Training for Crashed Ice

It’s almost that time of year when thrill seekers lace up their skates for the Redbull Crashed Ice Competition. Last year’s event in Niagara Falls was a hit. And this year the fastest sport on skates will be taking place in four different locations around the world, including Quebec City.

While most of us avoid exercising outside in this extremely cold weather, Josh Purdon was out on the Chedoke stairs Wednesday afternoon.

It’s almost that time of year when thrill seekers lace up their skates for the Redbull Crashed Ice Competition. Last year’s event in Niagara Falls was a hit. And this year the fastest sport on skates will be taking place in four different locations around the world, including Quebec City.

While most of us avoid exercising outside in this extremely cold weather, Josh Purdon was out on the Chedoke stairs Wednesday afternoon.

Doing some cardio as part of his training to qualify for the Redbull Crashed Ice competitions in Minnesota and Quebec City. This will be the Hamilton native’s fourth season participating in the downhill skating event which sees athletes hurdle down a half-kilometre track in full hockey gear. To participate in all of the races on the Redbull circuit, you have be ranked 64 internationally. Purdon is currently ranked 100. He says if he can get some decent scores in the U.S. in February and Quebec City in March then he’ll be able to go on the full tour. We asked him what he found most surprising about the sport when he first tried out: “The ice is sometimes a bit rough. It’s not like skating on an ice rink where it is a perfect sheet of ice. So that would have been the big surprise. And obviously the downhill component. Most guys their first time on the track they look like Bambi. Their legs are going in every direction.”

Purdon is very comfortable going downhill at high speeds. There is a video taken the day the Queen Street hill in Hamilton reopened to traffic. He strapped on a Go-Pro camera and inline skated down the hill just as it was reopening to traffic. Although he says the hill wasn’t as fast as he expected it to be.

Purdon says he played hockey as a kid. But it also helped having downhill experience like snowboarding. He says it’s a lot more like skiing than skating once you get out onto the track.