Author: TEDx Talks
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Every two years there's an extreme adventure race in which the athletes cross the Alps from Salzburg to Monaco by paraglider, or on foot; and each is allowed just one helper (redbullxalps.com). With the support of Thomas Theruillat, Christian Maurer has taken part in this race twice -- winning each time; and at the moment both of them are preparing to face this challenge for a third time. Three things are especially critical for mastering such an adventure: Preparation: In particular to know the indications of critical limits. Teamwork: to complement each other and together make new things possible. Coolness: To wait for fast flying conditions while the other athlets keep on running needs to have the emotions under control. This kind of flying across the countryside takes incredible heart and guts. Christian "Chrigel" Maurer (born 1982) is a professional paraglider pilot. He started flying at the age of 16 and since then has made a name for himself through competition success and record flights. He won the paragliding world cup 3 times and has been both Swiss and European champion. In 2004 he set a European distance record of 323 km by flying from the Niesen to Austria, and has set an "infinity tumbling" record of 210 continuous loops in acro flying. He works as a test pilot helping to develop new wing and shares his experience as a personal trainer. Both in 2009 and 2011 he decidedly won the Red Bull X-Alps contest one of the hardest adventure endurance races of all times. He lives with his wife and his two sons in Interlaken, Bernese Oberland. Thomas Theurillat (born 1977) is a coach, psychologist and mountain guide. He started climbing at the age of 12 and became a professional mountain guide in 2001. He has climbed most of the high mountains in the Alps with his friends and clients, including the Eiger north face. He also studied Work and Organisational Psychology at the University of Bern. Today he works as a coach and is the founder of ONEDAY, an organization that specializes in coaching clients from sport and business during walks in natural surroundings. He is particularly interested in the topics of decision-making, high performance, stress and recovery. He lives with his wife and his daughter in Interlaken, Bernese Oberland. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)