On May 21, a Salt Lake City-based team of three students set out for Copenhagen, Denmark for the adventure of a lifetime. The team, officially known as the Connoisseurs, was tasked with traveling over 250 miles to Berlin, Germany using only one item as currency — Red Bull cans.
During an average school day in March, electrical engineering student Zuni Olivares was sitting in the Marriott Library when he was approached by a Red Bull student marketeer offering him a free Red Bull.
“Before I took it, she offered to tell me about the competition,” he said. “I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, like you get to go traveling around Europe for free? Sign me up.”
The Red Bull Can You Make It? Challenge draws teams from all over the world, who then compete to cross Europe in seven days using only Red Bull as their currency. There is no access to phones or credit cards — everything relies on the help of strangers.
“We were just armed with people’s kindness,” Olivares said. “That’s all we had to get from one point to another.”
Upon hearing of the competition, Olivares immediately thought to recruit friends Ryan Heagney and Kyle Pickering. The trio considered themselves to be Red Bull connoisseurs, and thus the team was born. The group sprung at the chance to apply, and soon they received news that their team was accepted. Now a different task was at hand — getting partway across the European continent with only Red Bull to their name.
“We strategized a lot of it, or as much as we could,” Olivares, who was named team captain, said. “We had plans for different routes out of Copenhagen, we had plans for the pitch we were going to use, and plans for how we were going to get to Berlin.”
However, after starting the race, those plans were quickly turned upside down.
“About eight minutes into the competition, we talked to a guy from Italy,” he recounted. “After explaining the competition to him, he thought it was great, and told us he was going to buy us tickets to Milan. So we thought, ‘Are we just going to abandon our plan and go to Italy?’ and that’s what we did.”
For some, approaching strangers on the street and asking for their help may feel intimidating and vulnerable, but for the Connoisseurs, they found it to be easier than expected.
“For me, it wasn’t so scary because I have experience doing door-to-door sales, and this wasn’t all that different,” Olivares said. “People in Europe were really receptive to us. It wasn’t hard to find food, or even to get people to take us places. When we approached them, they were more intrigued by just helping us out than getting anything in return. People loved the adventurous nature of it all.”
After ending up in Italy, the Connoisseurs were able to enjoy the city for a short while before they had to move on. The race requires that teams reach various checkpoints throughout the week, so the group hit the road. The rest of the week saw the Connoisseurs move through Switzerland, but not without finding time to go cliff diving in the Alps and joining some newfound friends on a private boat ride.
“We were always grateful to meet all these people and hear what their experience has been. Everyone is different, and everyone has these crazy, one-of-a-kind stories,” Olivares said. “There’s a lot of lifelong connections you get from it.”
After a whirlwind of a week, the team crossed the finish line in Berlin on May 28, marking the end of their journey. Though the Connoisseurs didn’t win, the team came away from the race with countless stories and a renewed sense of adventure, which the team was thrilled to experience.
“I can’t emphasize how grateful I am for it,” Olivares said. “When you’re at the mercy of people’s kindness, it’s a great way to get to know the world and I wouldn’t have done it any other way.”
