Abgefahren hitchhiking race 2009

The Abgefahren hitchhiking race 2009 was the second hitchhiking race from the german autostop society Abgefahren e.V.. It was a one day race from Karlsruhe, Germany to Triesen, Liechtenstein. It was propagated as the German hitchhiking championships 2009. The race started on June 12th 2009. Meeting point was the main marketplace of Karlsruhe.

The participants
21 people, mostly from Germany, but also from Belgium, the UK, Netherlands, USA and even Taiwan participated the race. A rule was, that everybody had to hitch in a team of two, the teams were not allowed to seperate until they reached the destination camping site in Liechtenstein. Due to the number of people on the start was odd, one of the organisers (platschi) was forced to hitchhike out of competition, alone.

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

Option 1: Karlsruhe -> Stuttgart -> Ulm -> Bregenz -> Liechtenstein
The first option was used by 6 teams, and by platschi. It was the shortest route and also appeared to be the fastest one. Most of the way were on the German A8 and on the German A7. The route was 357 km long.

Option 2: Karlsruhe -> Freiburg -> Basel -> Zürich -> Liechtenstein
This route was used by 3 teams and appeared to be the slowest one. The teams on this route got stuck in many traffic jams. The route was 381 km long.

Option 3: Karlsruhe -> Stuttgart -> Konstanz -> St.Gallen -> Liechtenstein
This route, was with only 325km the shortest option and used by 1 team. It was a quite fast route, so that the girls team had enough time to go shopping and for a coffee in St.Gallen and still made it to the 4th place.

The tasks


The teams had the chance to collect bonus minutes if they solved some tasks on the road. The tasks were:


 * Get an expired austrian Vignette and take it to the destination point. (10 min)
 * Hitchhike a tractor or a lawnmower and take a picture. (30 min)
 * Convince a driver to come today to our destination point and drink a beer with us. (25 min)
 * Take a picture of an overran hedgehog. (5 min)
 * Get a lift from a woman with red lipstick and red nails. (8 min)
 * Take a ferry to cross the "Bodensee" (20 min)
 * Take a picture of a hitchhiking policeman or customs officer (fake picture is allowed). (30 min)
 * Get a lift in a cabriolet. (5 min)
 * Get dropped right in front of the destination camping site. (7 min)
 * Hitchhike a camper (motorhome). (7 min)
 * Build a sign which is most funny or original. (15 min)
 * Hitchhike with 4 together with another team. (12 min)
 * Hitchhike with 6 together with two other teams. (22 min)
 * Hitchhike with 8 together with three other teams. (40 min)
 * Convince another hitchhiker, who is not part of the race, to come with us. (12 min)
 * Go swim in a lake or river. (15 min)
 * Clean the windows of a car at a gas station. (5 min)
 * Invite the kids from your driver for ice-cream. (15 min)
 * Visit the UNESCO world heritage site "Klosteranlage Maulbronn" ~20 km northeast of Pforzheim (Picture in the "Brunnenhaus") (90 min)
 * Visit the UNESCO world heritage site "Klosterinsel Reichenau" ~12 km west of Konstanz (Picture of the "Basilika St. Georg") (75 min)
 * Visit the UNESCO world heritage site "Stiftsbezirk in St. Gallen" (Picture in front of the "Stiftskirche") (75 min)
 * Get a tachograph disk. (20 min)

The winners
The winners got the award German hitchhiking champion 2009, a gold medal and new bags from our sponsor Tatonka. The second and third teams also got some Tatonka stuff (smaller bags). The winner team was from Hörstel, Germany and one of the team members was the brother of the winner of the abgefahren hitchhiking race 2008.

The press

 * Interview with Radio Liechtenstein (if you want to have it ask quarim)
 * Article in Tageblatt-online (german)
 * Article in ka-news.de (german)