It's time to ante-up for our US Paragliding Teams

It's that time again, and it is imperative that those who love this sport provide the support for our finest to hit the world stage.  Unlike many European athletes who get support from their National bodies, U.S. paragliding team members are spending their own dollars - unless we donate our part to support the team.

Who gets the donated funds?  Our World Team and our USA1 and USA2 X-Alps teams.  First up is the X-Alps which starts July 7th in Salzburg Austria.

Our US TEAMS are:
USA1 - Hanza Rejmanek and his support team of Luis Rosenkjer and Jesse Williams.  Honza will be competing in his 3rd X-Alps and  is the only US athlete to have ever graced the podium in a prior X-Alps.

USA2 - Stephan Haase is a friend and a talented pilot.  This is his first X-Alps.  His support team is Brad Sander and veteran supporter Dave Hanning.  Both Dave and Brad have experience in big mountains and will be an asset for Stephan.

The X-Alps coverage was riveting in 2011 and will be even better this year.

Our World Team will hit Bulgaria July 13th and consists of the ever present Josh Cohn,  Nick Greece, Eric "the Badger" Reed, and Arnie Frankenberger.  Rob Sporrer returns as Team Leader.

Please consider donating to our teams.  They compete for the purest of reasons - for the sport of it.  Prize money is not the motivator - nor is fielding teams in the world stage cheap.  Any and all help will be appreciated and you might even get an email from Uncle Tony!

You can use the button below or visit the US Team website at http://www.usparaglidingteam.org/index.html

TAX DEDUCTIBLE!

2011 X-Alps Athlete selection announced

Tom Payne put this great table of the 2011 Athletes together:

Country	Flag	Athlete	Age	Supporter	Glider	Blog/website	2003	2005	2007	2009
ARG		Martin Romero	36	Diego E. Romero	MacPara Magus XC
AUS		Lloyd Pennicuik	45	Paul Underwood	Axis Venus	link			17	X
AUT1		Helmut Eichholzer	36	Wolfgang Ehgarter	Ozone Delta	link		4		X
AUT2		Christian Amon	41	Mario Schmaranzer	Swing Stratus			X		X
AUT3		Mike Küng	42	Thomas Arzberger	Paratech P8 Proto
BEL		Thomas de Dorlodot	26	Gatien de Dorlodot	Gradient Avax XC3	link			X	10
BRA		Richard Pethigal	42	tba.	Swing Stratus
CAN		Max Fanderl	46	Penny Powers	tba.	link			X	13
CZE		Jan Skrabálek	41	Karel Vrbensky	tba.	link			11	15
ESP		Ramón Morillas	44	Juan Morillas	Advance Proto	link			7	9
FIN		Jouni Makkonen	40	Toni Leskelä	Gradient Avax XC					7
FRA1		Vincent Sprüngli	46	Jerome Maupoint	Gin Boomerang				X	X
FRA2		Philippe Barnier	36	Hervé Garcia	Niviuk Icepeak
FRA3		Clément Latour	28	Gil Thomas	Skywalk Poison 3
GBR		Steve Nash	48	Richard Bungay	Nova
GER		Michael Gebert	31	Florian Schellheimer	Gradient Avax XC3	link		5	X	6
ITA		Andy Frötscher	42	Martin Klotz	Skywalk Poison 3	link	X	X	14	12
JPN1		Kaoru Ogisawa	51	Masaru Saso	Gin Boomerang				5	13
JPN2		Masayuki Matsubara	40	Tetsuo Kogai	tba.					X
NED		Ferdinand van Schelven	27	Anton Brous	tba.
NOR		Ivar Sandstå	44	Inge Haustveit	Niviuk Peak 2
POL		Pavel Faron	37	Piotr Goc	Swing Stratus
POR		Nuno Virgilio	31	Samuel Lopes	Axis Mercury
ROM		Toma Coconea	36	Daniel Pisica	UP	link	X	X	2	X
RSA		Pierre Carter	44	James Braid	Gradient XC3					X
RUS		Evgeny Gryaznov	39	tba.	tba.					5
SUI1		Christian Maurer	28	Thomas Theurillat	Advance Omega	link				1
SUI2		Alex Hofer	34	Roland Moltinger	tba.	link		1	1	2
SUI3		Martin Müller	45	Yannick Flugi	Gin Boomerang 7 light	link			3	X
USA		Honza Rejmanek	36	Dave Hanning	Axis Mercury	link			9	3

source: X-Alps website, Wikipedia, own research || Age at Race launch 17th. Jul 2011 || blogs tbc. || X means participated, but injured or disqualified/eliminated

X-Alps is over. Honza places 3rd!

CLICK ON GRAPHIC FOR LARGER VERSION

Well the Red Bull X-Alps 2009 is over and it was a great race to watch. As I said earlier, this race is quite an adventure. The sacrifices these athletes make to prepare for, and participate in, this race are much more than most modern citizens will ever endure. RESPECT to all the athlete/pilots.

Christian Maurer absolutely outran the field winning by almost two days margin. Alex Hofer placed second and was the only other competitor to make it to the raft in Monaco.

Honza Rajmanek made a late push beyond Aiden Toase and finished a respectable 3rd place. He covered over 1150KM and had an epic journey. I really enjoyed watching this event and am proud of them all.
The event website is HERE.

Tim

Red Bull X-Alps 2009 Starts tomorrow

The 2009 Red Bull X-Alps begins on July 19th and 30 pilot/athletes from 23 countries, will travel 818 Km.(508 miles) from Salzburg, Austria to Monaco. The route takes competitors through the Alps on an amazing journey. Competitors will travel by foot or paraglider depending on their skills and the weather. Alex Hofer is the favorite with 2 X-Alps wins to his credit.

The live-tracking available on the X-Alps website and personal blogs of the competitors (see below) will allow a view into the epic adventures.

I am truly envious of these individuals who have interrupted their lives to embark on this test of their skills, physical strengths, and mental toughness. When I think about the explorers of old, Lewis & Clark, Stanley and Livingston, I am amazed at the personal suffering and commitment these men endured. The closest a 21st century man can come to this kind of adventure is a X-Alps type of journey.

Honza Rejmanek is a California pilot participating in his second X-Alps. In 2007 he placed in the top 10 even though he started the race with a terrible stomach problem that basically put him days behind from the beginning. Fly safe and have fun Honza!

Redbull X-Alps 2009 - Teaser
by Petzl-crew

To follow the action you have many options:

X-Alps 2009 official website
X-Alps mobile live (for mobile communication, without flash)
X-Alps RSS Feed
X-Alps Facebook
X-Alps twitter
I can't figure out why the gap below. . . scroll for individual blog links. Thanks to Otto Schulz for putting this info together.
Tim

Country	Flag	Athlete	Age	Supporter	Glider	Personal blog / website	prev. participation
AUS		Lloyd Pennicuik	43	Lewis Nott	Axis	link	2007 (17.)
AUT1		Helmut Eichholzer	32	Andreas Neubacher	Advance	link	2005 (4.)
AUT2		Christian Amon	38	Manuel Goller	Swing Stratus Proto		2005
BEL		Thomas de Dorlodot	23	Maxime van Dyck	Gradient Avax XC2	link	2007
CAN		Max Fanderl	43	Penny Powers	Nova Factor	link	2007
CZE		Jan Skrabálek	38	David Bzirsky	Gradient	link	2007 (11.)
ESP		Ramón Morillas	41	Juan Morillas	Advance	link	2007 (7.)
FIN		Jouni Makkonen	37	Toni Leskelä	Gradient Avax SR7
FRA1		Vincent Sprüngli	43	David Bibier Cocatrix	Gin Boomerang		2007
FRA2		Julien Wirtz	32	Adrien Vicier	Ozone	link	2007 (12.)
GBR1		Aidan Toase	35	Charlie Merrett	Ozone	link	2005 • 2007 (6.)
GBR2		Tom Payne	33	Aley Raymont	Axis Venus II light	link
GER		Michael Gebert	28	Florian Schellheimer	Gradient Avax XC2	link	2005 (5.) • 2007
HUN		Pál Takáts	23	Mauritz Volkmer	U-Turn	link
ITA1		Leone Antonio Pascale	41	Maurizio Dalla Valle	Gradient Avax	link	2007 (10.)
ITA2		Andy Frötscher	40	Raphael Graetz Murphy	Skywalk	link	2003 • 2005 • 2007 (14.)
JPN1		Kaoru Ogisawa	49	Masaru Saso	Gin Boomerang X6		2007 (5.)
JPN2		Masayuki Matsubara	37	Tetsuo Kogai	Nova Triton
NED		Ronny Geijsen	30	Hugo Robben	Gin Boomerang
POL		Filip Jagla	31	Piotr Goc	Gin Boomerang X6
ROM		Toma Coconea	33	Vasile "Gigi" Trifan	UP X-Alps Proto	link	2003 • 2005 • 2007 (2.)
RSA		Pierre Carter	43	James Braid	Gradient XC
RUS		Evgeny Gryaznov	36	Dmitry Gusev	SOL Torck
SLO		Primoz Suša	31	Igor Erzen	MacPara Magus 6	link
SUI1		Alex Hofer	32	Nicole Schlotterer	UP Trango Xlight	link	2005 (1.) • 2007 (1.)
SUI2		Martin Müller	42	Fabien Zuberer	Gin Boomerang 5 light	link	2007 (3.)
SUI3		Christian Maurer	26	Thomas Theurillat	Advance Omega	link
SVK		Peter Vrabec	36	Tomas Bernat	Axis Mercury 2008	link	2007
USA		Honza Rejmanek	33	Dave Hanning	Axis Mercury	link	2007 (9.)
VEN		Raul Penso	35	Ismael Penso	Niviuk		2007