Colleen Jones, Centretown News
“We are told that we are going to energize this city and give it wings,” says Guy Laflamme, as he and Mayor Watson cheers to the event announcement.The Red Bull Crashed Ice Competition will be making its first appearance in the nation’s capital next year.
Ottawa 2017 and Mayor Jim Watson, in collaboration with lead partner CIBC, announced today that the event – in which skaters race down a massive ice track filled with huge drops, sharp turns and jumps – will take place next to the Fairmont Château Laurier near the Ottawa locks, Rideau Canal and the UNESCO World Heritage Site in March 2017.
“We are very thrilled that Red Bull has joined our sesquicentennial celebration right here in the nation’s capital and together we will deliver this amazing spectator sport free of charge for spectators,” says Watson.
Red Bull Crashed Ice has been hosted for the past 16 years in locations across the globe.
“Canadians are passionate about winter sports and Red Bull Crashed Ice is a show-stopping celebration of our shared winter culture,” says Guy Laflamme, executive director of the Ottawa 2017 bureau.
“This prestigious international sporting event will showcase the capital to tens of millions of people in Canada and around the world.”
World-championship athletes from around the world will gather in Ottawa for the 2017 event, and the winners for the men and women’s Ice Cross Downhill World Championship will be crowned.
“It’s the fastest sport on skates to have ever existed,” says Christian Papillon, Red Bull Crashed Ice sports director and a former athlete in the competition.
“We can’t wait to showcase the action to people in Ottawa.”
The March dates for the Ice Cross Downhill World Championship will be announced when Red Bull releases the 2016-2017 race schedules later this fall.