Dolomitenmann consists of mountain running, alpine paragliding, white water rafting, and mountain biking
Every year, a number of four-man, often internationally-comprised teams enter the race, hungry to be the first to cross the finish line after covering a combined 31 miles of mountainous terrain.
The race starts with a grueling 7.5-mile run. But wait, 7.5 miles isn’t that much, right? When not climbing a mountain, sure. Between the starting tape and the summit, there’s a 6,500-foot change in elevation—so steep, at times, that runners will climb on all fours just to get to the top.
The next member of the team takes off at a run, straight back down the mountain, before literally leaping from the slope and opening their paraglide. After landing at a midway point and running, chute and all, to a second launch zone, the gliders make their final descent to Leisach, having soared back down the 6,500 feet their teammate just scaled.
At the base, the kayaker is ready and waiting. After tagging in, he must swim across a river to where his boat is stationed before performing an “alpine start” – that is, a 23-foot drop down into the whitewater rapids of the Isel River. The kayak course runs about 3.1 miles but is fraught with tight slalom tracks and uphill sections.
And then comes the Dolomitenmann’s anchor—a mountain bike course no less grueling than the previous legs. After climbing 4,300 feet over the course of 17 miles, the cyclist descends another 8 miles before reaching the finish line, contending with an average gradient of 26.4% over the course of the route.
The first Dolomitemann took place in 1988, founded by Werner Grissmann, a former Austrian Olympic alpine skier and self-proclaimed manly man. The competition has steadily grown in popularity since, with just 51 participants in its inaugural year, it’s now more-than-doubled its entrants.
Sources:
- https://youtu.be/uh1X27Jb48w
- https://huckberry.com/journal/posts/red-bull-dolomitenmann
- https://www.dolomitenstadt.at/2018/09/08/dolomitenmann-2018-favoritensieg-in-lienz/
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