One of the most spectacular ice cross downhill race tracks ever built will take centre stage at Red Bull Crashed Ice this weekend in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The world's fastest ice cross downhill skaters will be hitting speeds of up to 65 kilometres per hour down the linear 430-metre-long obstacle-filled race track at Stormont with its 40-metre vertical drop.
The third Red Bull Crashed Ice event of the Ice Cross Downhill World Championship starts in front of the stately Stormont parliament buildings and passes right next to the 12-foot-high statue of Lord Carson. Along the way down the hill there are five tough turns and two big bridges – the Parliament Bridge and Carson Bridge. One of the best features of the Belfast track is the scintillating U-turn Wallride right before the athletes – comprising more than 100 national and international skaters – make a mad dash to the finish line.
Crews of workers spent 34 days setting up the 10-centimetre-thick ice track and it took them five days of round-the-clock work to create the massive 337,000 cubic litres of ice that is being kept frozen with 22,500 metres of cooling pipes. Along with some 40,000 spectators expected over the two days, there are also some 1,600 light fittings lining the track, which the ice cross downhill riders have been looking forward to all season after first seeing pictures of the Belfast location. "It looks like one of the best designs for a track ever," said Scott Croxall, of Canada, in red-hot form after winning the last Red Bull Crashed Ice race in Helsinki two weeks ago and the Riders Cup stop in Jyväskylä, Finland, last week.
Scott's brother, Kyle Croxall, leads the championship standings after five of the eight races this year and will be trying to hold onto his lead ahead of a pack of hard-charging athletes, from 14 different nations.
Hit redbullcrashedice.com/results to get the latest results live from Belfast, and for more on this weekend's race, including the schedule, tickets and how you can watch it live, visit redbullcrashedice.com/belfast
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