Winter Games

Rural youth athletes: “A brilliant day in lederhosen”

The right outfit for fun on the slopes: Lukas Pichler and Moritz Lichters from the Unternberg-Thomatal rural youth group(Bild: Holitzky Roland)

From the barn to the ski slope, toboggan run and ice rink: almost 900 participants from all over Salzburg made the pilgrimage to Lungau for the Winter Youth Games - in glorious weather. 

The ice skaters are highly concentrated: The next one takes a shot, gets close to the target. Everyone applauds.

 For shooters like Bernhard Voithofer from the Mittersill rural youth organization, this popular sport is family heritage. "I used to take part as a boy," says the young farmer from Bachgut, a dairy farm with 18 cattle. His secret recipe for the perfect shot: "You need a good curling stick."

The winter games attracted young farmers from all over Salzburg to the Fanningberg in Weißpriach and Mariapfarr on Saturday. "850 participants have registered in advance. They come from more than 50 groups," says organizer and rural youth officer Julia Hochwimmer, who is delighted with the large crowds on perfectly groomed slopes. She and her team managed the organization in advance.

Christoph, Simon and Bernhard from the Mittersill rural youth team(Bild: Holitzky Roland)

In addition to ice shooters, the participants took part in ski races, tobogganing and nail competitions. Lukas and Moritz even slipped into lederhosen instead of ski outfits: "The weather is perfect. A unique Lederhosen day," said the duo from Unternberg happily. The lugers had to change their plans at short notice: "The plan was for the route to lead through the forest to the award ceremony in the village below," says Hochwimmer. Due to the lack of snow, the race was moved further up the mountain.

Community and not "tough races"
The competitions were not primarily about achieving the best times. "The focus is on having fun. That's what makes the atmosphere so unique," said a delighted Maximilian Aigner, regional head of Salzburg's rural youth.

Fun tobogganing: Magdalena, Christina (front) with Johanna, Emilia and Nathalie.(Bild: Holitzky Roland)

Andreas Zehner, head of the group in Unternberg-Thomatal, can only confirm this: "It's a lot about networking and making contacts across all districts." Like so many others, his group has no problems recruiting new members. The members would benefit enormously later on. The best example: "You learn a lot about self-confidence and develop yourself further." And future topics such as increasing digitalization were discussed at the Winter Games - with après-ski flair in the marquee.