As I often do, one evening I was staring up at the mountains contemplating, when my phone rang; it was Lukas 'Sir' Ennemoser.
"Stew!"
A short silence.
"Yes Lu, what's up?"
"What are you doing next Monday?"
"Why?"
"There is this event in Oetztal, Jan Ullrich will be there and loads of other famous athletes, we just need to climb a route, it'll be easy!"
I was obviously keen on taking part and checked out what Lu had got me into. It turned out to be a relay race from Soelden to Oetz involving most of the outdoor sports that Oetztal has to offer. Some big names in alpine skiing, mountain biking, mountain running, cycling, ski-touring, para-gliding and kayaking were involved and I felt privileged to be a part of it. We were split into 3 teams involving one athlete from every sport in the race. My team consisted of Guenter Mader (alpine skiing), Simon Scheiber (mountain biking), Markus kroell (mountain running), Jan Ullrich (cycling), Alexander Fasser (ski-touring), Thomas De Dorlodot (Paragliding) and Jakobus Stenglein (kayak). As the teams raced through the valley of Oetztal, locals were confused by the chaos and the deafening noise of the Red Bull helicopter following the athletes. The teams ended up in rafting boats in Oetz and we all paddled like mad men to the finishing line at Area47 to be greeted by a beach party with a Red Bull stunt plane flying over-head. A fantastic event.
