Happy Faces at the Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival 2026

The first weekend in May is a fixed point in the Innsbruck sports event calendar, or more precisely in the international trail running scene. This weekend marks the annual kick-off to the trail running season. The forecourt of the Innsbruck Landestheater is transformed into a sports arena and the surrounding mountains, including the Mutterer Alm, Axamer Lizum, Halltal, Patscherkofelbahn and Nordkette, become a playground for the athletes.

The routes

Whether long and challenging or short and crisp, everyone will find a feasible discipline here. On Wednesday evening, the first trail runners open the festival with the Business Trail and the Night Trail. The perfect opportunity for a sporty company outing or successful team building awaits on 8.2 km and almost 300 meters of altitude. On the following Thursday, 7.3 km with 1,330 meters of elevation gain are on the agenda: short but intense! Friday belongs to the youngsters: it's the children's turn on the Kidstrail before the main competitions start on Saturday. The IATF main competitions offer distances from 15 to 110 km and everything in between. Find out for yourself which competition suits you best: You can find all the competitions here

New! Cheering bus

With the cheering buses, spectators can cheer on the participants directly along the route: The buses run at hop-on hop-off intervals between easily accessible stops at the aid stations. Tickets are available and can be picked up at the Infopoint or purchased on site. The basic price is €25. Additional rides (Vertical, start and finish area, Hungerburg) can be booked as an option. All details can be found in the Cheering Bus Guide.

Running to feed families

The fact that the IATF has become an internationally recognized event in the trail running scene is shown by the participation from various countries. However, five Kenyan athletes are coming to the Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival for a specific reason.

For Kenyan runners, competitions have a different meaning than for many European athletes. While in this country the focus is often on the joy of exercise and sporting balance, many Kenyans run to provide for their families with prize money. They usually only have five to ten races a year, which means they have just as many opportunities to earn a living. The prize money at events such as the IATF is around ten times what they could earn at competitions in Kenya.

In sporting terms, the weekend was impressive: in the Vertical, the first competition, Kenyan athletes won both the men's and women's races. In the Trail Hunt on the second day, they were clearly in the lead for a long time, but went off course and ended up in fourth place despite a large lead.

For the Kenyan elite athletes, the IATF 2026 was an exceptionally valuable event, as events of this quality and organization are rare. At the same time, it is not a matter of course to bring Kenyan athletes to such races. run2gether's goal is to create understanding: It is not managers who should benefit, but the athletes themselves who take center stage. People should get to know each other and learn from each other, not only in terms of sport, but also on a personal level. The Kenyan runners' relaxed, happy and positive attitude to life is particularly impressive, despite the enormous pressure they are under during competitions.

The Austrian association run2gether has set itself the task of supporting Kenyan athletes and learning from them and their attitude to life in return.

This is how the athletes fared...

Jens (K35): "I totally enjoyed it from the start to the finish: The atmosphere, the weather and the course. The goal would have been to finish 15 minutes faster, but in this case I just enjoyed it longer. Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival, I'll be back."

Christina and Helene (K35): "It was tough! But we pulled through together and motivated each other right to the end - until we crossed the finish line. The route is simply beautiful, our favorite section is definitely the path along the reservoir at the Mutterer Alm."

Monona (K42): "It's crazy events like this that make you grow and push your own sporting limits. You try things out and in the end you are infinitely proud to have done it. I particularly like the many refreshment stations and the fact that you are the focus of the event as an athlete. It was my second time taking part and I'm sure it won't be the last time."