I did it! I first tried completing the Ortenauer Weinpfad at the end of July 2020. Even though I had started at night, the heat was killing me. I changed my training and, at peak, completed four weeks à 80+ km/2.000+ m elevation gain. It paid off!
I started at 4:00 am in Gernsbach, benefitting from the changing of clocks (5:00am summer time). The weather was perfect and I could run in shorts and took off my long-sleeve shirt about half-way through the trail. It's a very hilly course with constant uphill and downhill and very few flat sections. I power-walked the uphills and ran-down the downhills. I had to use my head-lamp for the first 20k and the last 5k. I also ran alone for the entire time.
I only carried 2l of water/electrolytes (4 soft flasks) with me. I filled them up at a well in Neusatz (37 km), purchased water at a gas station in Oberkirch (60km), and re-filled at a public toilet in Ohlsbach (84 km) which was directly next to the trail. I did not take any breaks except for the time it took me to purchase supplies in Oberkirch.
The scenery was amazing: all the leaves of the vineyards were changing their color. The trail is runnable almost all year around. Despite an elevation gain of 3.000m, you never get up very high onto the slops of the Black Forest.
I'm proud to successfully have added this wonderful trail to fastestknowntime.com and hope my run will get recognized as its first FKT.
I'm a very average runner. I'm sure better and faster runners can surely run a couple of hours faster!
If you are interested in this trail please do not hesitate to contact me via Strava. I'm happy to share more tipps and insights for future FKT attempts!