The sixth edition of the Pyrenean H&F competition will feature some old faces and a lot of new blood. We welcome back race veterans Standa Mayer (CZE) and Toma Coconea (ROM). Standa has competed in the most X-Pyr races of all the participants. No doubt we will hear his signature call “Vamos a la playa, chicas!” at the start line in Hondarribia on the 23rd of June.
Five of the 2022 top six have come to try to claim the crown from Chrigel Maurer, who will not be competing this year. Who will win this edition? Favourites must be Maxime Pinot (FRA), Pierre Remy (FRA), who are flying literally in their backyard, and Simon Oberrauner (AUT) with a strong challenge from Pál Takáts (HUN), a rookie. However, in this race fortune favours the brave, so this edition is wide open to any challenger.
This year 18.75% of the participants will be from outside Europe (although many of these do live there). There will be good representation of the Americas and our first African participant.
There will also be a wide age range in the field, from Malo Richard (FRA) at 22 to veteran PPG pilot Christiaan Durrant (AUS) at 54 years old. The mean age of all pilots is 34.7 years old. Sadly, no women applied, so we have an all-male line up.
You can see the full list of teams and their background here: https://x-pyr.com/x_team_cat/team-data
The route will be announced at the end of May. Watch this space.