The first Red Bull X-Alps, held in 2003, opened up a new dimension in adventure racing. Event mastermind, and former professional paraglider Hannes Arch, said at the time, “This is much more than just an Alpine crossing; it's an adventure, an expedition and at the same time a competition.“
Seventeen athletes braved the 800km journey from Austria’s Dachstein glacier but only three managed to make it all the way to the finish in Moncao via three turning points at the Zugspitze in Germany, France’s Mont Blanc and Mont Gros.
Kaspar Henny a 35 year-old Swiss grabbed an early lead and held onto it for the 11 days and 23 hours it took him to complete the course.
David Dagault (FRA) was second, over five hours behind and Stefan Bocks (GER) was third.
The race was a tremendous success and had captured the imagination of the adventure racing community the world over. Prince Albert of Monaco presented the winner’s prize and put Henny into the Red Bull X-Alps history books.
In 2005, the race was back, this time with a much higher profile, huge media coverage and 17 teams from 13 different nations taking part.
Two Swiss athletes, 28 year-old Alex Hofer (SUI) and Urs Lötscher (SUI), 49, became locked in battle ahead of the rest of the field as they struggled through snow and torrential rain towards Monaco.
Hofer ultimately triumphed in 12 days 1 hour 20 minutes despite having to spend a cold, wet night high on an alpine peak wrapped only in his paraglider for protection just four nights prior.
“This race is 24 hours a day,” said Hofer after landing in Monaco. “It’s really intensive!”
Kaspar Henny, the hero of 2003, was third, confirming Switzerland’s dominance of the event.
2007 saw the most exciting race yet as Hofer pulled out all the stops to arrive in Monaco just a few hours ahead of Romanian ‘Running Man’ Toma Coconea.
Coconea had won the hearts of the fans by relentlessly running and walking most of the course. He went into the final couple of hundred kilometres with a seemingly unassailable lead, but had to complete the race on foot via twisting time consuming roads in the hills North of Monaco.
Hofer had opted to take an unusual route, but was able to use his formidable skills to fly within a few kilometres of the finish. By the finish, he had clocked up 900km of flying and 588 of hiking. In contrast, Coconea flew just 330km and ran and walked over 1000.
Third place was Martin Müller (SUI) and third-time competitor Urs Lötscher was fourth. The fifth and final athlete to reach Monaco was Kaoru Ogisawa who was the event’s first ever Japanese participant.
