This weekend were the Hahnenkamm races in Kitzbuhel. I’ve never seen anything like it, but I wasn’t sure if I had a day off to go to see it. On Thursday I arrived at work with one of my colleagues. Not many people were working that day. As we entered the office my boss totally surprised me with free tickets to Friday’s Super G. For weeks people had been talking about going to the races and I know others had been begging for tickets, so I was super stoked I got to go.
The next day I gathered with some friends at 9AM. We would have some breakfast, get some supplies and head out early. Only… the race was postponed due to the weather. On top of that the start and finish lines were moved. The racers wouldn’t even finish where the official finish was and where all the crowds were. It seemed like I was out of luck and we wouldn’t go anymore. Two hours passed and some of us were getting anxious to do something. And so we suddenly decided to go anyway.
Everything was way bigger than I had imagined. There was music and there was beer. Lots of it. It wasn’t terribly busy. Not many people wanted to stand out in the cold and snow to watch the ski racers on a screen. It felt a bit like watching football on a square. Only our feet got super cold because we were standing on a ski slope. It was still worth it though. We watched the majority of the racers and then left for some warmth.
Saturday was the real day, the downhill race. We came together with an even bigger group, Austrian flags painted on our faces and little bottles of shots in our pockets. The train from Kirchberg to Kitzbuhel was crowded and the whole crowd was herded into the finish area. It was so much crazier than the day before. We walked and walked, slipping over the icy snow, up the hill until we stood right before the finish line. Arnold Schwarzenegger was sitting in the VIP stand and we were about third row on a slippery slope. Doing the races budget style.
We gathered all our alcohol and made a little fridge in the snow. People might have been laughing at us, but we had a good time. The atmosphere got even better when the first racers started. The first guy set a great time and it took a while before it was beaten. Every time someone got close the crowd got excited. I couldn’t see a whole lot of the race until the athletes raced around the Redbull corner and flew past us. When Thomas Dressen came down the crowd went wild. One of my Austrian-Dutch colleagues was screaming until she realised she was shouting for a German. You can’t have it all. Sometimes the opposite team wins.
Even though there were people supporting many countries, there was one big happy party in town where we all celebrated together. My colleagues had compared it to King’s day in The Netherlands, and they were spot on. The city center had transformed into a big festival with music, beer and big crowds. We partied for a while, but the day had drained us. When the party starts at 9.30AM it won’t last all night. We made ourselves a simple dinner and then all crashed on the couch. It had been an amazing weekend, but the next day we had to be ready for work again. I left with German songs playing in my head ‘aber scheiss drauf….’