avalancha team

Whether trudging along valleys for hours on end or slogging up mountains to take off points, the Red Bull X-Alps athletes inflict a considerable battering on their knees. In 2009 Honza Rejmanek (USA) spent the final few days of his race walking downhill backwards because his knees hurt so much.

Here in the first of a two-part article, Wolfgang Unsoeld, a strength and conditioning coach at Swiss Consulting gives us five recommendations for endurance athletes, in particular Red Bull X-Alps participants, for avoiding knee pain.

The course is 864km long as the crow flies, the race can last over 12 days and yet the outcome of the Red Bull X-Alps – the alpine hiking and paragliding adventure race – can be decided in minutes. Decisions about where to find the right thermals or reaching a summit take off quicker than a rival can result in covering 200km quickly by air, or slowly by foot.

Red Bull X-Alps athletes are constantly looking for an edge, and choosing the right technology is key to staying ahead of the game. Participants must carry their paragliders, helmet and harness with them at all times. At the very first Red Bull X-Alps in 2003, the participants used off-the-shelf paragliders that, along with the rest of their minimum equipment, weighed 20kg.

Audio interviews with athletes can now be listened to in the new Audio Gallery on www.redbullxalps.com.

Participants talk about their preparations and expectations leading up to the 864km alpine adventure race which begins on July 17 in Salzburg.