Globally, Switzerland trailed only Japan, where the average number of railway trips per resident was 72. At the same time, in terms of kilometers traveled by train, the Swiss are ahead of the whole world, collectively covering about 18.2 billion kilometers annually, which corresponds to 440 thousand round-the-world trips.
Speaking of other ways to «conquer» Swiss territory, one can recall another unusual story: American John Harlin III walked along the entire border of the Confederation. Although he did not visit all cantons, his journey is interesting because he walked exactly along the political border, climbing mountains along the way, crossing streams by boat, or cycling some sections.
The journey took more than a year, and John reached its end in September 2011. The main goal of the 55-year-old athlete was to test his endurance, as well as to «feel with his heart» the border regions of the country, to understand from personal meetings with local residents why such a small but amazing country became what it is today. Along the way, the hardy climber had to overcome about 220,000 vertical meters (equivalent to climbing and descending Mount Everest 12 times).
Among the events that help cover part of Swiss territory, one can mention races in different cities. For example, the Murten-Fribourg race (French: Morat-Fribourg) was first held in 1933, dedicated to the Swiss victory over the troops of the Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold in 1476. The first race had 13 participants, and in 2013 there were already 11,000 participants!
The longest race is the night 100-kilometer marathon in Biel (French: 100 km de Bienne). In 2013, 801 men and 153 women crossed the finish line, and the best result to date belongs to Swiss Walter Jenny, who covered the distance in 2008 in 6 hours, 49 minutes and 43 seconds.
The Swiss Alpine Marathon (French: SwissAlpine Marathon, Davos) is interesting because the difference in elevation along its course is 2260 meters, and also because the best result was achieved in 2002 by Russian marathon runner Grigory Murzin, who completed the race in 5 hours, 42 minutes and 34 seconds.