The world elite of outdoor sport will be hosted at the ninth edition of the relay competition outdoortrophy on 14 August in Lingenau (Bregenzerwald, Austria), with events including mountain running, paragliding, whitewater kayaking, and mountain biking.

The outdoortrophy is claimed to be one of the toughest races in the world, with an immensely challenging route. It starts with a 15km mountain run with an altitude gain of no less than 1400 meters that must be overcome. Once the runners reach Niedere, it is action time for the paragliders. After a short running section, they launch themselves downward in the direction of the Andelsbuch power station.

After a 4m high cliff start, the third athlete must fight through the Bregenzera­che River’s rapids, negotiate a waterfall and a slalom with an Eskimo Roll, before athlete number four takes over the last leg on a mountain bike.

The bike route includes steep inclines, demanding bike-carrying passages and rapid downhills alternate with each other. In addition to the pro and amateur rankings (men and women), company teams have their own rankings.  

Those taking part include such names as mountain running world champion Helmut Schiessl (Germany), paragliding winner Markus Prantl (Italy), multiple Austrian kayaking national champion Gerhard Schmid, mountain biker Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic), cross-country national champion Hannes Metzler (Austria) and Trans Rockies winner Silvio Wieltschnig (Austria)

Visits to the outdoortrophy are free during the day. It’s best to purchase tickets for the outdoornight (10 euros) beforehand. Advance tickets are available at all HYPO Landesbank Vorarlberg branches. For information about the relay competition and outdoornight, see www.outdoortrophy.com for more.