Rochester man wins gold at Crashed Ice event in St. Paul
(THE MED CITY BEAT) - A Rochester man was part of a four-man team that won first place this weekend at a big-time event for the sport of ice cross downhill.
Prestige Worldwide, a team made up of John Marshall High School graduate Reed Whiting and three others, pulled off the upset at a Red Bull Crashed Ice event Friday night in St. Paul.
Whiting also placed 10th in the individual finals Saturday night.
An estimated 140,000 spectators attended the downhill-skating event, according to KSTP-TV. The sport is similar to ski cross, except athletes use skates on an icy surface.
Whiting explained the sport's appeal in an interview last year with WCCO-TV:
“It’s moments that these sports make me feel alive. They make me kind of live in the moment. With all we have going on day to day, sometimes it’s hard to just really embrace life. And when I’m doing these adrenaline junkie-type sports, it just puts me in a place that I can’t get anywhere else.”
This was the 4th year the competition was held in St. Paul. CNN recently included the event on its list of “19 events worth traveling for” in 2015.
Red Bull's next events are in Finland and Northern Ireland.
(Cover photo: Red Bull Crashed Ice)
