What could be tougher than doing one endurance sport? Well, while particle physics or composing an opera are both harder, , the answer we were actually looking for was 'doing more than one endurance sport'. So with that in mind we run the rule over the some of the toughest multi-discipline sports in the world…
Event: Red Bull X-Alps
Where?: Salzburg to Monaco
Disciplines required: Hiking, paragliding
By foot, by skis, by elephant, by skiing elephant, down the years mankind has found all manner of ways to cross the Alps , but eight years ago Hannes Arch, the 2008 Red Bull Air Race champion, came up with one of the most challenging ways to cross Europe’s highest mountain range. Every year, a collection of the world’s toughest and most experienced paragliding pilots set off from Salzburg in Austria en-route to Monaco on the Mediterranean. From July 17, 2011, 32 paraglider pilots, armed with their glider, sat nav and a pair of hiking boots, will set off racing non-stop over 864km of treacherous mountains passing through Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France with the aim of landing on a temporary LZ floating in the middle of Monte Carlo harbour.
Event: Pankration
Where?: Ancient Greece
Disciplines: Wrestling, boxing, fighting dirty, fighting even dirtier
The Ancient Greeks did a good line in tough sports and this Olympic event was probably the toughest all. Meaning “all-powerful” Pankration combined boxing, wrestling and gay porn as two fighters attempted to batter one another into submission while stark naked and covered in oil. Biting and eye gouging were technically banned – but still featured. It was so tough that if you cried out for mercy, you were considered to be a coward, while if you allowed your opponent to beat you to death, you were celebrated for your bravery. Its inventor was said to be Theseus, who came up with the martial arts style as he fought the minotaur (you can’t fault his timing). But whoever actually invented it, Pankration has its share of celebrity fans none more feted than Alexander the Great who brought the sport with him as his armies conquered the known world.
Event: Pure Tasmania Challenge
Where?: Tasmania, Australia
Disciplines required: Mountain biking, trail running, kayaking and whatever else Mark fancies
Even among his fellow, super-competitive Formula One drivers, Mark Webber is regarded as the best natural athlete. It’s a gift he uses to full effect not just inside the cockpit but out of it by organising the Pure Tasmania Challenge. It’s a gruelling combination of mountain biking, trail running, kayaking plus swimming, white water rafting and caving thrown in for good measure. The whole event is also a fundraiser for good causes, such as the Leukaemia Foundation and the Save the Devil Campaign. Held in the stunning outdoor playground of Australia’s island state, the challenge is designed to test both the elite athlete and the less ‘hard core’ enthusiast to breaking point. Mark reached his breaking point two years ago when he snapped his leg when he crashed his bike into a car. The good news is that the race is back on for this time next year.
Event: The Norseman Triathalon
Where: Bergen, Norway
Disciplines: Swimming, running, mountain biking
Pentathlon, duathlon, decathlon – without a shadow of a doubt triathlon is the toughest of the thlons to involve more than two sports, and less than four. Opinion is divided as to which is the toughest of the gruelling Ironman challenges – Kona (Hawaii), Klagenfurt (Austria), Zofingen (Switzerland), St George (Utah) – all have their claims, but we’ve picked The Norseman on the grounds that it’s got the coolest name. It’s also the most northerly (and presumably coldest), being staged at the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska. Slightly longer than an Ironman, the triathletes start out in a boat floating in Hardangerfjord, Norway, swim to shore and finish about 1,8k higher up on mount Gaustatoppen having traversed 226km. (140.4 miles) of rocky terrain and glacial waterways. And the prize for completing the challenge? A black t-shirt.
Event: Red Bull Dolomitenmann
Where?: Lienz, Austria
Disciplines required: mountain running, paragliding, kayaking and mountain biking
Each year, 110 teams made up of 440 athletes take on the Red Bull Dolomite Man race – one of the toughest extreme sport relays on the planet. The course covers some 50km, most of which are vertical as the teams attempt to run, paraglide, kayak and mountain bike their way around the Dolomite mountains of the Tyrol. It all starts in the centre of Lienz as the runners set off on a course that takes them up into the mountains. When they get 2,400m up, they meet the paragliders who take off, fly over the top of the mountains to a landing zone, sprint/waddle/tumble another 500m to the next take off station and then fly down to meet the kayakers in the town of Leisach. They then paddle a tight 1km slalom up the raging river Drau to a point where they have to carry their kayaks across to the river Isel for another quick run to the point where the mountainbikers have to set off on a 12k rollercoaster course all the way back to Lienz.
Event: Chess Boxing
Where?: Finland
Disciplines: Erm… chess and boxing
If chess is too cerebral for you, and boxing simply too violent, then don’t despair. Conceived over a long Finnish winter, chess boxing combines the best of both worlds as – over the course of 11 four-minute rounds, the pugilists first attempt to out-manoeuvre each other on the chess board, and then try to knock the living crap out of each other. You can either win with a checkmate or a knockout. Chess boxing is gaining rapidly in popularity but perhaps there can be no greater measure of its appeal than the Wu-Tang Clan’s homage to the sport: Da Mystery of Chessboxin'.
Comments
Add a comment