Snow plow championships in Marktredwitz: Summer heat meets winter service!

Snow plow championships in Marktredwitz: Summer heat meets winter service!

What a spectacle! The fourth German Snow Plow Driving Championship took place on September 23, 2025 in Marktredwitz, in the middle of the beautiful Wunsiedel district in the Fichtel Mountains. Despite summer temperatures of up to 28 degrees, more than 30 teams demonstrated their winter service skills on Rößlermühlstrasse. The competition, which took place outside the regular winter season, was intended not to get in the way of winter service employees and to depict realistic scenarios that challenge them every day in winter. The Borkener Zeitung pointed this out.

The drivers had to maneuver their Unimog with a mounted snow blade through a challenging course with great skill and precision. This included 14 different obstacles, including precisely moving stacks of tires, slalom driving and knocking over knee-high squared timbers. Drivers had to drive both forwards and backwards, which made the challenge even greater.

The best teams

At the end of the day it was the team from the Oberweyer road maintenance department from Hesse that took first place. Michael Wilhelmi and Lukas Kniesner showed excellent skills in handling their snow plow and secured the title. Second place went to the Bingen road maintenance department from Rhineland-Palatinate, followed by the Emmelshausen motorway maintenance department, which achieved third place. The team from Marktredwitz secured fourth place and could still be proud of their performance. An overview of the rankings:

As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported, a qualifying session took place early in the morning in which twelve crews fought for the title. Overall, the event was used to bring viewers and participants closer to the challenges of winter service, which often go unnoticed. The competition offered an exciting opportunity to look at this often underestimated work from a different perspective.

With bright sunshine and good spirits, the competition was also a real celebration for the spectators. The participants showed that they can perform really well not only in winter, but also in mid-summer temperatures. Further proof that winter maintenance is an important and challenging craft that requires a lot more behind the scenes than many people realize. In fact, Marktredwitz has hosted winter maintenance competitions before, including the 2018 Northern Bavarian Championships and the 2023 Bavarian Championships, making the city a hub for such events.

In conclusion, it can be said that events like this contribute significantly to the appreciation of the work in winter service. Ultimately, the employees ensure that our roads are safe to drive on even in winter and that we can get to our destinations without any problems. A big thank you to all participants and organizers!