Red Bull Dolomite Man

For the second time in a row the team “Leingruber Personal” left the competition in the dust at the Red Bull Dolomite Man in Lienz (Austria). And did so impressively.

They call them the “toughest men under the sun” and on September 10, 2005, they lived up to their name. The sun was blazing down at 10 a.m. when the starting shot was fired for the 110 teams taking part in the Red Bull Dolomite Man. Only three hours 53 minutes and 56 seconds later the winning team was clear. And it was a familiar one: “Leingruber Personal” with Jonathan Wyatt (mountain running), Christian Amon (paragliding), Herwig Natmessig (kayaking) and Alban Lakata (mountain biking) demonstrated once again, in the Austrian province of East Tirol, that they are real Dolomite Man specialists, adding another victory to last year’s winning performance in what is probably the world’s toughest relay competition.

Much of the credit was due to five-time mountain-running world champion Jonathan Wyatt, who Gazetta dello Sport has called the best mountain runner of modern times. It took the New Zealander only 1:20.19 to run from the main square in Lienz to the summit of Kühboden-Törl. With that, he not only improved his 2004 winning time by a minute, but also gave his team a lead of five minutes after the first of the four disciplines.

Four Disciplines, One Feeling

This was the 18th time that extreme athletes from around the world had met in teams of four to go up against the mountains of the Lienz Dolomiten. The ultimate challenge was the same: as in previous years the teams had to master a course in four disciplines in which they climbed a total of 3000 meters and descended just as many. The runner had to cover 12 kilometers with a change in altitude of 1767 meters. The paraglider had to make two spectacular flights along the towering Dolomites and, in between, gain 120 meters in altitude on foot (with the paraglider on his back) over a horizontal distance of only 500 meters. The kayaker was required to slide from a height of six meters into the Drau (Drava) River and then paddle in two stages through a slalom course totaling 1600 meters. And the last team member, the mountain biker, had to ride a 28.82-kilometer course with an average gradient of more than 26 percent.

“Regardless of your discipline, during the race you have to ask yourself more than once why you’re putting yourself through this,” says Markus Kröll (AUT), the runner for the Red Bull team, which finished second. “And yet you wouldn’t want to miss it.”

In 2005, record numbers didn’t want to miss it: more than 1200 applied to compete in the Red Bull Dolomite Man. The 440 who were chosen came from a total of 25 nations, making this year’s competition the most international one yet.