I had a mixed relationship with the LOTR Slam 2025 from the very beginning. Not that I was not looking forward to run any of the courses or something like that – but after a really interesting and intense run in January 2025 together with Olav on the first of the three long courses of the slam (The Tale of the Years of the Third Age in Germany) – the life got in between the focus on running and me.

First it was the expected brake due to race season starting and all the hustle and bustle around the Legends Trail. LT was closely followed by the attempt and finish of the JUNUT. Right after JUNUT things related to running got out of hand quite a bit as life did change dramatically. In the best way possible, but still. This change tore down any focus related to long distance running for some weeks and required a lot of attention and energy. Within these weeks the first attempt and DNF on the second long run of the LOTR SLAM in the beautiful Müllerthal in Luxembourg took place. In the retrospective a foolish attempt during these exciting days. Life settled after that into its new beautiful being and the focus returned. But also the next big official race with the PAUL – 250k in June 2025. Yvonne and me decided to take our revenge on the Müllerthal in late July and luckily this worked out. Towards the end of it, it was quite a fight but we endured it til the end of the Shadows of the past track. This brought me back to my original schedule for the LOTR slam runs I made back in December 2024. The only other fitting and long weekend in the second half of 2025 was the one beginning of October. Quite risky as it was way too close to the first race of the new Legends Slam series – the Great Escape 2.0 with nowadays 200 instead of 160k – but I figured back then it was a risk I could take as the race came first and I would not deliberately risk a DNF on that high priory event.

To be fair – Olav, Yvonne and me with the full Great Escape two weeks prior in our bodies – none of us was completely recovered and ready in the meaning of ready to endure yet another run of endless hours and especially hours of darkness. But the date was set…

…and so there we were – October 3rd 1000 – the 4 of us on a rather empty parking lot in Bouillon. Leonie, Olav, Yvonne and me trying to tackle the Misty Mountains over the Redhorn pass course of Marek featuring the beautiful south of the Ardennes surrounding the river Semois. The course consists of two loops – 60k and 100k – so we hoped to finish the 60k loop not too late so that the vast majority of the forecasted rain would not hit us on this first stretch. The landscape differed from stunning views to narrow river valley with a good portion of solid and technical trails – while sun was up a quite enjoyable thing to run. But sun settled and the closer we got to finish the first loop the less runnable it was. In the dark and in the attempt of staying straight on track we ended up in stretches of endless thorns where one kilometer would easily last between 30-60 min. With the light rain an interesting mix.

After almost 12h we were back at the cars and decided for 75 min break to re-dress, have something warm to eat and drink and to sleep a little.

At 2300 Friday evening we started on the second loop of 100k. The rain would not lift for hours but instead intensify slowly but surely. The course started to develop into an Ardennes-like trail. All in all it was a memorable night in which we split into two pairs as the need for breaks differed between the two couples. Finally light came back and with that the certainty that the night did drain a bit more energy and grid than expected. Around 1100 we thankfully met Marek and Wendy who came to support and run some km with us. Unfortunately Yvonne had to call it a day at around 110k into the course so I tried to speed-up and met Olav and Leonie a while later. From there on we sticked together, mostly in silence and bit of the last km of the track. The second night came, a bit of rain returned, the trails were partly completely blocked and destroyed by fallen trees and in parts so steep that it slowed us down to almost 0 at times. Luckily these stretches were not as long as in the first night and finally, at around 0200 in the middle of the night, we finished the Misty Mountains of the Redhorn pass course (170k, 6200 D+) in around 40h. Completely empty yet happy.

Some impressions from out there are included in the following video:

With the completion of Misty Mountains over the Redhorn pass the Lord of the Rings Slam 2025 is almost completed. The final assignment is waiting but as it does not involve a lot of running it’s fair to say: one more slam down. Once more we’ve come a long way. From the entry assignment in Eifel/Hautes Fagnes aka. Dead Marshes in 2024 to the three major LOTR Slam runs in 2025 – featuring the south of the Eifel/Mosel in Germany, the Müllerthal in LUX and the valley of Semois in southern BEL/nothern FRA – it was a blast. 3 new regions to me – 3 remarkable runs with excellent people next to me. Once more exploring in its purest form. Partly with the aid and support of friends. Traveling in its purest form, endless stretches of nature in all varieties – endless stretches of emptiness. It indeed is a risky thing to step out of the known paths as everything can happen. But that is the magic of ultra-traveling through this beautiful world.

2024 – Dead Marshes Entry Assignment

January 2025 – The Tale of the Years of the Third Age (GER)

June 2025 – Shadows of the Past (LUX)

October 2025 – Misty Mountains over the Redhorn pass (BEL/FRA)

While we need to setup a date for the final assignment to officially close the LOTR Slam 2025 there are already ideas of the next round of GPX files for the years 2026/2027. In fact a possible entry course for a potential next slam is already in the making. Stay tuned.