Author: X-Pyr
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!
Maxime Pinot segundo en gol en la X-Pyr 2018
Maxime Pinot termina segundo la carrera, en el final del 5º Día. ¡¡Enhorabuena!!
Maxime Pinot second in goal in X-Pyr 2018
Maxime Pinot finishes second the race, in the end of the 5th day. Congratulations!!
Day 5 – Update
Today Maurer won the X-Pyr 2018!
He arrived in the morning of day 5, having hiked up to St Helena de Rodes. We broadcasted it on Facebook live and you can replay the action whenever you like. He later flew down to the goal at Port de la Selva. Congratulations to Chrigel!
Chrigel estimated 5.5 days to complete the course and as usual he beat his own time!
Maxime Pinot, having spent a cold, wet and windy night on Puigmal in an old broken shepherd’s hut, which Jeremie described as “just a pile of rocks full of snow”, he continued on and made the final turnpoint and end-of race section at St Helena in the evening. Well done!
Standa was chasing hard, but was not able to complete the course before the compulsory overnight rest time. Nelson de Freyman also made good progress. The weather was extremely stormy in Catalunya yesterday, with the radar showing a massive area of precipitation.
In the chasing pack at TP5, there was lots of action. After tagging the turn point, Hayden Grey and Juraj Koren met up at a coll along the course line and launched together. Strong valley winds meant the were separated with Hayden making the most progress. Vuirpillot got the turnpoint hiking and was back down in sunshine at 1.30pm, heading for a coll to take off from. Other pilots near the Bigorre turnpoint had to battle with low cloud, thick fog, precipitation that mean that visibility was sometimes less than 10m. It made hiking very, very tiring. Arevalo, Cocanea, Bramfitt, Williams and Cannell made it into the cylinder in these conditions, with Umbricht very closely following. Flying off the mountain was not an option. Conditions were far too bad, so a long hike down was required.
Cocanea managed to get himself into clear air and launched from a coll at 7.30pm. This flight down meant he was able to catch up with Vuirpillot and the two are now very close. Joao Veiga is currently the only other pilot who has crossed the main spine and is heading for TP5.
Unfortunately, Wesley Murch has had to withdraw from the race. The mixed martial arts fighter fought blisters, sun stroke and fatigue and was only defeated by a broken clutch in his vehicle.
The roving reporter team of Judith Mole and Andy Read caught up with many pilots and supporters today and you can see their interviews on our Facebook page and YouTube channel.
https://www.facebook.com/100006494946939/videos/2443932219166586/
Day 4 – Update
Another exciting day!
Maurer had more long flights. After passing TP 6 at Pedraforca the night before, he was poised to pass Canigo (TP7). He did so and flew out to towards goal, but due to the last minute notification of the cancellation of the organisation’s NOTAM, he had to be informed in the air that he could not progress in the air. The cancellation of the NOTAM was a big blow and an even greater headache for the organisers. Maurer spiralled down and progressed to the final turn point on foot, leaving himself only 16km to do the next day.
Meanwhile Maxime Pinot was having a couple of epic days. Having battled for hours to tag TP 5 in the air – and coming as close as 10m, he finally managed to get it. Landing and hiking to it was not an option due to the terrain, so he just had to battle with the low cloud until he could get within the cyclinder radius. Lots of effort and little distance. He started day 4 at the ski station of Baqueira where it was 50km/h and he battled strong head winds all day. Once he got off, the strong tailwind gave him a bonus 15 km but to get back up to a launch meant a 1400m ascent. Finally he arrived at Pedra Forca and then onwards into the Cerdanya valley. Maxime went to school there and knows the flying well, however the wind made his day hard. He crossed from La Molina to Puigmal (which means “Bad Mountain” in Catalan), and then lost the signal for both his tracker and spot. As it was getting late, his supporter Jeremie Lager hiked up and found Maxime after an hour and a half. They spent the night in an old broken shepherds hut, which Jeremie described as “just a pile of rocks full of snow”!
Standa Mayer took a different route to Pinot and others and made massive progress, leap-frogging other competitors. To show you the difference in distance covered here are some statistics on their relative distances covered during day 4:
Maurer 111km
Pinot 117km
de Freyman 130km
Garza 68km
Keller 46km
Mayer 188km!
Juraj Koren ended up the day in 7th place.
