ALPINA 4 SUMMITS WORLD CHALLENGE N°1 WINNERS

WINNERS OF  CHALLENGE N°1: MATTERHORN (MIN. TARGET 4478M)
1)David Goodfellow, USA, 33.800m (wins an Alpiner 4 Chronograph)
2)Xiaoli Tang, Canada 30.803m (wins an Alpiner Automatic)
3)Scott Groeschl, USA, 30.282m (wins an Alpiner 4 GMT)
4)Winner of the trip to the Matterhorn selected randomly amongst all participants that exceeded the 4478 objective: Lou Cronin, USA

June 31st marked the finish of the 1ST Challenge (Matterhorn) with a target elevation objective of 4478 meters. It has been an incredibly exciting challenge, which has seen 23.207 participants from all over the world achieve 4.002.375 vertical meters! The top 10 ranked countries have been United States, Canada, Spain, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, Indonesia and Mexico. In terms of individual winners it has been a close race until the end and finally its has been David Goodfellow from the USA to win the first prize with 33.800m! In second and third place, respectively Xiaoli Tang, Canada, with 30.803m and Scott Groeschl, USA, with 30.282m. We congratulate the winners for their great performance and thank all and every participant for pushing themselves to the limit by applying the purest Alpinist spirit! Here are the personal stories of the challenge by the 3 top finishers:

DAVID GOODFELLOW
The Challenge: I had just decided to start hiking again after not doing much for a few years, so I went out and bought myself a new pair of boots. Coincidentally, around the same time, I received an email from AllTrails informing me about the challenge. I love hiking and getting out in the wilderness, but the challenge also gave me something to aim for. By the time I'd reached the target elevation for the Matterhorn I found myself in 7th on the top 10 leaderboard which a pleasant surprise. My position went down on the leaderboard but thought nothing of it because I wasn't thinking of going for a top spot at that point. After my next walk it put me back in 6th and I began to think that maybe I could get in the top 3. To cut a long story short, from that point on I did everything I could to catch up to the top 3. I didn't catch up until the beginning of the last week of the challenge. By the time I'd caught up I was focused on doing everything I could to get into first place, and hiked to the point where I really didn't know how much further I could push myself. I think I won because, even though I felt like giving up from time to time thinking it was out of my reach and abilities, I found myself trying to figure out what I could do to give myself a better chance of succeeding. It was really close in the end. Xiaoli and Scott were pushing just as hard and I wasn't able to get out for a hike on the last day, so spent the whole of that day wondering if they'd knock me out of the top spot. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and discovered I had more drive and determination than I imagined.The Attitude and Philosophy: As for attitude and philosophy, I love hiking but really couldn't tell you why. I found myself wondering what the attraction was myself. I like to travel light with just water, some healthy snacks, and a few emergency supplies. I enjoy pushing myself hard, so it's not a leisurely stroll I'm looking for, but something challenging that will give me a good workout. I also enjoy the peace and quiet once I get out in the wilds. I live in the foothills so it can be quite peaceful, but the peace and quiet out in the wilderness is of a different quality.

XIAOLI TANGI participated in this competition because I wanted to use it to help me to stick to my training program, part of my effort to try to achieve a better work-life balance, as I had been quite a workaholic. I consider it more like a competition against myself other than against the other participants. Winning a watch also will help some less privileged school children because I have promised to donate the watch to a Christmas Silent Auction to raise funds for children's education.

Her story at the following link: http://us8.campaign-archive2.com/?u=c0ea03d13d78c648822115d48&id=21ce38fd42


SOTT GROESCHL
This challenge has been a lifestyle changer for me. I just recently move to Colorado, the hiking was not that great where I came from but once in Colorado many things opened up to me. This challenge was a great way to motivate myself to climb more and get active. Since the start of the contest I've lost 42lbs and gained the summits of 10 Colorado 14ers and 5 13ers. I believe that I preformed the way I did because of the years of waiting I had to endure win Wisconsin waiting to get out to the mountains. Once here there was nothing stopping me except Charlotte and David :). The constant leader board updates helped too, seeing my name on that list was one of the most incredible feelings. To me hiking and mountaineering are great ways to challenge myself both mentally and physically. There is nothing better than getting to the top of that mountain that I've sat and stared at for years. Looking down at what I climbed and where I started just makes it so much sweeter. To me the harder the climb the more I get from it so I am constantly looking for new routes and ways to get that summit. In the future I hope to climb a 8000m peak, to me this would be the ultimate goal. The opportunities are endless and I can't wait to explore and climb more of what this world has to offer!                                                                                                                                    "Life does not come with cairns to guide you, you must follow your dreams"