The Trans Europe Foot Race is a multiday long-distance

ultramarathon An ultramarathon is a footrace longer than the traditional marathon distance of . The sport of running ultramarathons is called ultra running or ultra distance running. Various distances, surfaces, and formats are raced competitively, from the ...

that consists of running across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

2003 race

The 2003 Trans Europe Foot Race was organized by Ingo Schultze. It ran from

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 64 days and covered approximately . Out of 44 starters, there were 22 finishers including one wheelchair athlete, with Mariko Sakamoto the only woman to finish. The event was won by Robert Wimmer from Germany.

2009 race

The 2009 Trans Europe Foot Race was also organized by Ingo Schultze. Th
route
started in

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

, Italy and finished in North Cape, Norway. It mostly avoided big cities and passed for example

Foggia Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...

Fano Fano () is a city and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the ''Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by pop ...

Schlanders Schlanders (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and a village in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about west of the city of Bolzano. Overview Schlanders borders the following municipalities: Latsch, Laas, Mals, Martell, Schnals. Schla ...

Seeg Seeg is a municipality in the district of Ostallgäu in Bavaria in Germany. Gallery File:Kirchthal, dorpszicht foto2 2009-06-05 11.40.JPG, Kirchthal, view to the village File:Engelbolz, kapel foto2 2009-06-05 11.47.JPG, Engelbolz, chapel N ...

Waldkappel Waldkappel () is a small town in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis district in northern Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Waldkappel is located between Hessisch Lichtenau in the west and Eschwege in the east in the North Hesse Upland between the Meißner ...

before using the ferry

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, and then passing for example

Kristinehamn Kristinehamn is a locality and the seat of Kristinehamn Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden, with 24,053 inhabitants in 2022. Geography Kristinehamn is situated by the shores of lake Vänern where the small rivers ''Varnan'' and ''Löt'' ...

Sveg Sveg () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Härjedalen Municipality in Jämtland County, Sweden with 2,547 inhabitants in 2010. Overview Sveg is the largest urban area in Härjedalen and the fourth largest in the county of Jämtl ...

Storuman Storuman (, Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ''Lusspie'') is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Storuman Municipality in Västerbotten County, provinces of Sweden, province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland, Sweden with 2,207 inhabitants in 2 ...

Jokkmokk Jokkmokk () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Jokkmokk Municipality in Norrbotten County, provinces of Sweden, province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland, Sweden, with 2,786 inhabitants in 2010. The Lule Sámi name of the place (compos ...

Enontekiö Enontekiö (; ; ; ; ) is a municipality in the Finnish part of Lapland with approximately inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very sparsely populated area of about between the Swedis ...

, and

Alta Alta or ALTA may refer to: Acronyms * Alt-A, short for Alternative A-paper, is a type of US mortgage * American Land Title Association, a national trade association representing the land title industry * American Literary Translators Association, ...

. Again this was a 64-day race. The total distance was . The race began on April 19, 2009 and ended on June 21, 2009. The male winner was Rainer Koch from Germany with a running time of 378 hours and 12 minutes. The female winner was Takako Furuyama from Japan, with a running time of 529 hours and 6 minutes. 45 runners finished the race.

List of competitors for 2009 race

From Germany: *Hermann Böhm (Weiherhammer) *Hans Damm (Neu-Isenburg) *Sigrid Eichner (Berlin) ''Female'' *Dagmar Großheim (Gräfenberg) ''Female'' *Joachim Hauser (Dettenhausen) *Martina Hausmann (Würzburg) ''Female'' * Marcel Heinig (Cottbus) *Achim Heukemes (Gräfenberg) *Richard Hofbauer (Rosenheim) *Theo Huhnholt (Waldkraiburg) *Heinz Jäckel (Hennef) *Rainer Koch (Dettelbach) *Jörg Koenig (Stade) *Klaus Neumann (Stuttgart) *Heike Pawzik (Rostock) ''Female'' *Hans-Jürgen Schlotter (Horb-Bittelbronn) *Werner Selch (Amberg) *Elke Streicher (Gerlingen) ''Female'' *René Strosny (Filderstadt) *Bernd Wagner (Duisburg) *Klaus Wanner (Holzgerlingen) *Robert Wimmer (Nürnberg / Bayern) *Tom Wolter-Roessler (Ulm-Böfingen) *Ullrich Zach (Rödental) *Jürgen Zuth (Siegelsbach) From Finland: *Janne Kankaansyrjä (Järvenpää) From France: *Gèrard Denis (Fouesnant) *Jean-Herve Duchesne (Saint-Germain) *Alain Lemarchand (Neuric sur I'Isle) *Christophe Midelet (Gizy / Aisne) *Stephane Pelissier (Lanta) *Fabrice Viaud (Rezè) *Roger Warenghem (Le Touvet) From Japan: *Kenji Hara (Utsunomiya, Tochigi) *Kazuhiko Horiguchi (Kitakata, Fukushima) *Kazuko Kaihata (Kurashiki, Okayama) ''Female'' *Yasuo Kanai (Yokohama, Kanagawa) *Saeko Kishimoto (Gunma) ''Female'' *Shoji Konoeda (Osaka) *Shigeru Mitsuhashi (Sapporo, Hokkaido) *Koji Nakamura (Higashi Yodagawa) *Yasumasa Namikoshi (Osaka) *Hiroko Okiyama (Fussa, Tokio) ''Female'' *Takasumi Senoo (Yokohama) *Tsuyoshi Sugawara (Hasuda, Saitama) *Furuyama Takako (Tokyo) ''Female'' *Okuno Tomoko (Tokyo) ''Female'' From Korea: *Ahn Byeung Sik (Seogwipo) From Netherlands: *Ria Buiten (Biddinghuize) ''Female'' *Theo Cloosterman (Veldhoven) *Jenni De Groot (Leeuwarden) ''Female'' *Ubel Dijk (Drachten) *Theo Kuijpers (Westerbeek) *Jan Nabuurs (Westerbeck) *Cor Westhuis (Dalfsen) From Norway: *Eiolf Eivindsen (Mosjøen) *Trond Sjavik (Mosjøen) *Henry Wehder (Nordre Toten/Nordli) From Sweden: *Matthias Bramstång (Halmstad) *Andreas Falk (Sollentuna) From Switzerland: *Markus Bernhard (Thunstetten) *Christian Fatton (Noiraigue) *Christian Marti (Zürich) *Martin Wagen (Biel-Benke) From Taiwan: *Ching-Hui Chen (Taipei) From Turkey: *Mike Friedl (Istanbul) From USA: *Russell Secker (Austin,Texas)

2012 race

The race was run again in 2012. It went from

Skagen Skagen () is the northernmost town in Denmark, on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Jutland, part of Frederikshavn Municipality in North Denmark Region, Nordjylland, north of Frederikshavn and northeast of Aalbo ...

, Denmark to

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

, passing e.g.

Haderslev Haderslev (; ) is a Denmark, Danish town in the Region of Southern Denmark with a population of 22,405 (1 January 2025).Ahrensburg Ahrensburg () is a town in the district of Stormarn, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located northeast of Hamburg and is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Its population is around 31,000. ''Schloss Ahrensburg'', the town's symbol, is ...

Frankenbach left, View over Frankenbach Frankenbach () has been a borough of Heilbronn, Baden-Wüttemberg, since 1974. It is situated in the North-West, about 4.5 kilometres as crow flies from the centre. Frankenbach was first mentioned in 766 and belonge ...

Valdoie Valdoie () is a Communes of France, commune in the Territoire de Belfort Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in northeastern France. It is located to the North of the city of Belfort and comprises part of greater Belfort. ...

Bourganeuf Bourganeuf (; Limousin: ''Borgon Nuòu'') is a commune in the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France. Geography An area of farming and forestry, comprising the village and several hamlets situated in the valley o ...

, St-Pons-de-Thomieres,

Berga Berga () is the capital of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' (county) of Berguedà, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is bordered by the municipalities of Cercs, Olvan, Avià, Capolat and Castellar del Riu. History Berga de ...

Teruel Teruel () is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel (province), Teruel Province. It had a population of 35,900 as of 2022, making it the least populated provincial capital in Spain. It is noted for its har ...

and

Puente Genil Puente Genil () is a Spanish city in the province of Córdoba, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is situated about 45 miles (70 km) from the provincial capital, Córdoba. It has a population of around 30,000 people. Etymology The name o ...

. The total distance was 4175 km and the race took 64 days. The male winner was Peter Bartel from Germany with 354:25:21, and the female winner was

Ria Buiten A ria (; , feminine noun derived from ''río'', river) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a dendritic ...

from the Netherlands with 504:18:29.

2025 race

In 2025 a new edition of the Transeuropalauf, is being planned. The event is organised by Thomas Dornburg and is 41 stages from Flensburg to San Marino. The route is 2,247 km and is a daily average of 54 km.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Transeuropalauf 2025Multiday Newsdepasseur-de-bornesULTRAmarathonRunning.com
Global Ultramarathon Races & Events Calendar Multiday races Cross-border races