It´s amazing to see that there is a race like this going on. Certainly an event that warrants the often used label, “extreme”. Here is a recent press-release giving details about the progress of the athletes. More coverage to come in the future. Watch the action unfold on Red Bull Mobile Live Tracking at www.redbullxalps.com

Christian Maurer (SUI3) is raising the bar at the Red Bull X-Alps 2009, creating a huge lead over his rivals despite extreme flying conditions.

Thirty athletes began the race at 11:30, Sunday July 19 from Salzburg, Austria, and in just five days, Maurer has completed more than 350km of the 818km course.

It’s a stunning achievement when considering he has passed the turnpoints around the summits of Waltzmann, Grossglockner and Marmolada with nothing more than his hiking boots and an unpowered paraglider.

This morning, July 23, Maurer hiked up through a forest near the border from Italy into Switzerland, west of Tirano. He was over 325 km down course when he launched his paraglider and started surfing the ridges heading west towards turnpoint 5, the Matterhorn.

“It’s looking windy today,” he reported just before taking off, but I’m going to fly low and fast.”

Defending champion Alex Hofer (SUI1) is further north, trying to close the gap on the leader by taking advantage of lighter winds as he approaches the eastern Swiss border.

The strong south-westerly winds have made for extreme flying conditions for other athletes trying to round the Marmolada turnpoint over the past couple of days.

Martin Muller (SUI2) flew and regretted it. Fabian Zuberer, his supporter, reports, “Muller took off into a wall of wind. He was on full speed. When he released his speed-bar, he was going backwards at 20 km/h.”

Muller is grouped with Helmut Eicholzer (AUT2), Vincent Sprungli (FRA1) and Honza Rejmanek (USA). The mid-pack behind them are still holed up in the Marmolada region, desperately trying to round this tough turnpoint in extreme flying conditions.

Toma Coconea (ROM) has been suffering exhaustion, according to race doctor Hannes Lechner. However last night Coconea had eight hours of rest last night, having only slept for an hour or less for the previous three nights. His supporter Vasile Trifan reports that Coconea made an error in Lienz and has suffered ever since.

“Because he’s felt he’s not been so good at flying in the past, he’s now telling himself he doesn’t fly well,” says his supporter. “I hope he now calms downs and is more tactical.”

In other news, Primoz Susa (SLO) was eliminated from the race at 11:30 on July 22. Every 48 hours, the athlete at the back of the field is cut. Susa was “crushed” by the news. Christian Amon (AUT1) and Leone Pascale (ITA1) have withdrawn from the race due to minor injuries.

-Photocredits: ©Dean Treml, Vitek Ludvik and Felix Woelk/ Red Bull Photofiles