Adventure Racing
Is Red Bull Dolomitenmann the toughest extreme sport relay of them all?
The Red Bull Dolomitenmann started with a dream – and was to become the stuff of even the strongest athlete’s nightmares.
Back in 1988, Austria’s former madcap downhill ski star, Werner 'Grizzly' Grissmann, had this vision in his sleep of the ultimate in extreme relay races featuring four merciless physical tests – running up a mountain, flying through the air, battling uphill on two wheels and braving the rapids on water.
After waking, Grizzly went to the balcony, looked out at the beautiful Dolomite mountains, and understood that here in his hometown of Lienz was the place where “the toughest team contest under the sun” could and should actually happen. Thus was born the Dolomitenmann, the race which has spawned a thousand hardman legends.
This unofficial World Cup of extreme sports lives by the motto of “When suffering is fun”, and features around 100 four-man teams who all include a mountain runner, a paraglider, a mountain biker and whitewater kayaker to tackle each section of a brutal challenge that can last between four and, well, seemingly endless hours depending on their skill, fortitude and heart.
Cycling finish from 1993
© Sportclub Dolomitenmann/Red Bull Content Pool
Canoeing action from 1995
© Sportclub Dolomitenmann/Red Bull Content Pool
Mountain running from 2002
© Sportclub Dolomitenmann/Red Bull Content Pool
Paragliding from 1997
© Sportclub Dolomitenmann/Red Bull Content Pool
Coveted ‘Dolomitenmen’ prizes go to the fastest individuals in each discipline but this really is a race all about teamwork.
First, the mountain runner has to battle for over an hour and a half up such demanding terrain that even some of the very best have ended up needing medical treatment at the finish line or had to be flown to a nearby hospital.
You can imagine the exhausted runner’s feelings about a team-mate who then finds the next paragliding leg so terrifying that he can’t bring himself to take off from such a steep slope into the gusts. It’s been known for a glider to have to cut himself out of a tree while another saw his adventure end when he fell to earth among worshippers at an open air mass.
The cyclists then routinely have to carry their bikes at times over the most sapping and inhospitable parts of the ascent before the canoeists must take a spectacular seven-metre leap of faith with their kayaks just to land in the water and if that doesn’t wreck their chances, then the brutal rapids upstream just might. Yes, just as dear old crazy Grizzly dreamed it, of course.