MEDIA RELEASE | Anyone hiking near the picturesque peak of Cima Tosa in the Italian Alps would have been in for a surprise at lunchtime today. From out of the sky, the Italian flying ace Aaron Durogati appeared, signed a board and then relaunched into the sky, overtaking several athletes below. He then turned west, against the steadily strengthening wind. His goal? The principality of Monaco in the Mediterranean. His mode of transport? A simple paraglider wing that allows him to cover 100s of kilometers in the air.
The 29-year-old is one of 31 athletes competing in the Red Bull X-Alps, a 1,038km race from Salzburg to Monaco in which athletes have to hike and fly across the Alps in the fastest time possible via 10 Turnpoints.
Already the race has lost two athletes. Clement Latour of France, who was second last year, withdraw before the start due to injury. Day four saw Yvonne Dathe, one of only two women in the race, eliminated – she fell victim to the rule that the last ranked athlete is forced to retire after three days.
Now there are just 31 athletes left in the race and they are spread out over an area several hundred kilometers apart. At the front is the three-time champion Christian Maurer (SUI1), who is feared among the rest of the pack not just for his flying prowess but his ruthless Swiss efficiency, meticulous planning and psychological preparation.
But something he’s not used to is having two athletes on his heels, playing him like a big fish. Every time it looks as though Maurer is able to launch and breakaway, there is Paul Guschlbauer (AUT1) and Sebastian Huber (GER3) not far behind.
Most of the chaser pack form a steady line from Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze, south along Austria’s Oeztal valley to the Italian Brenta mountains. Strong winds were making flying difficult and many athletes were having to resort to hiking on foot. One of them is the race’s own legend, the so-called Romanian running man Toma Coconea. During one non-stop 29 hour period he hiked an incredible 150km and overtook 14 competitors, after pulling a Led Lenser Night Pass, which allows athletes to hike through the night, one time during the race.
Another athlete spending a lot of time on foot was the American athlete Gavin McClurg (USA2), a National Geographic Adventurer of the year. He took a risky and independent line over the mountains into Italy, based on advice from his meteorologist supporter. But it looked as though his gamble didn’t pay off. By last night he’d fallen back in the rankings to 21st place, after beginning day one in the lead group. He faced a long walk to Turnpoint 5 against 60km/h local winds. Still beaming with optimism, he said: “Everything’s going great. The last two days have been hard but I’m feeling really strong.”
Late afternoon Thursday Maurer crossed the half way mark of this race.
As of Friday morning, South African Stephan Kruger is ranked 28th out of the 30 athletes remaining. He’s in good company with a number of athletes nearby.
Follow the action as it happens on Red Bull MOBILE live tracking.
Cool story coming out from yesterday: Michael Witchi pulled his reserve chute after a collapse and landed in a lake!
ABOUT THE RED BULL X-ALPS
The 2015 Red Bull X-Alps is the seventh edition of the world’s toughest adventure race in which athletes must hike or fly 1,038km across the Alps from Salzburg to Monaco in the fastest time possible. The race starts on July 5, 2015. It’s an epic undertaking that can involve hiking up to 100km of mountain terrain in a day – or flying at altitudes in excess of 4,000m. The race demands not only a very high level of endurance fitness but expert paragliding experience. The 2013 edition was the fastest on record with 10 athletes reaching Monaco. It was won by Christian Maurer (SUI) in 6d 23hr 40m.
New in 2015 is the one-day Powertraveller Prologue on July 2 which was won by Paul Guschlbauer in 2h 21m. Stanislav Mayer (CZE) was 2nd in 2h 22m and Gavin McClurg (USA2) came 3rd in 2h 24m. Athletes started and finished in Fuschl am See, passing the Turnpoints of the Zwölferhorn and Schafberg peaks. The first three athletes each gained an additional Led Lenser Nightpass and a five-minute headstart on the main race start.
WWW.REDBULLXALPS.COM