For Immediate Release
July 11, 2015
When an athlete signs up to the Red Bull X-Alps they know they will be up against some of the most experienced adventurers and pilots around the world. But there is something else they are up against – the weather.
Day 7 began with big hopes of 200km flights across the Alps. There were even projections of a winner making Monaco on Sunday. But those hopes disappeared with the westerly wind that grounded the race leader Christian Maurer (SUI1) and crushed hopes among the chaser group of gaining valuable ground today.
Up front the three-time champion Maurer was not enjoying his usual view. In the early afternoon the master Swiss tactician is usually at 3,000m looking down on mountain summits, but today he was on the ground looking up. “We tried to find a thermal on the lee side, but it was right at the limit. When your wing flies at 50km/h but you have 40km/h of headwind, well, you know what happens,” explained Thomas Theurillat, Maurer’s supporter. “Still, we are in good spirits on a very difficult day,” he added.
The day was indeed difficult for many athletes. This could have been the moment that Paul Guschlbauer (AUT1) seized his opportunity to strike. He was in position to make a flight that could have seen him overtake Maurer, but he decided to hike back down after judging that conditions were too windy to fly.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out so well for other athletes. Late afternoon Tom de Dorlodot (BEL) injured his foot after trying to take-off in difficult conditions, tumbling down a steep hillside. He activated his emergency SPOT location device and was picked up by helicopter and taken to hospital, where he said he was most upset about having to withdraw from the race. “I was really enjoying it up until then,” he said. De Dorlodot is one of the most professional and accomplished athletes in the Red Bull X-Alps and this is his fifth time taking part in the race. “I was lucky,” he said. It is a reminder that the Red Bull X-Alps is an adventure, not just a race and the biggest foe is mother nature.
At the back of the pack two athletes are battling to avoid elimination. At 6am on Sunday July 12, the last ranked athlete is automatically eliminated. Fighting to stay in the race are the two Spanish speakers Ivan Colás (ESP) and Alex Villa (COL). They have both pulled a Led Lenser Night Pass, which an athlete can do once during the race to hike through the night. It promises to be a long one for both athletes.
