Bordairline 2011: Thomas Hofbauer wins first race

The 2011 Bordairline series of hike-and-fly races kicked off with a speed race in Austria on 14 May. Marcus King was there to watch all the action and check out the latest lightweight kit from Red Bull X-Alps athletes in training

Pilots launch into overcast skies in this TV news report of the Bordairline 2011 race

Austrian pilot Thomas Hofbauer won the Austrian leg of the Bordairline series of adventure races, ahead of Max Mittmann and Red Bull X-Alps star Chrigel Maurer.

Held at Werfenweng near Salzburg, Austria on 14 May 2010 the 12-hour race saw pilots take off from the Werfenweng cable-car station at 8am with a goal to fly as far as they could and still make it back by 8pm that night.

The event was the first of four Bordairline races in the Alps this season. In all but this one, which was a special speed race, pilots have 33 hours to travel as far as possible and back again by either foot or paraglider.

8am, and they're off! The first Bordairline race of 2011 leaves Werfenweng near Salzburg on 14 May. Photo: Fred Gustafsson

Conditions on the day weren’t great, with grey skies and the threat of rain. However, nearly all the pilots managed to meet the comp requirement to fly at least 20% of the route.

The winner, Thomas, managed to cover 28.71km, of which 13.75km were flown.

Second-placed Max was less than a kilometre behind with 28.14km (15.18km flown).

Chrigel, although placed third did however fly further than anyone else – 17.22km of his total 27.69km distance was covered under his paraglider.

The tactic that he and many of the other pilots used was to hop from one ridge to the next, walk up and then fly down and as far as possible before walking up to the next one.

As well as Chrigel, two other Biotech sponsored Red Bull X-Alps pilots took part in the event. Paul Guschlbauer finished in fourth place with Heli Eichholzer coming home in sixth place.

All eyes were on the X-Alps athletes: Chrigel Maurer, Paul Guschlbauer and Helmut Eichholzer. Photos: Marcus King

The event was a good opportunity to get an insight into how training is going for the X-Alps athletes. Chrigel said, “My training is going really well and I feel strong and ready for the event.”

It was also a chance to check out some of the X-Alps kit. Chrigel was flying an even more lightweight version of Advance’s Lightness harness with the pod made from ripstop rather than heavier neoprene. It was astoundingly light. Heli had also altered an Advance Lightness to make his own superlight creation.

Heli Eichholzer's featherweight Advance Lightness harness, specially made for the Red Bull X-Alps.

Heli had just received his new glider from Ozone, a lightweight R11. “I’m really pleased with the new glider, it’s easier to fly than my R10, perfect for the X-Alps,” he said.

“Training is going well and I have been getting some good flying in too, including my big triangle flight a couple of weeks ago.”

Heli flew a record 268.5km Alpine triangle on 19 April.

Three more events are planned for the Bordairline series in Austria, Germany and Switzerand. More details can be found at www.borderairline.com (in German).