XRedRocks is a multi-day hike-and-fly paragliding competition based in Monroe, Utah. The event sends athletes across the high mountain desert using only two forms of travel: paraglider or foot. Each day, the Race Committee sets a task with required control points and turnpoints, and athletes try to reach the daily goal as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The event is structured as a stage race with multiple divisions, including Pro, Adventure, and Challenge. The Challenge division is designed for athletes newer to hike-and-fly, with an emphasis on safe fun, uphill movement, cross-country flying, mentoring, and good decision-making in Utah’s mountain/desert environment.
At its core, XRedRocks is about adventure, strategy, endurance, weather judgment, and self-sufficiency. Athletes carry what they need for the day, move through the course without outside support, and are scored by who reaches goal first or who makes the most progress along the course line.
https://xredrocks.com/
Hike and Fly is an endurance paragliding discipline where athletes move through mountain terrain by combining hiking/running uphill with paragliding flights. Instead of starting from one fixed launch and flying a single route, athletes may need to hike to a launch, fly toward a waypoint, land, hike again, relaunch, and keep progressing through the course.
In a race format like XRedRocks, the goal is to reach daily control points as efficiently as possible using only your body and your wing. Good athletes need more than fitness or flying skill alone. They need mountain judgment, route selection, weather awareness, navigation, patience, and the ability to make safe decisions when conditions change.
https://xredrocks.com/
No. XRedRocksRun is an adaptive trail stage race. Daily routes are selected based on weather, terrain, safety, access, retrieval logistics, and the official XRedRocks task structure.
Runner tasks will be announced before each stage, typically the night before, and sometimes updated the morning of. This allows participants to discuss routes, ask questions, devise tactics, and become more familiar with the route. Each task will include the GPX route, required waypoints, cutoffs, and retrieval plan.
Yes. At a minimum, participants must be comfortable following a GPX route on a watch or phone. Digital map use, route finding, and sense of direction are a huge benefit.
This is a self-supported adventure stage race. Race-provided aid may be available at official checkpoints or goal locations, but runners should carry enough food, water, and gear for the full stage and while waiting for retrieval.
For scoring, you will be ranked by official progress along the runner's course line. You will communicate your location and arrange the best extraction point to be retrieved.
Yes. There are four possible race days, and the best three scored days count toward the overall standings.
We are very flexible with the task distances each day, you may elect to try a different task if feeling ambitious or overwhelmed.
Maybe metaphorically but, no. XRedRocksRun is foot-travel only. Runners do not participate in the paragliding component.
No. XRedRocksRun uses shorter runner-specific tasks inspired by the XRedRocks Challenge division. The runner courses are designed for foot travel, safety, and retrieval logistics. There may be bad weather days where the hike and fly race joins our trail run, though. We will overlap course starts and waypoints as logistically possible. But when the flying weather is good, it is simply not possible to keep up with the gliders once they are in the air as they are capable of covering big distances over multiple hours.
Logistics and retrieval during the tasks, event shirt, medal, BBQ party, event photos, and social components in addition to an incredible playground for the week.
