Dear friends of Grossglockner ULTRA-TRAIL!

Heavy heartedly, we have to address you with a sad message: Unfortunately, the GGUT 2020 cannot be carried out, the 6th edition of the GGUT will instead take place from July 30th - August 01st, 2021.

We carefully weighed all options and had many talks with sponsors, partners, operational organizations, regions, authorities and the runners in our team. The result was clear and unambiguous. Independent of a negative decision by the authorities for major events in the summer, we wanted to take the decision now, so that we can avoid further uncertainty for you in this challenging time. Under current clearly expected pandemic conditions, we cannot run a race like GGUT without acceptable risk for runners as well as our volunteers.

Our main reasons for the cancellation are:

• Essential organizations, such as the Red Cross and doctors, are and will continue to be highly stressed. We find it irresponsible to ask them for support at the event.
• We also find it irresponsible to ask the approx. 150 mountain rescuers to go up to the mountains for the GGUT and, under these circumstances, to rescue any injured participants.
• At least 25% of our other volunteers are over 60 and are therefore part of the Covid-19 risk group.
• The minimum distance of 1 m or more cannot be guaranteed on the trails (overtaking or supply stations in the mountains).
• We could provide hygiene standards under COVID-19, in particular at the supply stations only by a significant reduction of the supply in the aid stations and massive use of disposable packaging.
• Appropriate hygiene standards under COVID-19 in sanitary facilities (especially in the catering stations in the mountains) cannot be guaranteed, even with extreme effort because the infrastructure is lacking.
• With the extreme physical challenge in ultra-running, the risk of infection increases significantly.
• We expect that travel restrictions will remain in place during the summer and that many participants from more than 40 nations will not be able to travel.
• A shift to autumn is not possible due to high altitude and high likelihood of snow by September.

Finally, in times of such extraordinary burden for our society, we should all run and keep fit. We are hit hard by the crisis ourselves, but we consider it inappropriate to celebrate such an extreme event in such a situation.

We have no doubt that each of you can understand and accept this difficult decision. Economically, the cancellation means also economic damage for us and we would of course be grateful if you, the GGUT community, would like to support us in the future.

We have already directly contacted all registered runners and informed them directly about the possibility of transferring the bib to 2021 or the conditions for the refund of the entry fee.

We kindly thank you for your understanding and trust, whishing and hoping that this crisis will pass quickly for everyone and that we all stay healthy. We are already looking forward to a great GGUT 2021 from July 30th to August 1st, 2021 in Zell am See-Kaprun, Kals am Großglockner, Weissee-Uttendorf and Fusch on Glocknerstrasse.

Your GGUT Team

(April 22, 2020)

Dear participant in GGUT 2020,

as you could currently probably asking yourself about the situation regarding the GGUT 2020, we hereby would like to provide a comprehensive information about the status of the race and our assumptions:

The current situation with the new type of corona means serious restrictions for us all. We sincerely hope you are all well up and wish you a lot of energy, endurance and health in this way. We support all initiatives and restrictions set by the Austrian Government, so please STAY HOME to help us all to overcome this crisis as quick as possible and that as many of us stay healthy.

As regards GGUT 2020, we are convinced that currently nobody can reliably assess the development and duration of the restrictions for the summer. However, the planning for the GGUT 2020 continues with full energy and commitment as every year. The beginning of June is probably the time when we can provide a more precise assessment about the race in 2020 and prepare a to take a final decision. In between, however, we will surely get in touch with updates about that when we can say more. More on our Facebook fanpage, but also with a newsletter when we can provide a more reliable information.

In the meantime let us all stay positive. We, the GGUT team, are really looking forward to a great GGUT 2020 if the circumstances allow us to run it safely. But much more important than the race is that we, you and all your friends and family will stay safe and healthy. And, if we all stay at home, we will all help each other and we'll be through that even quicker. (March 19, 2020)