Abgefahren hitchhiking race 2011

The Abgefahren hitchhiking race 2011 was the fourth hitchhiking race from the German autostop society Abgefahren e.V.. It started in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany and the destination was Pettenasco Lago d'Orta, Italy. It was propagated as the German hitchhiking championships 2011. The race started on June 11th 2011.

The participants
101 people, mostly from Germany and Freiburg, but also from Ireland, Russia, Lithuania, Finland and Italy participated the race. A rule was, that everybody had to hitch in a team of two or more, the teams were not allowed to separate until they reached the destination camping site.

The route
For all teams, the destination was secret until the race really started. Also the used route was choice of the teams. The most taken route was:

Option 1:
Freiburg -> Basel -> Luzern -> Gotthard -> Bellinzona -> Verbania -> Lago d'Orta. Some teams made also a detour via Zürich.

Option 2:
Other teams, including the winner team took the route: Freiburg -> Basel -> Luzern -> Brig-Glis -> Simplon Pass -> Domodossola -> Lago d'Orta. This was faster because there was a major traffic jam (up to 15km) in the Gottard tunnel, thats also why most teams hitched the Gotthard Pass and not the tunnel. One team got a direct Lift from Freiburg to Lago d'Orta but still only made it to the third place because they where stuck in the Gotthard traffic jam.

The hardest part of the route were the last 60km where most teams had to hitch around the Lago Maggiore and needed many lifts from one village to the next. Thats also why some teams arrived the next day.

The winners
The winners got the award German hitchhiking champion 2011, a gold medal, t-shirts, a hammock and a slackline sponsord by gibbon slacklines. The winner was a team with two girls. Also the Flemish non-profit hitchhiking organization Myoto supported the race - they gave the very nice hitchhiking hands you can see on the photo.

Late on Saturday evening, a motorhome packed with 9 hitchhikers and 3 German drivers arrived at the camping site.

The press

 * Fudder am 3. Mai 2011: Stadtgespräch: Deutsche Meisterschaft im Trampen startet im Juni in Freiburg
 * Leipziger Volkszeitung am 21. Mai 2011: Daumen hoch und los [PDF, 330 KB]
 * Der Sonntag am 5. Juni 2011: Libre und kostenlos [PDF, 715 KB]
 * SWR.de am 9. Juni 2011: Daumen raus und schnell weg [PDF, 60 KB]
 * Badische Zeitung am 10. Juni 2011: Einfach weg - mit unbekanntem Ziel [PDF, 76 KB]
 * Fudder am 14. Juni 2011: Maxi bei der Trampermeisterschaft: Einmal Italien und zurück
 * Radiobeitrag in Das Ding (SWR) am 8. Mai 2011: Rückwind [mp3, 2,2 MB]
 * Radiobeitrag in echo-fm am 10. Mai 2011: Trampen leicht gemacht [externer Link]
 * Radiobeitrag in WDR Funkhaus Europa, Süpermercado am 27. Mai 2011: Teil 1 [mp3, 6,6 MB], Teil 2 [mp3, 7,4 MB]
 * Radiobeitrag in Radio Basel am 9. Juni 2011: 4. Deutsche Trampermeisterschaft startet in Freiburg [mp3, 2,2 MB]
 * Radiobeitrag in SWR 4 am 11. Juni 2011: Deutsche Meisterschaft im Trampen [mp3, 2,2 MB]

To view or listen to these press articles see the abgefahren race website