Cross Country issue 135, May/June 2011
It’s back. The 2011 Red Bull X-Alps promises to be better than ever as 32 international athletes line up to compete in the toughest flying race in the world
Does it need explaining? Is there a pilot on the planet who doesn’t know about the Red Bull X-Alps? That on 17 July – a day after the Paragliding World Championships finishes in Spain – 32 international athletes will line up in the centre of Salzburg, Austria ready to race 864km through the Alps to Monaco?
Carrying their wing with them they must be on foot or in the sky at all times. No other form of transport is allowed. The race will take just over a week if the weather is good, longer if bad.
As it develops some pilots will drop out through exhaustion, others will be cut from the back as they get left behind. Once the first person reaches Mont Gros in Monaco the clock starts ticking. Forty-eight hours later the races ends and athletes score to where they’re standing. It’s the ultimate race to goal.
This will be the fifth Red Bull X-Alps and it will be the fastest. The bar has been raised again after last year’s surprise winners Chrigel Maurer and Thomas Theurillat nailed it. On the first Red Bull X-Alps athletes turned up in hiking boots expecting to stroll through alpine meadows and fly until sunset. Supporters made the tea. Now, race teams prepare and train for months in advance. Manufacturers develop specialist wings and harnesses for ‘their’ pilots and supporters are sports psychologists, mountain guides and weather gurus rolled into one.
Over the next few pages we talk to Tomo Coconea, Chrigel Maurer and Alex Hofer and meet this year’s crop of athletes, some racing for the first time, some old hands. Every one of them has a story, every one of them is an inspiration. You won’t find better athletes than these in any sport in the world. Prepare to be amazed…
Read the whole thing in Cross Country magazine, issue 135
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