Think You Have What It Takes? Red Bull Crashed Ice Wants You!

-- From January 7-26, 2012, thrill-seeking Canadians can register online for the chance to compete against the world's top ice cross downhill athletes at Red Bull Crashed Ice in Quebec City --

QUEBEC CITY, Jan. 6, 2012 /CNW/ - Think you're fast enough? Think you're fierce enough? Then Red Bull Crashed Ice is just your speed! With its breath-taking action and amazing thrills in its epic seventh year, Red Bull Crashed Ice continues the quest to find Canada's most brazen athletes and adventure-seekers to take on the world class urban ice track in Quebec City. From January 7th until January 26th @ 11:59pm EST, fearless male and female athletes from across the country are invited to register online at www.redbull.ca/crashedice for the chance to participate in one of the 13 qualifying events taking place across Canada.

A lottery will randomly select 200 men and 20 women (per qualifying city) to participate in each qualifying event, which consists of individual speed trials on a traditional ice-hockey surface. The top participants from each qualifier who demonstrate the best speed, skill, agility, and strength will earn a spot to battle to the bottom of the monolithic course in Quebec City. Red Bull Crashed Ice will also allow 50 walk-up spots per qualifying city (as time permits and registration allows). The 50 walk-ups (first come, first serve) will join the 200 men and 20 women selected via the lottery eligible to take part in the qualifiers as they all vie to skate into Quebec City in 2012.

Qualifier Schedule

Thirteen qualifying events are set to take place across Canada, and details about exact locations can be found on www.redbull.ca/crashedice. At the qualifiers, athletes will face two identical obstacle courses where skaters will tackle the course two at a time. The top overall scores will identify the best of the best who will advance to the final competition in Quebec City on March 15-17, 2012.

February 2: Toronto, ON
February 3: Kelowna, BC
February 4: Winnipeg, MB
February 5: Montreal, QC
February 7: Ottawa, ON
February 9: London, ON
February 10: Edmonton, AB
February 10: Vancouver, BC
February 10: Windsor, ON
February 11: Halifax, NS
February 18: Saskatoon, SK
February 19: Calgary, AB
February 19: Quebec City, QC

Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship

A combination of hockey, boardercross, and downhill skiing, Red Bull Crashed Ice is the ultimate clash of the titans on ice, as intrepid racers hurtle down an extensive ice track coiling through the heart of Quebec City's stunning landscape.  Ice cross downhill challenges its racers to navigate through vertical drops, jumps, and hairpin turns in an epic battle to the finish.

There are four international stops for the 2012 Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship: Saint Paul, MN (USA), Valkenburg (NED), Aare (SWE), and Quebec City, QC (CAN). Each stop features an Elimination Round for national and international athletes. In Quebec City, the National Shoot-Out for Canadian athletes takes place on March 15, and the International Shoot-Out for international athletes only, takes place on March 16. The fastest 64 Canadian and 64 international athletes from each Shoot-Out will then advance to Friday night's Elimination Round.  These ice mavericks will then be seeded into brackets of four, as the two skaters with the highest speeds advance to the Finals on Saturday, March 17. Saturday night is when the alchemy of fire on ice takes stage, as the bracket format narrows the field down to a final four in the men's and women's divisions. The World Championship final rankings will be determined based on points accumulated over the series' four stops.

First Stop: Saint Paul, MN

On a man-made ice track created for head-to-head battle, the definitive ice cross downhill world championship takes over the winter wonderland south of the border in Saint Paul, MN on January 12-14, 2012. The 100 toughest, fastest racers from around the world will go head-to-head, four-at-a-time through an unforgiving and gritty downhill course full of mind-and-body-bending twists, turns, canals, and chutes - all against the backdrop of the strikingly iconic Cathedral of Saint Paul as thousands of spectators bear witness.

Battling for the glory and representing Canada in Saint Paul, are fierce contenders and Red Bull Crashed Ice veterans, Kyle Croxall from Mississauga, ON, 3^rd place finisher in 2011 in Quebec City and 2^nd place in the 2011 standings; Scott Croxall from Mississauga, ON, 6^th place finisher in 2011 in Quebec City and 3^rd place in overall standings; and Louis-Philippe Dumoulin from Blainville, QC, 2^nd place in 2011 in Quebec City and 4^th in overall standings.

2012 Race Calendar
January 14: St. Paul, MN (USA)
February 4: Valkenburg (NED)
February 18: Aare (SWE)
March 17: Quebec City, QC (CAN)

Crashing the Airwaves

The 2012 Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship will crash onto airwaves throughout the season as Rogers Sportsnet and TVA Sports broadcast all four stops of the series. Witness all the action live from Saint Paul, MN on January 14 at 8:30pm EST on Rogers Sportsnet from the comfort of your own living room, as skaters brave the extreme ice tracks at speeds of more than 60km/hr. The TVA Network will broadcast the final race of the 2012 season live from Quebec City.

A Decade of Breath-Taking Action

In 2000, a new sport was born - "a sport of the century," as a renowned English newspaper described the breath-taking competition. Athletes from around the world flocked to the Swedish capital of Stockholm for the inaugural race, wearing hockey skates in a man vs. man battle down a 300-metre ice track filled with gap jumps, ice steps and razor-sharp hairpin turns. The first race in Stockholm was a pilot project both from a sporting and technical perspective because the construction work involved was so extensive there was no chance to test the course in advance.

Since then, there have been 20 races in 11 cities, 10 countries, and 6 competitions in Quebec City since 2006. Hundreds of thousands of spectators have watched the racers speed down the constantly evolving tracks on ski slopes in the mountains and through urban valleys in city centres. While in the past the races were staged as individual events, Red Bull Crashed Ice has been a formal world championship since 2010.

Red Bull Crashed Ice Game: Test your control power, speed, stamina, and acceleration at the touch of a button at www.redbull.ca/crashedicegame.

2011 Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship Standings: 1. Arttu Pihlainen (FIN/3800 points); 2. Kyle Croxall (CAN/3200 points); 3. Scott Croxall (CAN/2030); 4. Louis-Philippe Dumoulin, (CAN/1610); 5. Kilian Braun (SUI/1600).

Red Bull Content: Free for Editorial Use

The Red Bull Crashed Ice Newsroom is a free-of-charge media service providing news stories, high-resolution photographs, clips for TV, web and radio as well as race results and background information about the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship. For more news and content including media accreditation, please visit the newsroom at www.redbullcrashedicenewsroom.com. Media accreditation closes one week prior to the Quebec City race. All media must register by then.

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For more information about the World Championship, visit: www.redbull.ca/crashedice

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