Live Tracking is at the heart of Red Bull X-Alps. For spectators it means we can follow the athletes up close as if we were with them, even though they are spread out over hundreds of kilometers throughout the Alps. Many fans will be glued to a screen (or two) for two weeks in June again. But Live Tracking is equally important for the race organisation to know where the teams are and what they are doing, for safety and to check if the rules are followed.

Perfect partners
For years, Flymaster has supplied the instruments and support for tracking. When this cooperation stopped after the 2021 edition, zooom as the organisers of Red Bull X-Alps launched their own mobile Live Tracking app in 2023. Hannes Maier, CTO at zooom, is responsible for Live Tracking during the race and helped develop this app. He explained: "Our own tracking app was good but there is a lot of manpower needed for developing and testing the app further. We knew that a professional partner, who does this full time, gives us the better results at the end. So, it was time to find this new partner."
Behind the scenes, Andrej Kolar, CEO at Naviter, has been involved with Red Bull X-Alps for years. "He was a hidden partner," said Hannes, "He supported several athletes and was in contact with the race director about the route and airspace. When the time came to find a new Live Tracking partner, Naviter was an obvious choice."
Naviter quickly agreed, said Andrej: "We have some very active hike&fly pilots in our team and we feel the passion. It was natural for us to become involved, it fits perfectly together."

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This feature was published in full in Cross Country magazine 257, May/June 2025.