This morning, a squadron of six Red Bull X-Alps athletes flew a test flight directly over the city centre of Salzburg, Austria.

The flight was part of preparations leading up to the world’s most spectacular adventure race, the Red Bull X-Alps which begins at 11:30 on July 19 in Salzburg.

The athletes will compete in the 818km event, where competitors must hike and fly through the Alps and negotiate seven turnpoints before reaching the goal in Monaco. Every competitor will have a GPS device which tracks their exact position and displays it on a Live Tracking map on the official event website.

Air traffic at busy Salzburg airport was diverted temporarily to allow the athletes to fly directly over the dramatic Festung Hohensalzburg castle. It’s the first time permission has ever been granted from the control tower for such a stunning flight.

Heli Eichholzer (AUT1), Christian Amon (AUT2), Alex Hofer (SUI1), Martin Müller (SUI2), Christian Maurer (SUI3) and Michael Gebert (GER) launched from the Gaisberg mountain, glided across Salzburg’s Old Town, circled the Castle overlooking the city and landed in the Henkerswiese just south of the world-famous fortress.

Photocredits: ©Red Bull Photofiles