German Ski Championships 1902

German Ski Championships 1902
winner
Cross-country skiing	Thorleif Bache
Ski jumping	Thorleif Bache
Competitions
Venues	Feldberg (Black Forest)
Individual competitions	2
← Feldberg 1901	Feldberg 1903 →

The German ski championships for 1902 were from January 31 to February 2 as part of the snowshoe races of the Ski Club Black Forest on the Feldberg in the Grand Duchy of Baden discharged.

The championship title in the endurance run over 25 kilometers, as well as that in the jump race, went to the Norwegian lieutenant Thorleif Bache from Drammen .

Short Story

Aerial photo (2004) of the Seebuck with winter sports on the south-eastern slope at the (modern) Feldbergerhof (left) and the Feldseekessel (right)

The championship runs for Germany in the endurance run over 25 kilometers and in the jump races were announced by the Black Forest Ski Club, as they had been since 1900, and were held on January 31 and February 2 as part of the three-day snowshoe races on the Feldberg. The championships were advertised internationally, which meant that foreign athletes could also take part and achieve the title of German champion . The winner received the Golden Ski of the Black Forest Ski Club , the second and third place honors and diplomas.

In addition to the championship races, other races were held on the first and third day, including military, popular, youth and women’s skiing. The endurance run for the championship in the Black Forest Ski Club on Saturday, however, had to be canceled due to a violent storm. Traditionally, the hunter battalions stationed in Alsace also took part in the competitions . Of the then and later known skiers, Rudolf Biehler (German master 1909) , who was a one-year volunteer at the time, won the Seebucklauf , while his brother Bruno Biehler (German master 1908) took second place in the student endurance race and third place in the student jump race before Alfred Walter (German master 1905) occupied.

This year's event was not only clouded by the bad weather conditions, which caused frostbite on the ears, hands and fingers of several participants , but was also overshadowed by a tragic accident. On February 28, a lieutenant of the 5th Baden Infantry Regiment No. 113 exercised with a group of six one-year-old volunteers on the Feldberg. When three men from exhaustion started their way back to the hotel via the Felsenweg , they were torn down by a snow slide , whereby the 25-year-old doctor Otto Scheller from Katowice was buried and died. During the unsuccessful search lasting several days, another four people were buried, but they were all freed in time.

Cross-country skiing

space	athlete	(Country), club, place	time
1	Thorleif Bache	Norway	3: 00: 00.0 h
2	? Wich	Rhine. Hunter battalion No. 8 Schlettstadt	3: 29: 00,0 h
3	Robert Isele	SC Black Forest, Neuglashütten	3: 41: 00,0 h

Date: January 31, 1902

Route: Belchen - Feldberg - Feldberger Hof.

Participants: Started: 7; Valued: 3;

As in previous years, the starting point of the route was on the summit of the Belchen (1,414 m). Seven skiers, including a Norwegian and a representative from Styria, came to the start at 9 a.m. ( CET ) . The competition started with a descent from Belchen over a length of 25 kilometers over the summit of the Feldberg (1,493 m) to the finish at Feldberger Hof (1,300 m). The skiers had to cope with runs of 800 meters and inclines of 700 meters.

The weather conditions were extremely unfavorable. In addition to thick fog , stormy headwinds on the heights made it difficult for the skiers to advance. Several participants did not reach the goal. Some skiers got lost on cry and ran instead on the Feldberg Fahl , a gamekeeper came only at night on the Feldberg tower , stayed in a stable and reached the next day the field Hof.

Despite the adverse weather conditions, Thorleif Bache ran the German championship in the endurance run in a new record time of exactly 3 hours, which was eight minutes below the previous year's best time of Henry Hoek , who this time did not take part in the competition. During the race, Bache dueled for a long time with Oberjäger Wich from the Rhenish Jäger Battalion No. 8, who ran just behind him. Only when a larger ice surface had to be passed, which the Norwegian overcame with a brilliant jump of several meters, while Wich drove the dangerous place slowly with care, the battle for victory had been decided in favor of Bach, who ultimately had another one on his pursuer A lead of almost half an hour ran out.

According to an eyewitness report that was subsequently printed in the Freiburg newspaper , Bache seemed "not at all tired" when he arrived at the finish and is said to have said "that the storm was so terrible that he had the feeling that he was not wearing any clothes have". He also reported from Oberjäger Wich, who came in second, "that he had lost headgear and gloves, his head was completely frozen and one hand was frozen and the man himself was extremely exhausted" . "Only the third man did not suffer any frost damage," he continued, "but he came up from below instead of down from above because he had completely lost his way". "Of the remaining four men, three of them heard in the course of the afternoon from the surrounding farms that they were wrapped up, the fourth remained gone and you had no idea of ​​his whereabouts until the next day. It wasn't until Saturday at noon that he came very much exhausted without skis. He had spent the night near the Feldberg tower in a hut and on Saturday, in the thickest snowstorm, after wandering around for 22 hours, he finally found the Feldberg inn ".

Ski jumping

space	athlete	(Country), club, place	Expanse
1	Thorleif Bache	Norway	22.5 m
2	Thorvald Heyerdahl	Norway	?
3	Anders Holte	Norway	?

Date: February 2, 1902

Ski jump: Feldberg hill

The championship for Germany in jumping was won by the Norwegian Thorleif Bache with a flawless and safe jump to 22.5 meters. Bache thus ensured the third Norwegian success at the International Field Mountain Jump. The athletes each had to complete a total of three jumps, of which the longest jump was counted. Besides the competition, one of the Norwegians achieved a maximum distance of 29.5 meters.

literature

• Constanze N. Pomp: Brettlehupfer. The early phase of skiing in the Black Forest (1890–1930) . Mainz contributions to cultural anthropology / folklore. Waxmann Verlag, 2016, ISBN 978-3-8309-3295-6
• The three-day ski races of the Schwarzwal Ski Club. In: Freiburger Zeitung , February 5, 1902, daily edition, p. 2
• About the ski races on the Feldberg. In: Freiburger Zeitung , February 8, daily edition, p. 2
• The pitfalls of the Feldberg. In: Freiburger Zeitung , February 13, 1902, 2nd sheet, p. 1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Accident on the Feldberg. In: Freiburger Zeitung , February 1, 1902, daily edition, p. 3
2. ↑ Dr. Scheller † found. In: Freiburger Zeitung , February 2, 1902, daily edition, p. 2
3. ^ To the accident on the Feldberg. In: Freiburger Zeitung , February 4, 1902, daily edition, p. 3
4. ↑ From the Feldberg. February 4th. In: Freiburger Zeitung , February 7, 1902, 2nd sheet, p. 1
5. ↑ ^{a b c} The three-day ski races of the Black Forest Ski Club. In: Freiburger Zeitung , February 5, 1902, daily edition, p. 2
6. ↑ The pitfalls of the Feldberg. In: Freiburger Zeitung , February 13, 1902, 2nd sheet, p. 1
7. ↑ About the ski races on the Feldberg. In: Freiburger Zeitung , February 8, 1902, daily edition, p. 2