Intrepid runners faced on July 28 the nearly vertical Red Bull 400 race in the Black Forest town of Titisee-Neustadt in Southern Germany. The competition, which takes place in different locations around the world, has been billed as the hardest 400m of your life, taking 600 to 800 steps to reach the peak.
The climb reaches 37 degrees steepness with most athletes reduced to all fours when the slope reaches 30 degrees. On average, the heartrate hits around 200bpm when getting towards the top. In all, the elevation gain over the 400m course is 140m.
The crawling begins when thigh muscles can’t get enough oxygen and the muscles start to lose their contractile function. Meanwhile, the lactic acid build-up is about 20 times more than normal.
