Paul Guschlbauer (AUT1) scored a convincing win at the Powertraveller Prologue on 2 July 2015, the warm-up adventure race for the Red Bull X-Alps.
Stanislav Meyer (CZE) and Gavin McClurg (USA2) came second and third, and all three win an extra night pass to use in the Red Bull X-Alps, which allows them to walk through the night while other athletes are resting. They also get a five minute headstart on all the other athletes in the Red Bull X-Alps.
Paul completed the 38km prologue course, which started and ended in Fuschl, in 2h 24m. Pilots had to tag turnpoints at the summits of the Zwölferhorn and Schafberg.
Thirty-two athletes set off from Fuschl at a racing pace at 10am. The first athletes arrived at the summit of the Zwölferhorn about 1h 10m later. Conditions on the summit were good for flying and athletes quickly started to launch.
Climbing in the thermals was tricky because of hot and stable weather conditions, but they were soon on track to the second turnpoint. Aaron Durogati (ITA) lead for much of the race, but made a tactical error towards the end that put him low and saw him land early.
Aaron Durogati was philosophical about finishing up fourth. “I took a bad line in the final glide,” he says. “I was at the Schafberg TP first and was taking it pretty easy but I got a big sink in altitude and ended up 2km short. I started to run but Gavin McClurg was 200m ahead of me. It would have been better to have finished top 3 but I’m feeling pretty strong and fit and looking forward to starting.”
Guschlbauer saw his chance and took it – racing over the head of Durogati to take the win. After landing Guschlbauer gathered his glider and ran the final 200m to the finish line, crossing the line to cheers and applause from the crowd.
“The race was crazy!” he said immediately after finishing. “Aaron made a mistake in the line and went against the wind, and we got to go over him.”
He added: “The run up was good, I wasn’t pushing hard, it was cool.” Second across the line was Stanislav Mayer (CZE), followed closely by Gavin McClurg (USA2) who was ecstatic to come in third.
McClurg had taken off about tenth and managed to overtake many athletes in front of him. “I saw the guys in front weren’t climbing so well, so I just hung out and waited until I saw it start to get good. Then I went for it!”
It wasn’t all glory today however – while the lead athletes made the course in quick time, others struggled with the conditions and were forced to land low in the mountains. That means a long hike back up to be able to take off again – tough in these hot conditions in the Fuschlsee region.
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