Stüde is a village in the municipality of

Sassenburg Sassenburg is a municipality in the district of Gifhorn, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 7 km northeast of Gifhorn, and 15 km northwest of Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg ...

Gifhorn district Gifhorn () is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. Geography The district is located at the border of Saxony-Anhalt and extends from the southern edge of the Lüneburg Heath () in the north to the suburbs of Braunschweig and Wolfsburg in the so ...

in the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

. In March 2005 it had 714 main residences and 339 secondary residences. It has an area of about 1,900 ha which consists mainly of woodland, including many clumps of pines on sandy soil. The

Elbe Lateral Canal The Elbe Lateral Canal (; ), is a long canal in Lower Saxony, Germany. It runs from the Mittelland Canal near Gifhorn to the Elbe in Artlenburg. It forms an important transport connection between southern and northern Germany, and it provides ...

runs nearby. It is also home to the recreation area of the Bernsteinsee. Near the village is a glider airfield belonging to the Wolfsburg Aero-Club. Village societies include the Sassenburg-Stüde Volunteer Firemen, the Stüde Marathon Club, the Wolfsburg Aero-Club, the shooting club and the Doppelzentner Brothers.

Forest fire disaster

Stüde received national attention in 1975 when a forest and heath fire broke out there on 8 August and ran out of control, quickly leaping across the Elbe Side Canal and causing the most disastrous forest fire that summer.

Canal marathon

Since 1991 Stüde has provided the start and finish for a

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

which follows the canal path almost entirely. From 1994 to 2003, in addition to a normal marathon, the unusual format of a double marathon was offered: two marathons inside 24 hours with a combined time. On the night of 31 December 1999/1 January 2000, under the name of the Millennium Run, the last marathon of 1999 in Europe and the first one of 2000 took place on the Stüde course. The run attracts participants from far afield. The course marathon record has been held since 1995 by Andrzej Nowak from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and the double marathon record by Paul Houston from

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

External links

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Stüde Marathon home page
Gifhorn (district) {{Gifhorn-geo-stub