Adrenaline junkies welcome

The Crashed Ice experience

The event is an insane combination of hockey, downhill skiing and boardercross, and it calls on all adrenaline junkies to go for a ride.

For those of you who haven’t heard about the Red Bull Crashed Ice event, you will soon, as it grows every year. This year, the event took place on Jan. 24.

“The whole experience was awesome,” said Derrick Gagnon about his four-day extravaganza in Quebec City. “I felt like a celebrity.”

Gagnon’s strong hockey history helped him out-skate 145 competitors, allowing him to be one of the five athletes who represented Winnipeg at the event. The new Cindy Klassen Recreation Centre (the former Sargent Park Complex) held the try-outs where participants went through a short, up and down time trial against one another.

All five of the guys got full accommodations, including flights to Quebec City, hotel, food, and all the Red Bull one could want.

There were special tents for the athletes filled with everything they might need, from massages to exercise bikes, Internet and even a Nintendo Wii. There were also nightly dinners where competitors had a chance to meet people from around the world.

As a spectator the cost is free, but the atmosphere is priceless. The festival night-life goes 24-hours a day for the entire event and the fans are just as crazy as the competitors.

You’re at the top of the hill and it’s intimidating.

Derrick Gagnon, Red Bull Crashed Ice competitor

Originating in Europe, the race brings some of the best fans and athletes from around the world. Countries like Finland actually put money into training athletes for the program. Not surprisingly, a Finnish competitor won the men’s division.

The course takes some practice, as it is one of a kind.

“You’re at the top of the hill and it’s intimidating,” Gagnon explained. “Not only the track but all the TV cameras, lights and the 100,000 people watching around you.”

It’s a unique race, with four competitors starting on top of an ice hill that is 56 metres higher than the finish line 550 metres away. Competitors skate as fast as they can through vertical drops, bumps, jumps and sharp turns, while attempting to maintain balance in full hockey gear.

Some participants have been clocked at over 40 km/hour. Of course going down a curvy ice hill on skates is not the safest idea, but let it be clear that there is no contact. None. No exceptions.

Competitors know that all non-accidental contact will lead to an instant disqualification. Most of those crazy collisions seen on the tube are intentional.

For the first time this year, there was a women’s division, again proving that this event is progressing. The X-Games quickly became a mainstream attraction and Crashed Ice may be next.

Crashed Ice is attracting new fans and competitors every year, and there is always room for adrenaline junkies with no fear – like Derrick Gagnon.

Published in Volume 63, Number 20 of The Uniter (February 12, 2009)

Related Reads