Battling it out on the road
It’s not the day 2 we were hoping for. Lots of road kilometers ahead, and wet ones at that! Hopefully we can get at least one flight in on our way to Turnpoint 2 Accous.
Tag: 2022
Rob Curran hiking – Day 2
Rob Curran hiking during the second day.
Maxime Pinot – Pictures of day 1
Some pictures from team Pinot during the race.
A Day to Hike
On the morning of the first day, after checking the weather forecast we did not expect to fly from La Rhune. Non the less We did get to glide. We decided to choose the southern route since it fit the weather much better. We did, however, not anticipate that our route was a bit slower hiking towards the ascent of La Rhune. That gave us some distance from the lead group.
We attempted multiple flights for the rest of the day, hoping it would pay off. The risk was not worth the benefit especially on the second flight from Golzamendi.
Now we are looking forward to some better weather and flying.
Brunch time
Got to keep the pilots fuelled up, brunch time 🙂
Team Sieber/Sieber (DE) Day 1
Manon Sieber shares some supporter experiences with us – Day 1 X-Pyr 2022 (Hondarribia – El Port de la Selva)
Jose Ignacio Arévalo – Second day
Today it seems that the weather is worst than yesterday, the sky is overcast with very low clouds, we will have complicated flights even for a glide. Let’s see how the day goes…
Mikolaj Kocot – Expectations for Day 2
Mikolaj Kocot – Expectations for Day 2 – X-Pyr 2022 (Hondarribia – El Port de la Selva)
Mikolaj Kocot – First day
First day of X-Pyr is behind us. The weather came out much better than forecasted and overall I’m super happy to reach the daily goal – Saint-Etienne
Over 70km of the slowest terrain is behind us. We payed the price of walking many km, with only 3 small flights. We’ve done no major mistake and kept good pace and therefore stayed together with the whole pack.
Tomorrow we expect more rain so getting to Accous is still not sure, but let’s hope for it.
Walk Hard
Day one of the X-Pyr is in the books! The race began on the beach in Hondarribia, a coastal Spanish town in Basque Country. We rolled down to the start at 9am to join the crowd of athletes, supporters, and paragliding enthusiasts, all abuzz with excitement and anticipation. Words of encouragement and well wishes were exchanged as the competitors lined up, took their mark, and were off under grey skies that echoed with cheers and Springsteen.
We were expecting a lot of rain on the first day, but were pleasantly surprised when that forecast did not come to fruition. Rob powered through the initial 14-mile run/hike to the top of Larrun just behind the small lead pack, so he was well positioned for his first sled ride of the day. As he made his way east, the field deviated in two general directions, one that followed the course line quite closely, and another that pushed more east. Rob trended east, getting in a total of four flights throughout the day. Keith and I met up with him when he landed, as well as along the hiking route, which partly followed major roads, to walk/run with him a bit and resupply him with food and water. When the day ended at 9pm, he was situated in 11th place in the field of 42 athletes – not bad for day one! We snacked on ham, cheese, and olives, cooked pasta for dinner, and strategized for day two before heading to bed.
First Day, first turnpoint and a lot of runnig
Finally: the race started today!
The day started with better weather than expected, so we had our breakfast and walked to the starting place at 9am.
When the comp started at 10am, we all knew that today it was mostly about running fast and long distances and a loot of hm up and down the mountains of the Pyrenees. Due to having lack of time to arrive earlier to get some airtime before the race it was a first to fly over there!
The countdown started and off we run. 18km from the start on the flats to the first mountain and turnpoint “La Rhune”, then up appr. 800-900hm up and reached the turnpoint after 24km of running/hiking with all together app.1100hm ascent! But I have to admit, that I didn’t train myself in running on flat terrain, so it was quite hard for me, but all went good.
After reaching the top, I started my Nova Xenon and the goal was to fly as possible without hardly any thermals. Nevertheless at least it didn’t rain too much, so the sky was full of clouds and I went for landing after flying down. Again hiking up the next mountain where I managed to soar a bit and gained 70 to 80m hight – yes exactly, that was the most altitude that was possible to gain, but super important, because of that I could stay even higher than most of the other pilots and didn’t have to walk up again 250hm like the others. I just put my glider into a rosette and ran the last few meters to the top of the mountain. That allowed me to overtake the group in front of me! What a relief!
Down again, another 14km and 800hm waited for me. I stayed a bit north to the right direction for the next race day. Then I flew down the last time on the first race day. I knew that appr. 5km in front of me there was a campsite with hot showers. That was definitely the goal to reach! But after chilling a bit too much maybe, I got in a hurry and had to run the distance within 30min! So I had to run fast and hell yeahhh – I managed it to be there even 10min early!
As a reward, my supporters brought me some pizza – that was a perfect ending of the day: pizza and hot shower. Let’s see how far we get on the second race day!
If you want to get more information and some impressions during the race, follow me on Instagram: @heli_schrem_pf!
Team Heli Schrempf
Yuji Emoto – Day 1
A really complicated first day. A Big mistake of orientation and yuji Lost 2h to go to la Rhune TP1. A long day of walking like a boar.
Edoard Potel Team – Day 1 – G-548
Nothing better than a good day in the Pyreneese! We had a blast hiking up and down those hills, really. Thinking about it, we are still searching for a sense in all of this,. Wait, why we are doing this already ? No kidding 600km across?
This morning started very nicely after a beautiful night that was immersed by DJ Jean Bon sound in Guethary. We have to admit that XPyr is not the only successful event happening those days. Les restau du cœur made a great deal about their party. Anyways… We started at the start, the beginning of all this adventure : the Atlantic. Now we have to reach the Mediterranean sea using wings, legs, agility, and really, all skills we can find.
Looking at the conditions we’re having for the first days of the race, Édouard decided to keep up to his pace. Not the one of the superheroes in front, although we try to follow their smart ideas 🙂
That’s all for tonight folks. The Buddha bowl is ready, Bon Appétit.
