Adrenaline junkies hurled themselves down a harrowing 1,700-ft. track at the Red Bull Crashed Ice event, in Quebec City. By Don Douloff, March/April 2009
Multi-coloured lights illuminate the lengthy Crashed Ice track and the stately surrounding buildings in the heart of Quebec City.
There are adrenaline junkies, and then there are the truly courageous thrill seekers who donned skates and full hockey equipment and hurled themselves down a treacherous, 1,700-ft. track at the Red Bull Crashed Ice event, held on Jan. 24, 2009, in Quebec City.
Hairpin turns, big-air jumps, banked turns and stomach-dropping verticals — what’s not to love? A combination of hockey, boardercross snowboard competition and downhill skiing, Red Bull Crashed Ice premiered in 2000 in Stockholm, Sweden. Since then, editions of this extreme sporting event have taken place in Europe and North America.
Planning duties for the Quebec City race fell to Patrice Drouin, president of Beaupré, Que.-based Gestev Event Management. Over many months, the event entailed complex construction, as hundreds of people worked in excess of 55,000 hours to ready the track. Twenty-five generators powered four 100-ton (and two 60-ton) refrigeration systems that pumped 10,000 litres of glycol coolant, mixed with water, through the track system, then through a special cooling ‘sheet’ that covered the track. After that, 119,000 lbs. of crushed ice were dispensed onto the cooling sheet at a thickness of 4 inches and sprayed with water, creating the base layer of ice. To create the finished ice track, 15 people sprayed water onto the base layer for 14 days — sometimes for 24 hours straight. More than a dozen tunnels were built under the course, so spectators could reach both sides of the track. Frigid temperatures, coupled with sophisticated refrigeration, ensured Crashed Ice didn’t become Crashed Slush.
Showcasing the city’s stunning architecture was eye-popping coloured lighting, which illuminated the Château Frontenac as well as the surrounding buildings at the starting and finishing zones and such flourishes as the trees in Montmorency Park and a fresco on Notre-Dame St.
On Jan 23, the day before the event, qualifying time trials narrowed the field of 100 men and 20 women down to 64 men and 16 women. On Jan. 24, heats of four raced down the course. Top two finishers from that round moved on to the next round, until the field was whittled down to four. Top recorded speed was a mind-blowing 44.5 km/hr.
A grand prize of $5,000 each was awarded to the winner in both the men’s and women’s categories. Second-, third- and fourth-place finishers in both divisions received $3,000, $1,500 and $500, respectively. Ninety-thousand hardy spectators cheered them on in minus-34 temperatures.
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