Brocken-Challenge, live.

A winter ultra from Göttingen to the Brocken

The 23rd Brocken-Challenge starts at 06:00 on Saturday 13 February 2027 at the Hainholzhof in Göttingen and runs 87.5 km over the Brocken to Oderbrück.

The Brocken-Challenge is a winter charity ultra organised by members of the club ASFM, Ausdauersport für Menschlichkeit. The idea dates from February 2001, when Markus Ohlef ran from Göttingen to the top of the Brocken in a day, and the first official edition followed in February 2004. The entry fee of 145 euros goes in full to charity, and the first 22 editions raised 478,450 euros.

Normally the run ends on the Brocken summit at 1,142 metres. In 2027 no rooms are available up there because of building work, so the organiser sets up an extra aid point on the summit, hands out a badge as proof that you made it, and the course continues down to the Hochmoorbaude in Oderbrück. That makes 87.5 km, or up to 89 km depending on alternative routes in the upper Harz, with about 1,900 metres of climbing.

From the start the route crosses the Göttinger Wald, passes the Seeburger See and the Rhumequelle, and climbs into the Harz through the Steinaer Tal to the Jagdkopf before Königskrug and Oderbrück. The ground ranges from asphalt to single trail, the lowest point is Rhumspringe at 155 metres around km 30, and the organiser expects frost and snow at least on the last 20 km. There are no kilometre markers.

Places are limited by the Harz National Park and by logistics. Applications run from 1 to 7 November 2026, places are drawn, and answers follow on 1 December. Check in and the briefing are on Friday 12 February 2027 in Göttingen. The organiser asks for self reliance and mutual help, but every year people finish their first ultra here.

On Livebib you can follow a participant who chooses to share their own live position from the phone they carry. This is not the organiser's timing, and the official results come from the Brocken-Challenge.