Red Bull Crashed Ice - A Must See Event

Picture this: It’s the end of February in Minnesota. Spring is just around the corner. 4:00PM gates open, vendors are all set up to sell their goods, aromas surround the air of freshly popped popcorn, beer, hotdogs, and hot chocolate. An ice race track towers around Saint Paul’s Cathedral. One by one thousands of viewers come to surround the area. As the sun sets, the nights cool breeze and chill comes to settle in. 7:30PM it’s LIGHTS, CAMERA’S, ACTION, GO! A buzzer sounds off the start of the event, skaters furiously glide amongst obstacles, twists and turns reaching speeds of 70kph. The crowd effortlessly goes WILD!!!

Welcome to Red Bull Crashed Ice….

For those who don’t know. Crashed Ice, also known as ( Red Bull Crashed Ice ) and the fastest sport on skates, is a world tour winter extreme sporting event. Free and open to the public, it involves intense down hill skating on a track that includes high vertical drops and steep turns. Skaters descend a steep ice canal filled with bumps, jumps, rollers and obstacles. With only the top two riders going through to the next round, competition is fierce. The event is held in a classic knockout format, and the field of 64 riders starting the main event is whittled down to just four athletes competing in the final.

For the past 5 years Saint Paul, MN has hosted the competition. Bringing in crowds of more than 100,000 people to witness the high speed action. This year Saint Paul was fortunate enough to host the World Championship!

This was also my first time ever attending the event. Let’s just say I’m already planning to go again next year!

We arrived at the Double Tree Hilton hotel. A great accommodation located in the heart of Saint Paul. A 3 minute drive from Highways 35 East and 94, this downtown hotel is 2 blocks from METRO light rail offering access all across the city. The Double Tree also has a shuttle to bring you too and from your destination. The shuttle works wonderful for those who would like to enjoy a cocktail or two before and there is no worry in trying to find parking for the event. It drops you off right at the gate entrance and picks you up when need be.

With tens of thousands of spectators, Minnesota local Cameron Naasz won the title by just inches in the final race. With that Naasz became the first American to win the World Championship.

To end the night and keep the celebrations going, we headed on over to the Red Bull Crashed Ice Official After Party at Crashed Ice Village. This year the village was set up on West 7th Street between Walnut Street and Kellogg Blvd.

This year’s village included tent parties at Cossetta’s, Burger Moe’s and McGovern’s.

The street party ran from 2:00 -10:30pm with the tents opened until midnight.