Rundumadum 05/22
A moody autumn lake
The rundumadum is a ~120km long hiking trail along the Viennese border. It is split into 24 accessible sections, ranging from 3-8km each. Its path winds through parks, forests, over hills, through suburban and urban areas, along brooks, crosses the Danube and even touches rural areas with fields used for growing crops.
Around one year ago I started walking some sections of it, aiming to finish it in 4 hiking days.
One hiking day coincidentally lined up with the yearly Scouts Rundumadum Relay Hike. As a member of the Scouts Group 13 "Erdberg", I participated and walked 30km between 8pm and 2am, as the entire 120km had to be completed in 24 hours!
In 2021 I walked 21 sections in 4 days, the last 3 sections with 13.5km I tackled with Isolde in the Relay Hike 2022! So, after one year and 5 hike days, I finished the local long distance hiking trail!
Highlights
The trail offers a variety of panoramas, scenic sections, and diverse environments. But particularly the wildlife around it surprised me the most. Over the course of the year I spotted deer, rabbits, boars, birds of prey, stag beetles, a marten, fire salamander, blind worm, frogs, cranes and singing birds.
This means one does not have to travel far in order to be in contact with wildlife, which is a relief to know. Well advanced urbanization, reduction of biodiversity and climate change are factors that would work against the possibility of the positive experience.
Relay Hike
But more about the 24h challenge: 17 scout groups from Vienna participated in this well organized hike in 2021. Every group started at 9 am and had 24h to finish the Rundumadum. It didn't matter with which section the groups started though. But bear in mind that Lainzer Tiergarten and Central Cemetery are closed during the night, and walking through them had to be done during opening hours. Additionally, the trail could be walked counter clockwise (as intended) or clockwise. That way some groups crossed paths and could say hi to the fellow participants.
Each group had a mascot and gps tracker for the control center to update the live tables. Average speed, estimated time and actual lap time were tracked, the lead and negative minutes were shown as well.
In 2021 7 participants from Group 13 walked the Rundumadum in 21h and 4m! In 2022 12 participants took 21h and 10m. The fastest time was 18h 58m by group 45. They had an average walking speed of 6.72km/h!
A big thank you goes to Richard who stayed up all 24h, driving hikers to and from the trail heads, covering us with blister plasters, drinks, snacks and motivational comments! Im already looking forward to the next year!
