Trail running meets tradition

Updated 06.06.2023

When 1,300 athletes from 70 nations run for world championship titles at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships 2023 from 6 to 10 June in Innsbruck and the Stubaital, they will not only get to know the beautiful landscape. They will also get an insight into Tyrolean traditions and experience the custom of a Catholic Corpus Christi procession. A spectacle for athletes and locals, where functional clothing meets traditional costume.

As luck would have it, right in the middle of the WMTRC is Corpus Christi Day, a holiday in Tyrol, on Thursday 8 June. It is celebrated on the 60th day after Easter and is a Solemnity in the Church Year of the Catholic Church. On this occasion, so-called Corpus Christi processions take place all over Tyrol. They are also held in the villages around Innsbruck and the Stubaital during the World Cup.

Insight into the cultural customs of Tyrol

It is quite possible that the procession with priests, altar servers, marksmen and brass bands will be accompanied by trail runners this year or - vice versa - that the runners will be admired by the locals for their achievements.

"I think it's great that our Corpus Christi procession takes place at the same time as the World Mountain Running and Trail Running Championships. Then visitors from many parts of the world will get an impression of the culture and customs in Tyrol. And who knows: maybe some of them will like it so much that we can take on new members in our associations," smiles a musician from the Bundesmusikkapelle Neustift.

Processions are also held in other countries

In a procession, which is also held on other occasions during the church year, the village community moves through the village and stops at designated places. These are decorated with small altars and at each stop, prayers are said and the brass band plays one of its pieces. The marksmen also fire salutes into the air.

This may seem strange to the participants of the World Mountain Running and Trail Running Championships, but perhaps there are customs in their countries of origin that are reminiscent of a Tyrolean procession. Processions are also known in other countries such as Greece, Portugal or Argentina. But they also exist in Buddhism, for example in Indonesia or South Korea.

Function meets uniform

"I think the canopy and the flags that are carried through the village are beautiful. I am impressed by the uniforms of the music bands and the marksmen with their leather trousers and colourful loden jackets. I also find it endearing that you can still see many traditional dirndls and traditional costumes of the farmers' wives. That's how you imagine Tyroleans to be," enthuses a trail runner from Mexico who saw pictures of the Corpus Christi processions during her training for the World Championships.

After the processions, there is usually a party or two in the village squares. Then, at the latest, the participants of the World Championships may well mingle with the locals in their traditional costumes, lederhosen and dirndls.