Winter Cold Moon
As I said in the post below this one:
NYT, 1/26/2013
“ST. PAUL — A company at the top of the marketing game, Red Bull insists that ice cross downhill, like the other extreme sports the company has created, is not about selling beverages but rather an obligation to improve the lives of adrenaline junkies worldwide. The participants at the Crashed Ice qualifier at Xcel Energy Center here this week seemed convinced.
(Red-Bull-Crashed-Ice-2012—Kyle-Croxall-wins. Home Ice.)
Ice cross racers sprint down a steep course studded with moguls. Gravity can help, or hurt.
In ice cross downhill, four skaters at a time race in full hockey gear down a steep, twisting course at speeds reaching 45 miles an hour.
Red Bull officials could have hollered, “This is an expensive marketing ploy to sell more energy drinks,” and the overwhelming response from skaters would have been, “Is it my turn yet?”
Ice cross downhill combines elements of downhill skiing and motocross, and it is performed by four skaters at a time who race in full hockey gear down a steep, twisting, mogul-studded course at speeds reaching 45 miles an hour. Red Bull’s Crashed Ice World Championship consists of five ice cross downhill tournaments, only one of which takes place in the United States. It started here on Thursday and will end on Saturday.”
read the whole story here
