Author: X-Pyr
X-Pyr 2022 – List of Selected athletes
45 teams from 20 countries
An awesome standard
Chrigel Maurer: 3 x X-Pyr winner, 7x Red Bull X-Alps winner, 3 x PWCA Champion, 11 x World Cup event winner
Maxime Pinot: Redbull X-Alps 2021, 4th; X-Alps 2019, 2nd; X-Pyr 2018, 2nd, Winner of PWC 2014 Superfinal, PWC France 2016 winner; Bornes to Fly 2018, winner, Bornes to Fly 2016, 2nd,
Stanislav Mayer: X-Pyr 2018, 3rd; X-Pyr 2016, 2nd, X-Pyr 2014, 4th; X-Alps 2015, 12th; X-Alps 2017 10th
José Ignacio Arévalo: X-Pyr 2018, 9th, X-Pyr 2016, 4th, X-Pyr 2014: 11th
Simon Oberrauner: X-Alps 2021 3rd; X-Alps 2017, 5th; X-Alps 2019, 6th
Pierre Remy: World champion 2017; PWCA Super Final 2018 & 2019; Winner, Multiple PWCA comps winner
Full list of athletes
Argentina
Nicolas Hayes
Australia
Richard Binstead
Austria
Andreas Viehböck
Helmut Schrempf
Simon Oberrauner
Belgium
Thibault Voglet
Brasil
João Pedro Simonsen
Canada
James Elliott
Czechia
Stanislav Mayer
Tomas Matera
France
Frédéric Juvaux
Maxime Pinot
Pierre Remy
Rémi Bourdelle
Tanguy Renaud-Goud
Tim Alongi
Germany
Markus Anders
Maurice Koller
Patrick Sieber
Israel
Eliya Soar Zemmour
Italy
Edoardo Colombo
Giuliano Minutella
Lino Colo
Nicola Donini
Japan
Yuji Emoto
Mexico
David Liaño
New Zealand
Kinga Masztalerz
Nick Neynens
Norway
Johannes Helleland
Poland
Mikolaj Kocot
Spain
David Corpas Garcia
Iñigo Gabiria
Jordi Vilalta Jordan
José Ignacio Arévalo Guede
Luis Linde Contreras
Sergi Claret
Xevi Bonet
Switzerland
Chrigel Maurer
Fabian Umbricht
Noé Court
Reto Reiser
United Kingdom
Greg Hamerton
Keith Paterson
United States
Cedar Wright
Logan Walters
A bit of history
It has been 10 years since the first edition of the X-Pyr in 2012.
And it will be the fifth edition of the race, although the 5th should have been in 2020, but COVID prevented it.
Starting in 2012, when, as always thereafter, the race left Hondarribia for the first time.
With 14 teams that dared to start the race and into the madness of crossing the Pyrenees from coast to coast. Until finishing in El Port de la Selva, a week later, it was a real sprint between the first two, Iñigo Gabiria and Iván Colás.
To the last edition, in 2018. With an incredible route: longer, more complicated… wonderful participants, and a challenge that is growing edition after edition. And, of course, the dominance of Chrigel Maurer since his first win in 2014.
From then until now, things changed. The organisation, the participants, the race itself.
But we still keep the original essence: we are a group of hike & fly enthusiasts who want others to be passionate about what we love the most.
If we have aroused your curiosity about the previous editions, take a look at the summary we have prepared.
X-Pyr 2022 is on the way: June, 26
Yes!
After an horrible period (horrible for all, of course), we are back!
And preparing the next edition: 2022!
Soon we will open the applications period (mid of October, probably).
If you’re wondering about the teams selected in 2020, we have to say: the 2020 edition “never existed” Therefore, this is a new edition, and for that, we are starting again from scratch.
And as you can see down here (bottom of the page), the start date will be on June, the 26th.
So… stay tuned to our website and social networks.
We are back!
X-Pyr 2018 – The Video
These are good dates to look back on what X-Pyr 2018 was like.
Now that we are close to the next edition, that of 2022, and that registrations are already open, this video accelerates the pulse of what will be the fifth edition of the X-Pyr.
Results & TOP 5 of X-Pyr 2018
Congrats to the finishers, all competitors and especially the organizers and volunteers!
Update day 7
On the final day of the X-Pyr 2018, there was still lots and lots of
action going on. Having slept up on Canigo (TP7) for the night, Garza
flew and then walked to the turn point. He was so keen to get there
that he was faster than the organisation, who had to rush up the hill
to get his reception party ready. This meant he could stroll up to
goal… always maintaining that brilliant smile. He arrived in the
afternoon and will fly down to Port de la Selva on Sunday morning.
The battle for sixth was a classic. Hayden Grey reached Canigo first.
He worked his way up flying, but had to hike up and was then able to
re-launch, Despite a massive effort he ended the race in Ceret, very
close to the finish. There was a thrilling battle for 7th between
Keller, Aravelo and Koren.
Juray Koren had a late flight and overtook Keller and Arevalo to be
ranked 7th overall. It was extremely windy on the top of Canigo and
in the true spirit of the X-Pyr, Keller and Aravelo walked down
together. Having travelled so far in the race, they finished together
in the same place.
Bramfitt dug deep and put every energy left into making good
progress. He flew far and ended up in 10th place.
Toma was still pushing for TP 6 when the race finished. Samuel
Vuirpillot took a very northerly route and ended up in extreme
turbulence over Andorra. After a massive collapse and several twists,
he manage to sort the glider, but got more twists, and the glider
tumbled. With 30m to spare, he threw his parachute and landed in the
trees unharmed. He was retrieved by helicopter.
At TP 5, Fabian Umbricht had recovered from food poisoning enough to
fly and end up at Bagneres-Luchon. More pilots who make fantastic
progress on the final day were Linde, Veiga and Ramos.
Other pilots who were able to profit from the good flying weather
were Lukas Thoeni, who having struggled to reach TP4, passed it and
ended the race only 25km from TP 5.
An epic battle for Austrian pride continued until the last moment.
Gerald Gold and Gerald Kernstock were still racing each other on foot
at 10pm! They finished the race in the middle of nowhere and didn’t
reach their support vehicles until 1.30am.
Because so many teams were so far away at the end of the race, the
prize giving has been delayed until 14:30 (CET).
The final top ten ranking is:
1. Maurer
2. Pinot
3. Mayer
4. de Freyman
5. Garza
6. Grey
7. Koren
8. Arevalo/Keller
10. Bramfitt
DAY 6 – UPDATE
Today Stanislav Mayer arrived at St Helena de Rodes and was able to
complete his flydown to the raft with Maxime Pinot. Nelson de Freyman
arrived a few hours later. Congratulations to both!
Eduardo Garza pushed hard yesterday and managed to get to the
turnpoint at Canigo (TP7). He decided to sleep on the mountain to
give himself maximum chance to fly and get to St Helena de Rodes and
Port de la Selva before the race ends at 10pm tonight. We are
confident he will do it, so stay tuned for our fifth arrival!
In the battle of the gaggle between TP 5 and 6 Haydon Grey triumphed,
getting to Pedra Forca and beyond. Ignacio Aravelo was the sole
competitor to choose a southerly route. He decided to follow the
better weather and fly routes he is very familiar with from multiple
competition tasks he has flown in this region. It worked! He has
over-taken a number of pilots who stuck to the more direct course
line. He is currently south of TP 6. The remainder of the gaggle are
within reach of the turn point and we expect Keller, Koren, Bramfitt,
Coconea and Vuirpillot to reach it soon. Chsing this group hard are
Williams and Cannell.
Amazing progress was made by Linde, Ramos and Kernstein. All started
around/before TP4 and flew across the main spine of the Pyrenees.
Kernstock took off very late and made excellent progress. Linde,
Ramos, Veiga and Kernstock are all close to TP5 now.
Unfortunately, Centa had an incident which hurt his hand. this
impeded his flying yesterday, but be is currently hiking and still in
the race. Gold was finally able to fly… tagging TP 4 he flew in the
direction of TP5. His tracker is not currently transmitting, so we
can’t bring you news of his exact location. Andrews and Shapiro both
hiked up Turbon (TP4) and camped overnight to make the most of an
early flight. Umbricht and his whole team are still sick with food
poisoning. They took a day off to try to recover and hope to be able
to make progress on the final day of the race.
Mario Moreno’s race can be summed up in 5 words: tummy, tree,
torrent, technical (issues) and thunderstorms. He has been battling
with gastroenteritis, car problems and thunderstorms. He landed in a
tree and Angel, his supporter, had to cross a ford to assist him.
After a three hour tree rescue (he was unharmed), they tried to
recross the ford. It was now a fast-flowing river! Stranded on the
other side they had to overnight on the far side and were towed out
by a friendly local. Despite all their hardships, Mario is showing
massive determination to complete the race and fly far today. A true
competitor! Lukas Thoeni is also digging deep. He has walked more
than 60km each day the last couple of days and is determined to get
to TP4 and beyond. Good luck to all!
The forecast is excellent for the final day and we should see lots of
action. And the forecast is for cloudbase up to 4000m – not lower as
our roving reporter Judith Mole mistakenly said in the update video. Sorry!
