Bird’s eye view of Alps
St Francis man hikes, paraglides over range in extreme-adventure challenge
AFORMER Port Elizabeth man has just completed a once-ina-lifetime adventure race in the Alps mountain range, which saw him climbing, hiking and then paragliding hundreds of kilometres through majestic valleys and peaks along seven countries.
The Red Bull X-Alps, described as the world’s toughest adventure race, sees 32 competitors from all over the world hiking more than 100km a day and then flying thousands of metres on paragliders.
Duncan Kotze, 41, now based in Cape St Francis, obtained his paragliding licence in France in 1999 and has been a fan of the race since its inception eight years ago.
An extreme adventurer, Kotze has climbed Table Mountain, the Drakensberg and various other mountain ranges in South Africa. He also regularly absails in the gorges of the Baviaanskloof in the Eastern Cape.
“I have basically been following this race from Day 1. What is really great about it is that we all fly with a tracking device which gets picked up on Google Earth.
“You can select the pilots you want to follow and then watch [a] virtual [version] to check where anyone is at any given time.
“They only select 32 athletes to take part so you need to send in your CV and it then gets analysed.
“I applied and hoped for the best and I was just happy to be selected because it is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said.
Kotze, who owns a construction company, described the race as an amazing experience.
“It has been unbelievable. You go up glaciers and then end up at the coast. Just seeing all the old buildings has been incredible,” he said.
“We started in Salzburg in Austria and then went through Slovenia, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France and then Monaco. It is a distance of 1 138km through the Alps.”
While the former Grey High School pupil was eliminated before reaching the finish line in Monaco, he feels fortunate to have taken part.
“It was tough but awesome. You are travelling through these mountains – flying over peaks and then valley after valley.
“All the athletes have a specific route to follow and this means planning your route, positioning yourself, checking wind speeds and paragliding as far as possible to your next position. “You have to plan really well.” Kotze said the most challenging aspect of the race was navigating through the high altitudes of the Alps peaks
“We do not have anything similar to this back home so it was quite a thing. To train, I just got in as much flying time as I could and then I went on long hikes and climbs so fitness wise, I was okay.
“I think to properly prepare you need to come a month or two ahead of time to fly the Alps. I did not have that luxury because of work.”
He said four days into the 12-day race the athlete in last place is eliminated. Thereafter, the last-placed athlete is eliminated every 48 hours. Kotze finished in 25th place.
After his elimination, Kotze and his supporter, Johan de Bruijn, 40, of Plettenberg Bay, continued following the race and waited in Monaco for the first-placed competitors to land on Thursday.
Chrigel Maurer, 34, of Switzerland, took first place, with Benoit Outters, 27, of France, second.
Kotze was to travel home to wife Lucy and their 16-month-old daughter, Maya, today.