Crashed Ice is calling all (Canadian) hockey players
This post is for Fabulous Forum fans who live in Canada.
Pamplona has its running of the bulls.
Filene's Basement has its running of the brides.
And, come Jan. 24, 2009, Quebec again will have what we'll call the skating of the hockey players.
If you're the kind of guy or gal who gets a kick out of using your body to deflect pucks traveling at more than 100 miles per hours, chances are good that Red Bull's Crashed Ice is right up your alley. Or, more accurately, right down the 1,500-foot course that resembles a toboggan chute that zigs and zags through the heart of historic Quebec, dropping nearly 200 vertical feet in the process.
Red Bull, which created the contest a decade ago, limits entry to Canadian citizens. The company will hold qualifying rounds in various Canadian cities to cull the top 100 men. The lucky ones will head to Quebec.
Midnight (EST) on Monday is the entry deadline for the lottery that will determine which lucky Canadians will get the chance to speedskate their way down the course that has hairpin turns, moguls, jumps and ledges built into the chute's ice-covered floor. While the four skaters in each heat try to knock each other down. And a boisterous crowd cheers the action.
Here's how Red Bull describes the planned run:
We've sent the country's top scientists and Zamboni revolutionists to the toughest region of Siberia, where they are currently training on a remote compound. As a result they will return tougher, wiser and with a master blueprint on what is sure to be the most entertaining stretch of ice ever touched by a hockey blade.
Sounds not bad, eh? Well stay tuned ... this is a course with a beginning, middle and end you don't want to miss.
If you haven't seen Crashed Ice, here's a link to some Red Bull video. (Click on 'video' and then take your pick.) YouTube and Yahoo also have plenty of footage from past Crashed Ice contests.
-- Greg Johnson
Photo: Skaters approach the finish line during the 2008 Red Bull Crashed Ice contest. Credit: Didier Debusschere/Red Bull Photofiles
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