Red Bull X-Alps
Heroic Finish to Red Bull X-Alps
Red Bull Media / 19.07.2013
Monaco welcomed its tenth and final athlete on Friday morning, just hours before the Red Bull X-Alps came to an end at 12:00 local time.
It is perhaps fitting that on the ten-year anniversary of the first Red Bull X-Alps, it should be Toma Coconea (ROM) to arrive in 10th place as he has competed in every edition of the race since 2003.
The 37-year-old, perhaps more than any other athlete, embodies the spirit of the race with his determination and never-say-die attitude. Famous for the Herculean distances he's able to cover on foot — in both 2011 and 2009 he hiked over 900km — the last day saw him hike 130km to Peille. He reached the final turnpoint at 22:52 to be greeted by cheering crowds and blaring horns. He had hardly stopped since starting at 5:30am that day.
“He is crazy,” said a friend of Coconea's who was running with him.
Along the way, his supporter Daniel Pisica, a Colonel in the Romanian army, smoking a cigar and with AC/DC blaring out of the van's stereo, shouted commands at him to keep him going.
“Come on soldier, fight!” he yelled.
Paul Guschlbauer (AUT1) arrived in 9th place on Thursday, a few hours before Coconea. Having placed third in 2011 he was looking for big things in 2013 but his result is a reminder that with the Red Bull X-Alps, it's an adventure first and anything can happen. He reached Peille at 17:17, in a very respectable time of 11 days, five hours and 50 minutes.
Race director Christoph Weber says it was one of the best editions of the race: "It was amazing for a number of reasons. The weather and flying conditions were really good making it a very fast and dynamic race. We also had a lot more teams reaching Monaco, which makes it special. When Coconea arrived they all gave him a warm welcome. It was an incredible atmosphere. The race has a very special spirit. Another reason that made it special were the mini-battles that went on — like the fight for 2nd and 3rd place and 4th and 5th place. It was a very close race for the athletes and very exciting to watch.”
The preliminary results and timings can be seen overleaf. But for the best highlights, stats, route analysis and more, explore the additional features to be found on Red Bull Mobile Live Tracking (http://www.redbullxalps.com/live-tracking.html).
The 2013 Red Bull X-Alps results:
1. Christian Maurer (SUI1): 6d 23hr 40m
2. Clement Latour (FRA1): 8d 16hr
3. Antoine Girard (FRA2): 8d 16hr 30m
4. Jon Chambers (GBR): 9d 5hr 12m
5. Peter Gebhard (ITA2) 9d 7hr 40m
6. Ferdinand Van Schelven (NED) 10d 9hr 27m 7. Aaron Durogati (ITA1): 10d 10hr 28m 8. Martin Muller (SUI2): 10d 21hr 43m 9. Paul Guschlbauer (AUT1): 11d 5hr 47m 10. Toma Coconea (ROM): 11d 11hr 22m 11. Honza Rejmanek (USA1): 101km* 12. Victor Sebe (FRA3): 113km 13. Thomas de Dorlodot (BEL): 153km 14. Evgenii Griaznov (RUS): 154km 15. Pawel Faron (POL:) 154km 16. Kaoru Ogisawa (JPN1): 168km 17. Andy Frötscher (ITA3): 182km 18. Shoichiro Tadano (JPN2): 184km 19. Michal Krysta (CZE): 229km 20. Max Mittmann (GER3): 261km 21. Mike Küng (AUT2): 379km 22. Raul Penso (VEN): 385km 23. Max Fanderl (CAN): 411km 24. Lars Budack (GER2): 428km 25. Pil Pyo Hong (KOR): 430km 26. Pierre Carter (RSA): 553km 27. Iñigo Gabiria (ESP): 588km 28. Stephan Haase (USA2): Retired 29. Thomas Hofbauer (AUT3): Eliminated 30. Babu Sunuwar (NPL) Eliminated 31. Claudio Heidel (ARG) Eliminated
* This is the distance athletes still had to go to Monaco.
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