Downhill mountain bikers may well be more than used to sprinting, jumping and sliding down over steps, roofs, walls and rocks, but the challenge that awaited some of the world’s best at “Red Bull Desafio no Morro” in Rio de Janeiro surpassed anything and everything that had gone before. The 760-metre course descended 170 vertical metres, contained 13 special obstacles and was punctuated with plenty of jumps. So, sounds like a normal downhill, right? Wrong. The location for the high-speed event wasn’t a mountainside but the Favela Dona Marta at the foot of the world-famous Christ the Redeemer statue dominating the Rio de Janeiro skyline. Reaching speeds of up to 50km/h, the athletes hurtled through alleys no more than 80cm wide in places as they passed living rooms, bars and shops.

“It’s a bit like in motor rallying when the drivers manage to squeeze the car through the gap at the very last second,” commented Slovakia’s Filip Polc. As if the course through the shanty town wasn’t challenging enough, the competitors also had to contend with unexpected obstacles of the winged and four-legged kind on their way down.

Victory in the ten-man final went to the Slovak rider Filip Polc, with Brazil’s Marco and Britain’s Dan Atherton finishing second and third respectively. World champion Gee Atherton’s hopes of glory were dashed by a puncture, and the Briton could do not more than trundle in last in the final.

The favela community also profited from the special one-off event, with more than 100 locals employed before, during and after the race.

Results: Filip Polc (SVK) 1:39.91 min.; 2. Markolf Berchtold (BRA) 1:41.57; 3. Dan Atherton (GBR) 1:42. 29; 4. Steve Smith (CAN); 1:45. 16; 5. Wallace Miranda (BRA) 1:46. 12

Pictures free of charge for editorial use: Balazs Gardi, Douglas Engle and Stefan Stau for Global-Newsroom.