Adventure Racing
Need to know info about Red Bull X-Alps, where height x distance = euphoria
Hiking, paragliding and climbing over 1000km through the mountains of Europe: Red Bull X-Alps is back and celebrating its 20th anniversary, but what can we expect in 2023?
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The concept of Red Bull X-Alps is simple – a race where endurance athletes are set the challenge to cover a set distance in the fastest time possible. In this race, though, you have to run, hike and fly to get to the end destination – and you can follow the whole thing live right here.
This is not any old event, the logistics and process of covering the distance make this race physically and mentally demanding. It also requires a specific set of technical and expert skills from the athletes who take up the challenge. You have to be an expert paraglider, have years of mountaineering experience and an extraordinary level of endurance fitness.
To compete at Red Bull X-Alps you have to have a unique set of skills
© Sebastian Marko/Red Bull Content Pool
Read on to find more about the race, its rules, the 2023 edition and thoseendurance athletes who participate in the world's most difficult endurance race.
01
The origins of Red Bull X-Alps
The late Austrian pilot, Red Bull Air Race champion, BASE jumper, mountaineer and adventurer Hannes Arch was the person who developed the concept. He got the idea of a hike and fly race after watching a TV documentary in which German pilot Toni Bender hiked and glided his way across the Alps, a feat he did in 1999.
The first Red Bull X-Alps, which Arch and his close friend Ulrich Grill organised, was held in 2003. Since then, Red Bull X-Alps has been challenging the world's toughest adventurers every two years. This year's edition will be the 20th anniversary of that first race. Grill now serves as race organiser for Red Bull X-Alps.
The skies are always busy on the first day of an X-Alps event
© Vitek Ludvik/Red Bull Content Pool
02
How the race works
Red Bull X-Alps is an elite adventure race, a unique test of flying skills and physical endurance. For 12 days, an exceptional group of ultra-prepared athletes will run, hike and climb up into the Alps and then paraglide for hours above them in pursuit of reaching the set distance. On their way across the Alps, the athletes have to pass a set of fixed turnpoints on each day of the race, some of which are located on the highest peaks of the range.
The straight-line distance of the race is now upwards of 1,000km, but athletes often end up doing much more than that. It's not uncommon for them to have hiked hundreds of kilometres on foot. Statistically, only 20 percent of athletes make the finish. The top athletes can cover up to 4,000 metres in altitude per day, up to 100 km on foot and up to 150km by paraglider.
Ready, steady, go
© Lukas Pilz/Red Bull Content Pool
03
Equipment needed and external help
Athletes need to carry a quite a bit of equipment and clothing for their Red Bull X-Alps journey. The weight of their rucksacks have to be manageable however for them to hike, run and climb with ease. An athlete's pack today is likely to be around 8k–9g without food or water. For comparison, back in 2007 the weight of the pack would have been over 20kg. There are certain items every athlete should carry with them in their rucksacks:
- Paraglider and harness
- Helmet
- Hiking poles
- Tech including a flight instrument, satellite tracking device, a phone, GoPro or equivalent
- Spare clothing, including spare shoes
- Food
- Water
- Distress flair and ID
Each athlete also has one official supporter whose job list includes being driver, cook, psychologist, masseur, meteorologist, race strategist and communications manager. The supporter is the person who greets their athlete after a paraglide flight with hot food and drinks, and a fresh plan for the next stage. They travel to these points by car, which is a Audi e-tron electric vehicle, and athletes will sleep or rest in the vehicle during rest periods
X-Alps can be physically and mentally demanding
© Vitek Ludvik/Red Bull Content Pool
04
This is Red Bull X-Alps 2023
In 2023, Red Bull X-Alps will celebrate the 20th anniversary and this edition will be the 11th overall.
This year's Red Bull X-Alps details
© Zooom Productions/Red Bull Content Pool
The route covers 1,223km in total over the 12 days of the race. The race starts and ends in Austria, with the route going in a counter clockwise direction. A traditional prologue is held three days before the start of the main race, which determines the start order in the main race. The top three athletes in the prologue stage also get night passes, which allow them to hike outside of the mandatory rest hours.
There's a new location for the start and end of the prologue. The ski resort of Kitzbühel - Kirchberg on June 8 is where the action takes place. The athletes start their racing adventure from the town Kirchberg, taking a 58.59km route around seven turnpoints before reaching Kitzbühel.
In the main race, the race also starts in Kitzbühel - Kirchberg for the first time with the race beginning on June 1 and ending in Zell am See on June 23. Over the 12 days, the route passes through Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy with the athletes having to pass 15 mandatory turnpoints along the way. The turnpoints and the alpine mountain destinations will be well known to competitors, having been used in previous X-Alps editions, though for 2023 the route has a mandatory via ferrata climb at the Drei Zinnen Turnpoint in the Italian Dolomites. Find full details of the route here.
The route map for Red Bull X-Alps 2023
© Zooom Productions/Red Bull Content Pool
05
Athlete list
If you want to take part in the Red Bull X-Alps, you first have to prove yourself to be an exceptional adventurer – only then will you be invited to what's probably the toughest adventure race in the world.
Athletes and key personnel gather at the 2023 route announcement meeting
© Zooom Productions/Red Bull Content Pool
This year sees 32 athletes taking part, the largest-ever entry list. Of that number, there will be 29 men and three women. The list for this year has record holders, Olympians and multiple national and international champions in climbing and paragliding. 15 entrants will be ambitious rookies taking part in X-Alps for the first time.
The athlete line-up for Red Bull X-Alps 2023:
- Richard Binstead (AUS) – Rookie
- Simon Oberrauner (AUT) – Veteran
- Paul Guschlbauer (AUT) – Veteran
- Thomas Friedrich (AUT) – Veteran
- Elisabeth Egger (AUT) – Rookie
- Thomas de Dorlodot (BEL) – Veteran
- James Elliott (CAN) – Rookie
- Junming Song (CHN) – Rookie
- Ondrej Prochazka (CZE) – Rookie
- Jordi Vilalta (ESP) – Rookie
- Maxime Pinot (FRA) – Veteran
- Damien Lacaze (FRA) – Veteran
- Laurie Genovese (FRA) – Veteran
- Tim Alongi (FRA) – Rookie
- Tanguy Renaud Goud (FRA) - Rookie
- Markus Anders (GER) – Veteran
- Maximilian Loidl (GER) – Rookie
- Celine Lorenz (GER) – Rookie
- Pal Takats (HUN) – Veteran
- Tobias Grossrubatscher (ITA) - Veteran
- Aaron Durogati (ITA) – Veteran
- Nicola Donini (ITA) – Veteran
- Emoto Yuji (JPN) – Rookie
- Kinga Masztalerz (NZL) – Veteran
- Michal Gierlach (POL) – Veteran
- Toma Coconea (ROU) – Veteran
- Lenart Oblak (SLO) – Rookie
- Christian Maurer (SUI) – Champion
- Patrick von Känel (SUI) - Veteran
- Sepp Iniger (SUI) – Rookie
- Reto Reiser (SUI) – Rookie
- Logan Walters (USA) – Rookie
Tom de Dorlodot has competed in every edition of Red Bull X-Alps since 2007
© Sebastian Marko/Red Bull Content Pool
06
Which athletes should we look our for?
Christian Maurer, aka 'Chrigel the Eagle', from Switzerland has won every single edition since 2009 and is, as you'd expect, the overwhelming favourite to win this 20th anniversary race.
Maurer celebrating at Red Bull X-Alps again
© Harald Tauderer/Red Bull Content Pool
After Maurer, the most experienced participants are Paul Guschlbauer, Tom de Dorlodot and Toma Coconea, who's the only athlete to have competed in every Red Bull X-Alps race.
Elsewhere, Maxime Pinot, Tanguy Renaud-Goud and Patrick von Känel are names to watch out for. These three were the top three at the recent hike and fly event Bornes To Fly in May. Another athlete who did well there was Laurie Genovese, who finished 15th and was the top ranked female. In X-Alps she'll be hoping to get the better of the other two women in the race, Elisabeth Egger and Celine Lorenz.
07
Important rules and regulations
All race events, whatever sport it is, have rules and regulations. Red Bull X-Alps is no different and the following are some rules that are significant to the race:
- Mandatory rest periods: Competitors have to take mandatory rest periods during the race in order to prevent overexertion. This is set for seven hours between the hours of 9pm and 6am every day.
- Each athlete taking part has one night pass. This allows them to ignore the rest period just once unless they win an extra night pass in the prologue. The use of the night pass is crucial to gaining a competitive advantage over rival competitors.
- Athlete eliminations: An athlete ranked in last place 48 hours after the first rest period is eliminated from the race. Thereafter, the last athlete will be cut from the race every 48 hours. Eliminations take place at 6am on the mornings of June 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22.
- 2023 sees the introduction of a yellow or red card system to discourage reckless behavior in the race. A red card will result in a penalty or immediate disqualification.
Athletes arrive at a turnpoint
© Helge Roeske / Red Bull Content Pool
Following the rules by signing in
© Helge Roeske/Red Bull Content Pool
08
Live tracking
Live Tracking of Red Bull X-Alps will brings fans, friends and family closer to the athletes. Live tracking kicks-off with the start of the prologue on June 8 and ends on the final day of racing on June 23.
Keep up to date with your favorite athletes with live tracking
© Sebastian Marko/Red Bull Content Pool
All athletes will be tracked every second by advanced GPS trackers during the race. This enables the status of each athlete to be displayed live at any time on state-of-the-art map overlays. Live tracking also provides detailed statistics such as speed, altitude and distance covered. A visitor to the live tracking can experience the race from the pilot's seat with a 3D perspective and also see the flight paths of other competitors in real time.
Go here for more details on Live Tracking features
The 2023 race begins on June 11. Follow all the action via Live Tracking which lets you watch the athletes in real time as they cross the Alps.
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