Summary of the year 2024

And that's a wrap! 2024’s chapter in the Vltava Run story has now closed. Time to take a peek at the next one, the twelfth in the series.

But before we dive in, let's take a moment to look back at this year’s edition.

This year, we had 304 teams composed of 3,604 brave runners. Thirteen of these teams were all-female, and another thirteen were in the category of “up to 9 runners”. For the ninth time, runners from the Leontinka Foundation hit the trail. For the second year, children from orphanages, guided by Tomáš Slavata, also participated, forming two teams. Fun fact: the oldest participant was 84 years old, and the youngest just celebrated their fifteenth birthday. The most common names for the runners? Jan for men and Kateřina for women.

The eleventh edition saw five daring individuals take on the race solo from start to finish. Marcela, Patrik, Honza, and Petr joined the list of previous solo runners (Přemek from 2020, Petr from 2021, Andrea from 2022, and Zbyšek from 2023). Unfortunately, Jakub, the fifth solo runner this year, had to withdraw due to an injury the night before the finish and is still recovering from soft tissue inflammation in his ankle. Jakub, you’re still a hero in our eyes, and we wish you a speedy recovery!

And the winners? Everyone! Seeing your radiant faces as you cross the finish line, adorned with the new handmade oak medals, is pure joy! It's what drives us forward and helps us overcome all the challenges of organizing the race. We always look forward to seeing each of you at the finish line :-)

But only three teams from each category could stand on the podium:

Category 10 - 12 runners

  • Winehouse.cz

  • AKBK

  • Poko Running Team

Category 6 - 9 runners

  • Benešovský běžecký klub

  • T. J. Sokol Spořilov

  • Six dots

Women's Category

  • Runningzone Brno

  • Powerfool girls

  • Gazela run team

A special shoutout to the team "Máme všechny?", the first all-women team of six to reach the finish line! You deserve special recognition!

This year, we introduced a new side event - the Vltava Run FOUR. According to feedback, the premiere was a hit! Participants noted that the sections were a bit uneven — the 1st and 3rd sections were easier than the 2nd and 4th. We'll definitely adjust the route to balance things out next time. Running in pairs is reportedly a fascinating experience, and we’d love to keep that for the next edition. :-)

Some of you from the classic Vltava Run mistakenly ran the final 36th uphill section because you followed the FOUR runners – next time, be sure to read our emails with pre-race information and follow the blue arrows 🙂 In the end, some loved it so much they suggested everyone run that uphill section in the future because it’s a beautiful route and gives you more time to move cars to the finish... What do you think? :-) Route description HERE.

This year, we introduced a new side event - the Vltava Run FOUR. According to feedback, the premiere was a hit! Participants noted that the sections were a bit uneven — the 1st and 3rd sections were easier than the 2nd and 4th. We'll definitely adjust the route to balance things out next time. Running in pairs is reportedly a fascinating experience, and we’d love to keep that for the next edition. :-)

Some of you from the classic Vltava Run mistakenly ran the final 36th uphill section because you followed the FOUR runners – next time, be sure to read our emails with pre-race information and follow the blue arrows 🙂 In the end, some loved it so much they suggested everyone run that uphill section in the future because it’s a beautiful route and gives you more time to move cars to the finish... What do you think? :-) Route description HERE.

Besides the runners, the teams at the handoff points also excelled – both in organizational matters and in preparing various treats and drinks for you. Based on your feedback, the best handoff points in 2024 were:

  • Věžovatá Pláně

  • Purkarec

  • Květov

We thank everyone and will pass on your praises – and of course, we will reward them accordingly :-)

Speaking of feedback – thank you very much! We received almost 550 questionnaires, and we are very grateful that you took the time to describe everything in such detail. It is an enormous source of information for us – both the positive aspects and the weaknesses we need to improve and innovate for next year.

From your suggestions, two things stand out that we’d like to address immediately: the trackers and team placements in the start list.

We admit that the trackers have been a disappointment for us – we gave them a chance for the second year, and we are definitely not satisfied. According to the supplier, the race is now too large and too long for everything to work perfectly. Despite three-quarters of you wanting them next year, we are not convinced! We’ll try to come up with something else that works consistently for everyone. If anyone has an idea, please share!

On the bright side, the helpline in the app has proven very effective, and we definitely want to keep it for next year.

The second issue is team placements in the start list. Unfortunately, each year the quality of the run times you submit gets poorer and poorer. The result? Only 42 teams were slower than the predicted finish time calculated from submitted run times. But the rest? Fifty-nine teams finished three hours faster, sixteen of them five hours faster, and the absolute "record holder" had a difference of twelve hours!

Even a five-minute difference in the reported times, if it happens with all team members, results in a three-hour total difference, which is a lot for race organization.

But to be fair, ten teams managed to stay within a ten-minute difference from the predicted times based on field submissions:

  • Energie Přechází Hranice

  • LOUDA team

  • Excon

  • CIKLUM

  • Pornorun

  • Running sushi

  • PWC - paint with Commitment

  • Planetomet2023

  • Rum Fasta

  • Čochtan Horní Slavkov

  • #tymdejvid "B"

These teams receive pre-registration for the Vltava Run 2025 as a reward! And with everyone else, we will have to do something for next year to ensure that we can fit as many teams as possible within the +/- one-hour interval based on the predicted times. This year, it was only 81 teams.

Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery on the website, where we uploaded all the photos from this year and used AI to tag photos with numbers where they were readable to make it easier to find your team. Unfortunately, we certainly didn’t manage to photograph everyone, but we believe you also diligently documented your experience :-)

And finally, the most important thing! Get your calendars out and write this down — the 12th Vltava Run will take place, keeping with tradition, on the second weekend of May, from May 10 to 11, 2025, and we are already looking forward to seeing all of you!

Your Vltava Run team