Adventure Magazine

Maier was part of Team Avaya's world championship adventure racing victory
in Paraguay last year
"She's laser-focused when it comes to her training,
but underneath that is a vibrant, fun-loving
person whose nickname - Bounce, or Bouncy - is
indicative of her contagious energy. She is known
to be partial to dance parties, dressing in bright
colours, and for the ridge of several ponytails that
run down the centre of her head like the tiny scales
of a dinosaur mohawk."
You wouldn't know Maier was a world champion adventure racer from the
humble wooden cabin she shares with her partner Marcel Hagener at the
edge of Lake Wanaka.
It's a private, secluded spot where Hagener, now retired from adventure
racing, continually renovates the cabins nearby while Maier plans her next
race - often out of financial necessity. Living in New Zealand has its perks,
such as the pristine nature and the lack of proximity to anything resembling
war, but the adventure racing and multisport market is tiny, and despite her
constant success, it's not the easiest way to make a living.
She is currently excited because China has opened up again, and it's
proved to be a lucrative multisport market for her in the past, though not
without its quirks; in one of her races, she had to catch fish with her hands,
while in another, she had to string dried chillies together.
She's laser-focused when it comes to her training, but underneath that
is a vibrant, fun-loving person whose nickname - Bounce, or Bouncy - is
indicative of her contagious energy. She is known to be partial to dance
parties, dressing in bright colours, and for the ridge of several ponytails
that run down the centre of her head like the tiny scales of a dinosaur
mohawk. She speeds around Wanaka on her electric unicycle, often
alongside Hagener on his own such unicycle, decked in fluorescent lights
and with opera music blaring from its speaker.
Her disposition, in other words, gives no indication whatsoever of what
she's been through to get to where she is today.
Growing up in a small town near Black Forest, Germany, she was sexually
abused by a neighbour when she was 4, attempted suicide in her teens,
and then developed eating disorders. Today Maier is fit and muscular, and
looks like she could bench-press an entire football team and then run a
marathon. But when she was 18, she was skeletal, weighing only 35kg.
Right: Maier has won GODZone once, an event that spans multiple days and
requires athletes to move constantly - including while brushing your teeth
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