Athletes enjoy favourable flying conditions at Red Bull X-Alps 2017 – but only after brutal climb to 2,000m.

Red Bull X-Alps 2017 Race Report: Day 2 Highlight Video

Red Bull X-Alps 2017 Race Report: Day 2 Highlight Video

The athletes push on towards Triglav on day 2 of their epic journey to Monaco. The poor weather conditions remain and Antoine Girard (FRA1) sustains an injury which forces him to leave the race. Follow the action live at win.gs/LiveTracking

Red Bull X-Alps, the world’s toughest adventure race is returning July 2, 2017 for its eighth edition. Starting in Salzburg, 31 Athletes of 20 nationalities will race a straight-line distance of 1,138km across the Alps to Monaco via 7 turnpoints in 7 different countries, including a turnpoint in Slovenia for the first time in Red Bull X-Alps history.

Over the years, the race has attracted some of the world’s top adventurers and has pushed them to their limits. It demands not only expert paragliding skills but extreme endurance, as some athletes will hike over 100km a day and gain 1000’s of meters in altitude while flying.

Travelling only by foot or paraglider, their every move is monitored by advanced Live Tracking technology and broadcasted to an audience of millions. With constantly changing weather conditions, tactical planning is as important as the extreme endurance required to participate. For this reason, each athlete has a supporter to help with strategy, nutrition and everything in between. The role of the supporter is hugely important – they truly are the unsung heroes of the race.

Before the main event, the one-day Leatherman Prologue race took place in SalzburgerLand. Sebastian Huber, Aaron Durogati and Benoit Outters, the top three finishers, each won an additional Ledlenser Night Pass, allowing them to race through the mandatory rest period. On day two of the main race, the usual 5:00am start will be delayed for each athlete by the time in which they finished the Leatherman Prologue race behind the prologue winner.

“The Red Bull X-Alps is the definition of true adventure.” Gavin McClurg (Team USA1).

The 2015 edition saw 19 of the 32 athletes make the goal – a record number since the first race in 2003. Incredibly, 12 rookies crossed the finish line in Monaco, including athletes from Korea, New Zealand and elsewhere for the first time in history.

Swiss athlete Christian Maurer however, won the Red Bull X-Alps 2015 race in a time of 8 days, 4 hours and 37 minutes. It was his fourth successive win and a new record. Could 2017 see athletes like Sebastian Huber or Paul Guschlbauer end Maurer’s reign as Red Bull X-Alps champion? Only one thing is certain – anything could happen!

Quelle: with thanks to Redbullxalps.com

WHAT HAPPENED SO FAR IN DAY 3

 News straight from the road as the athletes head for Turnpoint 2 and beyond!

Quelle: with thanks to Redbullxalps.com

Photo: Ludvik Vitek

“I had a super great day,” said Gaspar Petiot (FRA2), who is in the top three and just 8km from Turnpoint 2 in Slovenia. “When I started this morning I was last.”

dventure racing and paragliding is about making decisions, and today was a day to make the right ones. Conditions for flying in many places were marginal, with strong and turbulent wind making launching difficult and flying extremely challenging.

“We are slow on foot,” Petiot said, “but I knew if we could launch and fly then we could do something with the day.”

His trick he said was to launch before the main spine of the Alps as he could tell that conditions on the south side were too strong and turbulent to be safe.

“My first flight was short, but my second one at 2pm worked and I managed to fly a long way. I don’t know how far but I was in the air for five hours with the wind behind me.”

To top off his day, he launched again, made further distance, and landed shortly before the official land-by time of 9pm.

Tomorrow I hope to climb the west ridge of the mountain, reach the take off and then wait until conditions are good for flying. Petiot and his supporter are both mountain guides and they know that of they climb straight up the rock rather than take the trails, they will be faster.

“We need to get permission from the race director but we are happy it is a good route.”

Another athlete happy with his decision making today was Chrigel Maurer (SUI1). The Swiss athlete started in 22nd place and flew into first, tagging the second turnpoint before heading back north towards Aschau-Chiemsee in Germany.

“The flying was amazing,” Maurer said after he had landed. “I had one flight this morning,” he said, “which was short but very efficient.”

“Then after launching again in the air it was working well. But in Goldeck I made a mistake and switched sides into the lee. That meant I had to land and walk up again.

“From there it was amazing flying. Approaching Turnpoint 2 clouds formed below me, like fog, and out to the west big clouds blocked out the sun.”

Without sun, there are no thermals, and that makes flying in the mountains doubly-difficult.

“The west side of the mountain wasn’t working, so then I switched to the east side and found I was able to soar.” Using just the wind against the mountain face, he managed to stay aloft, surfing it like a wave.

“That was amazing, but it was very hard work. I managed to cross over the ridge line with just 20m to get to the turnpoint.”

Pushing back north he landed near the small village of Obervellach, where he was met by his supporters and ate a quick dinner before walking into the evening.

“In the morning I will walk up to a launch. I hope to get to Greifenburg and launch around noon,” he said.  Greifenburg is a world famous paragliding site.

Deciding not to fly is just as important as deciding to take off. So it was with many pilots today, who looked at the conditions and decided to go head down and stick to hiking.

Michal Gierlach (POL) hiked all day and chose not to fly today. “The wind was a poor direction, strong, turbulent air,” he said from the mountain.

“We are hiking high this evening to stay in a hut at 2,400m. I’m with a group of about six. My legs are tired but everything is fine. I hope to get a good rest tonight and then we plan to try to fly from the hut in the morning.”

Photos by © zooom / Honza Zak, © zooom / Harald Tauderer, © zooom / Vitek Ludvik

LINK : http://www.redbullxalps.com/news.html

DAY TWO WRAP-UP

Maurer surges into lead as Girard retires with knee injury, Day 2

If Day Two started slowly, it certainly made up for it as the afternoon progressed. Maurer (SUI1) surged from 22nd place into the lead to pass TP 2, Triglav, crushing the all-day lead that Coconea (ROU) had established after hiking through the night.

For most of the day the lead athletes had been pinned down on the approach to Spittal an der Drau. Strong winds on the Hohe Tauern main ridge made taking off precarious and not every athlete was happy to chance it. For those that got away, the rewards were high.

Frenchmen Gaspard Petiot (FRA2) and Nelson de Freyman (FRA3) managed to escape and de Freyman at one point soared into second place, overtaking Chrigel a few kilometers north of Triglav.

Athletes such as Sebastian Huber (GER1) and Jesse Williams (USA2) could only watch as they flew overhead. But sometimes the right decision is not always the most obvious one. Late in the day Antoine Girard (FRA1) announced that he is retiring from the race after injuring his knee during take off.

He was attempting to launch his paraglider when the afternoon wind conditions caused him to misstep during take-off. The result was a sprained knee.

Antoine Girard is an experienced adventure paraglider pilot, who has competed in two previous Red Bull X-Alps races, in 2013 and 2015. He finished third in 2013 and fourth in 2015.

If the day began with the story of Toma Coconea, it ended with Chrigel Maurer. Having started the day an hour behind the last team in 22nd place, by the end he’d managed to fly into the lead and tag the second Turnpoint of Triglav in the air while the others struggled on foot.

Who could stop him?

Photos by © zooom / Honza Zak, © zooom / Harald Tauderer, © zooom / Vitek Ludvik

LINK : http://www.redbullxalps.com/news/article/day-two-wrap-up.html

TAG ZWEI: DER LANGE WEG ZU TURNPOINT 2 AM TRIGLAV

Die Athleten absolvieren ihre ersten Flüge der Red Bull X-Alps 2017. Coconea marschiert weiter. Durogatis Rennen ist in Gefahr. 

Was für eine Nacht für Toma Coconea (ROU)! Die rumänische Lauflegende stürmte voraus, um als erster Athlet den Alpenhauptkamm bei den Hohen Tauern zu überqueren. Heute Vormittag hatte er bereits eine Distanz von 20km zwischen sich und seinen ersten Verfolger Sebastian Huber (GER1) gebracht, die bis Mittag auf 30km anwachsen sollte. „Ich habe nicht geschlafen“, sagte er. „Ich bin nur gelaufen.“ Sein Team ergänzte, dass die Musik von AC/DC ihn wach hielt.

Heute Mittag unternahm er den Aufstieg zur Spitze des Goldecks, einem bekannten Startplatz für Paragleiter. Mit einem Flug am Nachmittag plant er seine Führung weiter auszubauen. Obwohl der Regen aufgehört hatte, blieben die Bedingungen wechselhaft und hinderten eine Vielzahl der Athleten am Fliegen.

„Es war zu windig”, erklärte Huber an der Spitze des Maltatals während einer Fußmassage seines Physiotherapeuten Helmut Lorenz.

Das Teilnehmerfeld beginnt sich auseinanderzuziehen. Die Verfolgung von Coconea und Huber nahmen Gavin McClurg (USA1), der sich mit dem Einsatz seines Ledlenser Nights Passes weit nach vorne katapultierte, und Jesse Williams (USA2) auf. So wie es aussieht, erwartet uns ein harter Kampf um Platz 3 zwischen den beiden Amerikanern morgen – passenderweise am 4. Juli.
McClurg überraschte mit seiner Entscheidung, den Ledlenser Night Pass zu ziehen. Immerhin hatte er vor dem Rennen erklärt, wie wichtig es für ihn ist, zwischen 02:00 Uhr und 05:30 Uhr zu schlafen. Da er sich nach dem Abstieg vom Gaisberg nur am 20. Platz wiederfand, gab ihm der Zug die Chance, einige Plätze gutzumachen.

Aaron Durogati (ITA1) hatte mit dem harten Abstieg vom Gaisberg zu kämpfen. Sein Team gab bekannt, dass er unter Knieproblemen leidet und äußerte die Befürchtung einer Meniskusverletzung.
Sein Supporter Matteo Vettore sagt: „Gehen, vor allem im steilen Gelände, ist zurzeit leider beinahe unmöglich. Wir wägen nun unsere Optionen ab und versuchen zu fliegen, aber im Moment spielt das Wetter nicht mit.“

Chrigel Maurer gelang ein erster Flug, wenn auch nur über eine kurze Distanz. Dennoch reichte das Manöver, um sich vom 22. auf den 6. Platz zu verbessern. Der Schweizer stellte einmal mehr sein fliegerisches Können unter Beweis.
Keines der Teams hat einen Ledlenser Night Pass für heute Nacht gezogen. Somit endet das Rennen heute für alle Athleten um 22:30 Uhr. Alle Blicken richten sich nun Richtung Triglav.

Die Athleten sind über 70km verteilt, aber die Führung ist nach wie vor für jeden Einzelnen in Reichweite. Wer auch immer es schafft, den ersten weiten Flug zu absolvieren, könnte sich schnell an die Spitze des Feldes setzen.
Verfolgt das Geschehen via Live Tracking auf redbullxalps.com

ÜBER RED BULL X-ALPS

Red Bull X-Alps 2017, das härteste Adventure Rennen der Welt, startet am 2. Juli 2017 in seine achte Ausgabe. Von Salzburg aus werden 31 Athleten aus 20 Nationen die 1.138km lange Strecke quer über die Alpen nur zu Fuß oder mit dem Gleitschirm überqueren und darum kämpfen, als Erster im Ziel in Monaco zu landen. Dabei müssen sie 7 Turnpoints in 7 verschiedenen Ländern passieren.

Jeder ihrer Schritte wird dabei von fortschrittlicher Live Tracking Technologie erfasst und für Millionen von Fans zugänglich gemacht. Aufgrund der ständig wechselnden Wetterbedingungen ist eine gute taktische Planung ebenso wichtig wie die extreme Ausdauer, welche den Athleten abverlangt wird. Darum wird jeder der 31 Abenteurer von einem Supporter begleitet, der ihm Tag und Nacht bei Strategie, Versorgung und vielem mehr zur Seite steht.

Eine Liste mit Steckbriefen und weiteren Informationen zu allen 31 Athleten findet ihr unter redbullxalps.com/athletes.

Photos by © zooom / Harald Tauderer and © zooom / Honza Zak