In the last edition, there were two female athletes, Dominika Kasieczko and Kinga Masztalerz, who has already indicated her desire to do the race again. Interestingly, it was Westrum who performed better, despite being a far less experienced flyer. The race had to wait a decade for the next female entrants, Dawn Westrum who had a background in adventure racing, and Yvonne Dathe, a top pilot.
The first two women to take part in the race were Niki Hamilton and Kari Castle, competing in 2005. There are no allowances for the different sexes, no separate categories. When it began almost 20 years ago the Red Bull X-Alps was one of the only races where women could compete on equal terms with men. “All that adds to good endurance capacity,” he says. He also says the condition of their ligaments and tendons is more suited for endurance. Women have another advantage here, says Waldhuber. Numerous athletes have previously spoken about the importance of fat as a fuel. This is key for a Red Bull X-Alps athlete as fat becomes the dominant fuel as the race goes on because it’s simply impossible to keep the body’s glycogen stores topped up – no matter how many bowls of pasta your support team cooks up. “Studies have shown that women have a higher percentage of slow twitch fibres. There are a few reasons why they have the potential to be better, he says. “For sure we have some differences but maybe (and some studies have shown this), they do have the ability to be better endurance athletes than men.” “Women have almost the same physiological system as men,” he says. So when it comes to an endurance race like the Red Bull X-Alps, there’s no excuse for women not performing well, says Mark Waldhuber, sport scientist at Red Bull’s Athlete Performance Center in Salzburg. The leaderboards of ultras are testament to the fact that with endurance, especially over multiple days, the gap between men and women is almost negligible. In July the German cyclist Fiona Kolbinger became the first woman to win the Transcontinental Race, a 3,999km race from Bulgaria to France. In May, Katie Wright beat 40 men and six other women to win the 30 hour Riverhead Backyard ReLaps Ultra-marathon in New Zealand, clocking 201km. The next athlete, a man, crossed the line 15 hours later. And that included time to express breast milk along the way. In January Jasmin Paris broke the course record of the 429km Montane Spine Race by more than 12 hours. It’s the same with ultras – women smashing guys no longer raises an eyebrow in the sport.Ģ019 saw many examples of female triumphs. No one questions female dominance when it comes to big open water crossings. The past decade has seen some stunning female endurance performances, proving that when it comes to adventure sports, women can be even tougher (and faster) than the guys. The only question is, will you be the one to take on the world’s toughest adventure race? There are even some who say women are better suited to this kind of endurance event. The Red Bull X-Alps is one of the few races where men and women compete on equal terms.
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