Aug 8, 2024
7 days, 3 friends and quite a bit of Europe. There are messages that can change an entire week.
There are messages that can change an entire week.
This one was from Anouk, a long-time friend that Mathilde did not yet know. She had just come across "Can You Make It?" by Red Bull and naturally suggested that we participate together. Very quickly, our team was formed: The Kiff Brigade with Mathilde, Anouk, and Tristan.
Red Bull “Can You Make It?”, 7 days, 3 friends and a hell of a lot of Europe
There are messages that can change an entire week.
This one came from Anouk, a long-time friend whom Mathilde did not know yet. She had just stumbled upon “Can You Make It?” from Red Bull and naturally suggested that we participate together. Very quickly, our team was formed: The Kiff Brigade with Mathilde, Anouk, and Tristan.
The principle? 300 teams, seven days to cross Europe, starting from one of the 5 departure cities, validating challenges and checkpoints to arrive in Berlin, all without money, using cans of Red Bull as currency, a restricted phone for safety, and access to the challenge map, with a simple goal: To cover the maximum distance and checkpoints to climb in the ranking. It is therefore not a race of speed but a real game of strategy and orientation.
The selection and the starting signal
To apply, we had to send a one-minute video presenting the team, its determination, and its “little talents.” We went all in. The video was accepted, and an email confirmed that we were among the 300 teams selected. After that, everything follows: tickets in our names, contact with a Red Bull member for the briefing, and preparing bags for 7 days of unforeseen events: sweaters, t-shirts, swimsuits, good shoes, waterproof bags, sleeping mats, tent (we didn’t always know where we would sleep)… We are preparing to experience everything: the easy, the difficult, the unexpected.
We take off for Budapest, our starting city. Red Bull welcomes us, taxi, hotel, and already the energy of the other teams. The 300 teams are spread over five cities: Barcelona, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Budapest, and Milan. Everyone has the same goal: to reach Berlin in 7 days while maximizing points.
In the evening, we are explained the framework: GPS tracking, restricted phone to contact the control center if needed, and a challenge map without automatic localization (we have to manage ourselves). It includes the checkpoints, their schedules, the points earned, and daily/weekly challenges. The atmosphere is hyped up, music, and sleep. The next day, breakfast, then gathering in the main square of Budapest for a mini-departure festival: entertainment, artists, DJ, and distribution of the kit (map, cans, stamp notebook). We have two hours with our real phones still active to plot our route. Optimistic goal: 8–9 checkpoints. Then, we seal our personal phones. The game begins.
Day 1 - First Stop: Heading to Slovakia
First destination: Bratislava, with a checkpoint “water” (for us, it was noted “sky/wake”: swimsuit, let’s go). Without speaking Hungarian, we try to hitchhike at the exit of Budapest. After an hour of walking, a car stops. We offer a can (our “currency”), we explain ourselves as best we can, and we’re off.
Arriving before the checkpoint closes, we continue the challenge in swimsuits. Euphoria, first stamp in the passport. But the sky is clouding over. It’s raining, and we need to find a place to sleep. Hesitation: try to stay with locals or pitch the tent on-site? We opt for the tent, sheltered on the pavement… Let’s just say it was a short and cramped night: I sleep half outside, Mathilde half outside, Anouk as best she can. The adventure really begins.
Day 2 & 3 - Tough blow, break in Győr (Hungary)
Upon waking up, Anouk is sick, very sick. We call Red Bull from the very first morning. The local team (Tomy and an incredible girl, Trinity) takes care of us. Off to the hospital, tests, rest. We are booked into a hotel in Győr. Trinity brings us food, checks in on us, and acts as the liaison with the control center.
After two days, Anouk can stand up again and put on her backpack. Trinity asks us if we feel up to continue with only 5 days remaining. We were too eager to experience the adventure: we agree, shorten the itinerary, and set off again.
Day 4 - Vienna and the Waltz in the Ferris Wheel
After a few hours at a gas station, a driver takes us to Vienna. The checkpoint of the day: getting on the Wiener Riesenrad (the historic Ferris wheel of the Prater) and learning the waltz… by switching roles (the girls in “costume”, the boys in “dress”, atmosphere). At the top, an improvised wedding between teams: it’s mostly funny, absurd, and it bonds us.
We manage to eat a schnitzel (not the best burger in the world, but it fills you up) in exchange for cans, then we look for a place to sleep. We ask around, here and there, in the rain. A man we meet on the street offers us the keys to his wife's jewelry workshop for the night. We have a roof, unlikely and welcoming. We leave everything clean, we return the keys to the gentleman in the morning, he shows us his own workshop for designing and repairing violins and offers us breakfast, then we leave.
Day 5 - Train, Brno, and cabbage juice in Prague
At the Vienna train station, we negotiate two train stations (indulgent controllers on the Austrian side), then we renegotiate on the Czech side. We get off in Brno, then aim for Prague.
Unusual checkpoint: crushing cabbages underfoot to make a "juice from the area." We validate, collect some bonus Red Bull cans, and head back to the station. Except that… fire alarm, station closed, no more trains. Plan B: bus station. We try a FlixBus to Prague, the controller checks the capacity and lets us board for a few cans. Four hours later, we arrive.
On the sleeping front, it’s sporty. A hotel can’t help, but directs us to an “open-minded” hostel. The manager isn’t there, but the bar downstairs might be able to exchange a helping hand for a bed. We meet the boss (mean James Bond look, but a heart of gold): he gives us the keys to his apartment and offers us to sleep in one of the rooms. We have a bed, a sofa, and a real roof. We help a bit, wander around Prague, negotiate three kebabs for cans (the server eventually understands our explanation), and sleep like dormice.
We still need to find a bed. Many teams are already there, hotels/hostels full. We walk for a long time to a large hotel. They cannot accommodate us, but agree to let us stay in the lobby. Two French teachers on a school trip settle down near us, listen to our story… they each offer us a bed in their room (there were extra beds). In exchange, they ask us to tell our adventure to their 8th-grade students. Deal made. We eat (a Turkish restaurant delights us and even refuses our cans), we come back, we give a short presentation of 15 minutes: the middle school students are amazed. The evening ends with a drink with the teachers (Spanish, German, technology, CPE). Perfect night.
Day 8 - Arrival in Berlin and the big evening
Breakfast, then a walk to the finish line, passing through pieces of history (the Berlin Wall, mythical night spots). Upon arrival, we are greeted by waves of teams, volunteers, and the control center person who has been following us all week, welcoming us with a big smile. We get our five checkpoints stamped: everything is in order, the sealed pouch has never been opened.
Shuttle, hotel, hot shower, and a meeting for the big Red Bull evening "Can You Make It?": a hangar, a terrace, a DJ, 900 participants dancing, recaps of the most beautiful moments, a freestyle rider chaining tricks, and crazy anecdotes (teams exchanged cans for improbable entries, even for world championships). We didn't win the competition, but we won everything else: encounters, resourcefulness, unexpected roofs, and that rare feeling of having fully lived.
Following the halt of the adventure for two days, we aimed for the top 200, and upon the display of scores (which were hidden 24 hours before the finish line), surprise… WE ARE 191st! Not a little proud to have done better than 109 teams in 5 days.
The next day, plane, back to Paris. Summary: about 1,100 km traveled without money, exchanged more than sixty cans, five validated checkpoints… and a strengthened friendship. We did it.
If you have been tempted by this adventure, know that registration is free and takes place every two years!
