Abgefahren hitchhiking race 2012

The Abgefahren hitchhiking race 2012 was the fifth hitchhiking race from the German autostop society Abgefahren e.V.. It started in Braunschweig, Germany and the final destination was Mardorf near Hannover on the lake Steinhuder Meer. Between the start and the destination the teams had to reach at least 3 out of 9 checkpoints and make an evidence that they were there. The race was propagated as the German hitchhiking championships 2012. The race started on May 26th 2012.

The participants
78 people, mostly from Germany and Braunschweig, but also from four hitchers from Israel, one from Ukraine, one from France, and one from the Netherlands 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 and the checkpoints were secret until the race really started. Also the used route was choice of the teams. There was one checkpoint in Hamburg, called St. Pauli which counted for three checkpoints. So it was the teams choice to hitch only to there or to try to hitch to 3 more closer but remote checkpoints.

Checkpoints were:
 * SNAKE - The Snakezoo in Schladen (Harz)
 * ZYTANIA - The area of the Zytanien Festival near Lehrte
 * ALPHA - The memorial of the german division and the old border station on service area Marienborn
 * CASTLE - Castle in Gifhorn
 * PIED PIPER - The historic old town of Hameln
 * FEUERSCHUETZENBOSTEL - The feudal estate of Feuerschützenbostel near Celle - the most remote checkpoint
 * WATER TOWER - a historic water tower in Nienburg
 * ISLAND - The fortress Wilhelmstein on an island in the lake Steinhuder Meer
 * ST. PAULI - The stadium Millerntor in Hamburg (counted like 3 checkpoints)

Trivia
On Saturday evening, a firefighters car appeared at the camping site packed with 4 hitchhikers and invited all the hitchhikers for a party on the fire department the next day.

The press
A list will be added soon when the press reporting from the race is finished. To view or listen to these press articles see the abgefahren race website