The Bierathlon

Although Viernheim does not normally feature in lists of great sporting ventures like the Olympic Games, marathons in cities like Berlin, London or New York, or even the Iron Man triathlon in Hawaii, the town has developed a new sport over the last four years: The Bierathlon. It is a 6km jog for two runners who carry a crate of beer (12 330ml bottles of Welde Pils - an excellent local beer) between them and have to drink this in the start and finish zone. They need to empty the bottles in the crate before crossing the finish line. Whether they both drink 2 litres is not laid down but there are penalty points for full bottles. There are prizes for male, female, mixed teams and for the best fancy dress. This year's winners achieved times of about half an hour. The event is a mixture of Karneval, Halloween and sport. There is a party afterwards which goes on to the early hours. It is obviously not a serious event though the mixed prize this year was taken by a pair of experienced triathlon competitors from Ladenburg. One could of course handicap trained athletes by replacing the Pils by a higher strength Bock or even Doppelbock.