Who the Hell Is He?
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From a symbol of suffering to an iconic companion on race day: the “Trophy Devil” energizes the Salzkammergut Trophy with creativity, passion, and endurance. The story uncovers the origins of this unique character and the man who brings it to life.
Who exactly is this Trophy Devil? Is he just a copy of the legendary Didi the Devil, the three-pronged devil of the Tour de France? No, definitely not, the Trophy Devil has his own unique story!
It was in 2000 when 54-year-old Bernd Zörlein, a hobby cyclist from Vöhringen near Neu-Ulm, was interviewed by a TV crew about how he was feeling after the brutal portage between Hallstatt and Gosau, which was still necessary at the time. Sunk ankle-deep in the high moor, he stammered into the reporter's microphone ‘It's hell!’ only to correct himself immediately, given that he still had more than 65 kilometres to go. ‘No, once to hell and back!’
With that, he summed up what every exhausted participant in the hellish long-distance race probably thinks when the heavenly finish line is still far away. Thus, the words ‘once to hell and back’ became an apt synonym for the sheer unbearable, devilish torments of the extreme Trophy route.
In the same race, Thomas Gschwandtner, a ceramic artist from Hallstatt, finished second to last, almost an hour and a half after Bernd Zörlein. Two years earlier, at the very first Trophy in 1998, he had also attempted the long distance – but without success. The following year, the time limit struck mercilessly again and he failed, like many others.
But Thomas is a fighter, and defeats only make him stronger. His credo is ‘crazy sports,’ as he himself admits. They hold a magical attraction for him: he has successfully completed the gruelling Ironman in Klagenfurt five times and has participated in the exhausting Hallstatt swimming marathon over ten kilometres several times. And the insane Tough Guy Race, an annual obstacle course in England, is also part of his sporting repertoire.
Thomas knows the endorphin-filled moments of happiness in the life of a tough athlete, and he knows exactly what highs and lows cyclists go through in the Salzkammergut Trophy. But he is not only a tough athlete, he is also an extremely creative person.
In 2009, Thomas came up with something special. When the Trophy organisation team commissioned him to produce the winner's prizes for the extreme route, he created a symbolic trophy: a red devil on a mountain bike. ‘The Salzkammergut Trophy is just something wild – an angel would definitely not fit in here. Anyone who wins here must have been devilishly fast,’ he said of his artistic creation.
In 2017, Thomas finally brought his victory trophy to life. ‘I like to dress up and I'm always up for crazy stunts,’ he says with a mischievous grin. "The Trophy OK team wanted a “gateway to hell” at the start number distribution for the 20th anniversary in 2017 and commissioned me to design it. I then had the idea of dressing up as the devil to accompany and motivate the participants along the route. The organisers didn't know about my plans and were quite surprised when I showed up at the start dressed as the devil with a trident."
The idea was a hit. Wherever Thomas appears, all hell breaks loose. Thomas not only provides diabolical attention and fun, he is also a meticulous person. He does everything thoroughly, and so the working day of the ‘Trophy Devil’ begins at three o'clock in the morning. More precisely, it begins the evening before: ‘I do the basic red paint job the day before so that I can get dressed up more quickly on race day,’ explains the artist. He designed and made his costume, which is mostly made of leather, himself.
At five o'clock sharp, he cheers on the first Trophy participants at the start. After that, he appears unexpectedly at various points along the track; once he even hung from a rope on the Ewige Wand.
When the last riders cross the finish line, Thomas's devilishly exhausting working day is still not over. For him, it goes without saying that he will also be present at the award ceremony. And this can take quite a long time, as he notes with a wink: ‘I've been on the go for 24 hours straight at the Salzkammergut Trophy. That's just my personal kind of marathon...’
www.trophy.at/teufel