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outdoortrophy 2017 – it’s a wrap!

Ludmila Sidlova in her kayak at the outdoortrophy 2017

The outdoortrophy 2017 has successfully taken place on saturday, the 12th of august, in the beautiful Bregenzerwald in Vorarlberg.
It had rained in Vorarlberg since thursday, so the conditions were very difficult and the decision to postpone the start for a few hours turned out to be very smart.
The paragliders had bad luck, the weather didn’t get better fast enough, so they had to run a round on top of the mountain “Niedere” with their full equipment instead of actually flying. It was too dangerous due to bad sight and strong winds.
The rest of the disciplines could be held and everyone who competed showed their best effort. The contest was well-organized, by a very responsible team, that made sure that all contestants made it to the finish line safely.

Kristýna Dvořáková
Runner Kristýna Dvořáková // Copyright: outdoortrophy.com / Lars Wieser

 

The contestants were separated in the categories Pro, Amateur, Women and Single. Yes, there are people who take on this competition all by themselves and give it their all in mountain running, paragliding, white water kayaking AND mountainbiking in one single day!
Big respect to all the contestants!

 

Ruth Hagen carrying her mountainbike
Mountainbiker Ruth Hagen // Copyright: Virgosystem

 

 

The fastest female team was the Czech Outdoor eXtréme Team XX with an excellent time of 4:49:50!

The results of the female teams:

The female teams at the prizegiving ceremony

1st place: Team „Czech Outdoor eXtréme team XX“ – total time: 4:49:50,3
Kristýna Dvoráková CZE / Barbora Pavlásková CZE / Ludmila Šídlová CZE / Zdenka Nemcová CZE
1:26:44,2 (17.) / 0:21:15,6 (20.) / 0:34:05,9 (23.) / 2:27:57,7 (11.)

2nd place: Team „Volksbank Vorarlberg Racing Team“- total time: 5:07:19,7
Sandra Urach AUT/ Monika Jakobi GER / Sonja Schmidt GER / Ruth Hagen AUT
1:30:21,4 (18.) / 0:20:52,8 (18.) / 0:37:05,7 (27.) / 2:39:13,6 (16.)

3rd place: Team „prime elements“- total time: 5:24:09,1
Johanna Raid AUT / Christina Feuerstein AUT / Anngrit Scheuter GER / Vroni Weiß GER
1:40:08,7 (27.) / 0:23:12,9 (23.) / 0:36:38,8 (26.) / 2:44:23,0 (19.)

You can find the complete results in this PDF from outdoortrophy.com:
-> http://www.outdoortrophy.com/5_files/ergebnisse/outdoortrophy-2017/ot-2017-gesamt.pdf

 

 

I have asked a woman from each discipline for an interview, read here what they had to say:

 

Runner Johanna Raid before the start

Johanna Raid is a runner from Vorarlberg, she was part of the Prime Elements team which took 3rd place at the outdoortrophy 2017.
She has taken part in a half marathon and she is currently preparing for the Aukland marathon. She hopes that she will be able to start there.

Is it your first time at the outdoortrophy?

It’s my first start here, it was a spontaneous decision to compete.

What was your motivation to sign up?

I’m running a lot and I enjoy being in the mountains, but I haven’t done a trail run contest so far. It was an interesting challenge!

What do you think is the reason that more men than women compete in runs like this?

I think that women are more self-concious, they doubt that they can make it, whereas men dare to simply try stuff.

 

Kayaker Anngritt Scheuter

Anngritt Scheuter is a Kayaker from Germany who started for the Prime Elements team. She started white water kayaking 5 years ago.

Is it your first time at the outdoortrophy or have you competed here before?

Yes, it is my first start at the outdoortrophy.

What was your motivation to sign up?

I got asked by Christin if I wanted to join the team with my Kayak. It sounded like a challenge, especially since it is my first competition in general.
Since I focus on whitewater kayak, the slalom was my biggest fear. I trained the slalom, but I got lucky and the slalom part had to be cancelled due to the high water situation.

What is your opinion on the male/female ratio in sports like kayak?

There are lots of awesome and very talented women in kayaking worldwide, but in Germany we only have a few whitewater contests and female kayakers.
I think it will develop. I’m a climber as well and I saw how the situation changed during the last 10 years. The number of female climbers has greatly improved and I hope it will be the same in kayaking!
There should be more women in competitions!

 

Barbora Pavlásková from the Czech Outdoor eXtreme Team at the outdoortrophy

Barbora Pavlásková is a paraglider and she joined the contest with the Czech Outdoor eXtréme Team XX, who were able to win the outdoortrophy 2017!

Is it your first time at the outdoortrophy or have you competed here before?

It is my first start here. I have already competed in local contests in the Czech Republic before.

What was your motivation to sign up?

I think contests like this are an amazing experience, I really enjoy meeting new people and it’s always a lot of fun!

The weather conditions made it impossible for the paragliders to start, so they had to complete a running round with full equipment instead. Were you sad that you couldn’t fly?

Well, I think as a paraglider you can’t complain about the weather, since that would be what you would do a lot. You just have to take natures conditions as they are.

It was still an exciting experience and I found the running round hard and a challenge.

What do you think about the percentage of women in paragliding?

I would like to see more women paragliding! Currently it’s pretty easy to get good placements, since the competition is so small. I would feel more motivated if there were more women in contests.

Would you like to take part in the outdoortrophy again in the future?

Yes, I would do it again, I think that team competitions are especially great fun!

What do you think is the reason why there are so many czech teams competing here today?

Austria is close to the Czech Republic and the mountains here are awesomely challenging. We don’t have mountains like that at home!

More about the Czech Outdoor eXtréme team:
-> https://www.facebook.com/coetcz/

 

Mountainbiker Ruth Hagen and family

Ruth Hagen is a local mountainbiker from Vorarlberg, she scored 2nd place for her team Volksbank Vorarlberg Racing Team.

Is it your first time at the outdoortrophy?

No, I have actually competed in the first ever outdoortrophy that was organized and it’s my fourth start here in total!

How was the bike ride course today?

Experience was very important today. The ground was very slippery and soft due to the big amount of rainfall we had in the last days. I had to carry my bike quite a lot and it was an extremely difficult, slippery carrying passage.
Normally you can ride nearly all of the course. Nevertheless, I am very happy with my ride!

What motivated you to sign up?

I have been asked by my company Volksbank if I would like to start and I am competitive. After many years of biking I wanted to find out if I still had what it takes!

Sandra Urach put together the team, it was the first trail run for her, although she is an experienced runner. I want to thank her for setting up the team!

Did you enjoy the outdoortrophy?

I had a lot of fun, especially the crowd was great – they cheered for us and pushed us with their applause!

What do you think about the number of females competing in contests like the outdoortrophy?

Well, it is a very special kind of contest, so there are only a few starters in general, especially women.

I think it could be a motivation if there was prizemoney for the female teams too. Of course I don’t do it for the money, I compete because I enjoy it a lot, but women have the same expenses as men and it would be great to get a bit of money to cover the costs!

More about Ruth:
-> http://ruth-hagen.com/

 

 

To round off this report from the outdoortrophy 2017, here are some pictures.

 

The next outdoortrophy will take place on August 17, 2019 – mark your calendars now!

For further info, please visit:

-> http://www.outdoortrophy.com/
-> http://www.bregenzerwald.at/
-> https://www.vorarlberg.travel/

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outdoortrophy 2017

A kayaker seen from above at the outdoortrophy 2013

A kayaker seen from above at the outdoortrophy 2013

 

the outdoortrophy 2017 will take place on august 12 in Vorarlberg. the outdoortrophy is an extreme sports competition, comprised of four disciplines: mountain running, paragliding, white water kayaking and mountain biking.
it is organized every other year and is considered the inofficial world championship.

this year, 3 all-female teams will accept the challenge, other women will compete in mixed teams or as single contestants.

i will travel to Vorarlberg for you to report about this special competition!

-> for more info, check out http://www.outdoortrophy.com/

 

Image Copyright: outdoortrophy.com / Markus Gmeiner

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Sexismus im Actionsport: Wie Frauen ihre Möglichkeiten besser nutzen können

Der Actionsport hat ein Sexismus-Problem. Deswegen entstand mizzi.at, um Sportlerinnen eine Plattform zu bieten, auf der sie gesehen werden, wo ihr Können im Mittelpunkt steht und wo andere Mädchen und Frauen sie als ihre Vorbilder entdecken können.

PULS, das junge Programm des Bayerischen Rundfunks, hat das Problem anhand des Munich Mash, eines großen Actionsport Festivals in Deutschland, wo leider nur Männer an den Contests teilnehmen durften, mal näher beleuchtet.
Dabei entstanden nicht nur ein toller Fernsehbeitrag und ein Kommentar der Redakteurin Claudia Gerauer, sondern auch eine Ausgabe des Podcasts PULS Spezial, bei dem ich als eine von 5 GesprächspartnerInnen Rede und Antwort stehen durfte. Interviewt wurden auch Vali Höll (Mountainbikerin), Sophie Knechtl (Sportwissenschaftlerin), Yvonne Labedzki (Organisatorin Suck my Trucks Contests) und Nico Zacek (Organisator Nine Kings / Nine Queens)

-> Den Podcast zum Nachhören gibt es hier: BR.de

 

Wer den Beitrag lieber per Digitalradio, Kabel oder Satellit hören will, hat dazu morgen, am Samstag, den 29.07. von 18:00 – 20:00 Uhr Gelegenheit, die Wiederholung läuft am Sonntag von 12:00 – 14:00 Uhr!

-> Infos zum Empfang von BR

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Winter 2016/2017 in review

this winter imposed a special challenge onto me. i will try to make a long story short.
in september, my husband and shredbuddy Roman tore the patella ligament in his right knee while stepping out of our camper in France. we were lucky that the campsite was situated closely to a hospital specialized in chirurgical surgery, where Roman could undergo surgery the day after his accident. thanks to the professional care in this hospital, we were able to leave France and head home two days after the accident, which was only possible because our camper has enough space to prop up ones leg while still being correctly belted.
of course, i was the designated driver for all those kilometers home, which was strenuous, but i was just so happy about the possibility of getting closer to home and our families that i pushed on until we reached Austria 2 days later.
although the healing process had been going very well, Roman was not ready to hit the mountains again. thankfully, Roman is not the only person that i knew would like my company during a splitboard tour or freeriding, but it makes things a bit more complicated if your planning efforts aren’t just like “tour?” “yep” (of course we do plan all our off-piste endeavours much more in detail, i’m only cutting a corner for the sake of an entertaining story).
the second special thing about this winter were the temperatures and the ost-stau. most of the time, we have nord-stau in Austria, meaning that regions from Dachstein on west-ward will get a lot of snow on their northern side, and that Lower Austria (where i’m situated) won’t get as much snow.
i’m very grateful that the weather decided to flow over to us from Russia, bringing us snowfall and temperatures of about -15 degrees celsius for quite some weeks in january.
the snow was meant to stay this time! :)
this allowed for lots of splitboard and snowboard trips in the eastern alps. i really enjoyed spending time with friends in the mountains, increasing the number in my shred counter.


i also took part in two contests this winter, the FWQ* Hochkar and the FWQ** Gastein. i was planning on entering the FWQ** Goldeck and the FWQ*** X Over Kitzsteinhorn, but sadly due to lacking snowpack, Goldeck got cancelled and i couldn’t collect enough points to make it into the FWQ***.
i was able to take home the 2nd place at the FWQ* Hochkar and landed on the 5th place at the FWQ** Gastein. my focus this year was on selecting a line during the facecheck, imagining how it will look like from above and then finding the line as well as incorporating a few jumps.
it might sound like an easy task to ride down a hill, but in a contest it’s really something different. you will have to take the conditions as they are, keep your senses together even tough you’re nervous, look out for landmarks where you have to turn right for example, keep up your speed, watch your riding style and on top of that, throw in some jumps, ideally with tricks.
while i was happy with both my contestruns, i know i could have stepped it up speedwise in Gastein. i got a lot better at remembering my line, setting myself up for jumps and landing them safely, next i want to work on improving my speed.
still, miracoulosly, my ranking in the Austrian Freeride Series this season is better than ever (i placed 6th). i have to say that this fact helps me keep my motivation. i wanted to quit contest riding after the last season, but this season it was a perfect way of collecting experiences for me and i have enjoyed it a lot more than last season.
we have had temperatures above 20 degrees on some days now, it felt nearly like summer already, but last week we had an unusual amount of snowfall in the eastern alps…
we’ll see if the season is really over for me now or if we might be able to smuggle in one more day of riding/touring in this prolonged winter.
thanks to all the friends that i was lucky enough to ride with, to the Open Faces crew for organizing these amazing contests and to my sponsors PIEPS and Julbo Eyewear for supporting me!
 
—- UPDATE —-
i was hoping to squeeze in maybe one last winter adventure for the season in may, but had a bit of bad luck and broke my middle finger at the beginning of our holiday in may. this meant that i could focus on bettering my stamina with lots of walking, running and hiking, but no splitboarding adventures, no climbing, no sauna…
my finger has nearly healed completely in the mean time and i can’t wait to put it to good use soon again ;)

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International Women’s Day – Outstanding Women: Mitzi Albl

Members of the Grazer Damen Bicycle Club posing on their bikes for a photo

Since today is International Women’s Day, I wanted to introduce to you one of the outstanding women who paved the way for us sports enthusiasts, enabling us to ride a bike, skate, snowboard, surf and so on.

Members of the Grazer Damen Bicycle Club posing on their bikes for a photo
Elise Steininger, Vincenza Wenderich, Louise Sorg, Mitzi Albl, Louise Albl (v. l. n. r) Abb. in: Beiblatt der Radfahrchronik zum „Radfahrhumor“, Nr. 16, 1893, S. 539, Steiermärkische Landesbibliothek
Picture from http://www.pionierinnengalerie-graz.at/grazer-damen-bicycle-club-gegruendet-1893/

 

The woman I want to present is Mitzi Albl from Austria. She was one of the founding members of the Grazer Damen Bicycle Club (Ladies Bicycle Club Graz), which was founded in 1893 and was the first bicycle club for ladies in Austria, one of the first clubs in Europe in general.
1893 was a time where women still had to endure a lot of suppression. They were expected not to wear pants, not to sweat and in general, keep their attention to their work as housewives and mothers. Yet these women organized bike riding workshops for newbies, had a special club attire (including pants and modern caps!) and got together for group rides.

 

Through their courage to oppose the societys guidelines they cleared the way for women to use a bicycle as means of transportation, for working out and for fun.

For this, I want to thank Mitzi Albl and her peers! To show my gratitude, I named this blog after Ms Albl when I founded it in 2006.

May we cycle together into a future where nobody is suppressed because of their gender!

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Freeride Film Festival 2016 starts TODAY

Movie still from Äsmosphere - Wolle Nyvelt flying high on his Äsmo.
Movie still from Äsmosphere - Wolle Nyvelt flying high on his Äsmo.
Movie still from Äsmosphere – Wolle Nyvelt flying high on his Äsmo.
(c) Monepic

Buckle up your seatbelts, the Freeride Film Festival Tour 2016 starts today (November 5, 2016). The kick-off will be in Innsbruck and the tour will then stop in Munich (Nov 6), Darmstadt (Nov 7), Cologne (Nov 8), Berlin (Nov 9) and Vienna (Nov 10).

Also on the schedule: 2 special screenings of Shades of Winter – BETWEEN in Linz (Nov 13) and Vienna (Nov 14).
For people close to the western part of Austria there’s a mini-tourstop with a more local movie selection on the 17th of November in Dornbirn.

Visit the festival website to find out all details:
-> http://www.freeride-filmfestival.com/

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Autumn weekend fun.

Recently, I’ve spent as much time outdoors as I could, to soak up the last warm sunrays. It’s already noticeable that autumn and winter are around the corner and as much as I love winter (all seasons, really), the lightness of living in the warmer months of the year has a certain feeling to it that I really enjoy.
On a sunny september saturday, Roman and I went to a climbing spot near Scheibbs, where I layed out my bouldering mat and  tried to solve some rocky problems. I havn’t been climbing a lot lately, so it took some time to get used to it again, but after about an hour I nearly solved the problem I had chosen. Do you know that point during a climbing session, when you suddenly find the solution to mastering the chosen route, but your body just isn’t capable of climbing it anymore? Yeah. Still I felt a bit of success, even if it only was of the “hurrah, I haven’t unlearned it all”-type.
Photograph of Stephanie Jagl-Posch bouldering on a rock wall

Sunday was an early shift for me, because I had a hiking rendezvous with 3 friends. We met up at 7am and then headed towards the infamous Oistal near Gaming. Our plan for the day was a roundtrip hike leading to the peaks of Scheibe, Scheiblingstein and the Bärenleitenkogel. Together with a lot of other people we started our ascent, luckily only a few of them also wanted to do the whole tour, most only walked until the Scheibe.
View of the Mountain called Scheibe
…Hence the name “Scheibe” (which means “Disk”)

The view from the Scheibe down to the Lunzer See
This is the view from the Scheibe down to the Lunzer See.

It was a steep, sweaty ascent, followed by multiple descents and ascents in rocky terrain. After summit number three all of us were ready for a refreshing stop at the Herrenalm, which was closed, but where the hosts were kind enough to leave drinks cooled in the fountain for the hikers. Putting some money in the glass jar, we all picked a lemonade to restore our sugar balance.

Photograph of the Ötscher in Lower Austria
Looking over to the Ötscher in Lower Austria

A person hiking
Stef walking in green surroundings.

 
About 8 hours and 1100 meters in altitude difference after the start, we arrived at the parking lot again.
We were tired, but all the gorgeous views, delicate smells (I LOVE conifers!) and wonderful memories were totally worth it!
I’m in love with the seasons! <3