Star ride

It was in 1992...

..., on the occasion of Karl May's 150th birthday, when actors from the two German Karl May theatres in Rathen and Bad Segeberg came up with the idea of organising a star ride. They rode from Rathen, Hohenstein-Ernstthal and Bad Segeberg to the former UFA site in Werder, passing through Radebeul's Lößnitzgrund. To welcome the riders to Karl May's long-time hometown, a festival was organised in honour of the famous adventure writer, transforming the Lößnitzgrund into a fantastic world straight out of Karl May's books.
This was the birth of the 1st Karl May Festival and the star ride, which gave rise to the idea for the festival, is still a tradition in Radebeul today.
Hundreds of riders from all over Germany get into the saddle every year to ride to the Karl May Festival, meet like-minded people at the Star Riders' Camp and put their skills to the test at tournaments. The rider who has travelled the furthest to Radebeul on horseback is honoured with a sculpture in front of thousands of spectators.

The previous record for the star ride was set by Randy Helbig in 2012. He rode a proud 1320 kilometres to Radebeul. His ride took him from Jeßnigk in Brandenburg via Poland and the Baltic Sea to the Radebeul Karl May Festival.

Winner 2025

In 2025, three riders from Jacky Ranch, Austria and their respective horses travelled the longest distance of 616.3 km in 21 riding days to Radebeul. Andrea Seidel on horse Smokey Chief's Black (8 years old), Katja Döring on horse Gaucho (15 years old) and Bianka Ziem on horse Shorty (6 years old) covered 11,691 metres of ascent and 12,333 metres of descent.