The sport itself pushes the limits of X Games with four men hurling themselves down a maniacal slope to cross a finish line. A winner does not even need to be standing, it is a matter of the first skate over the line. And that was contested several times while we were there.
St Paul is one of four cities on the World Grand Prix - the others being Helsinki, Quebec and Moscow. It is truly a world event with an international slate of competitors and a viewing audience of near 100,000. The course itself is a spectacular work of architecture that is built over two weeks from the top of the Cathedral grounds down to the bottom of Kellogg. The entire course is illuminated as a glowing sheet of ice, incredible jumps and hairpin turns and the giant Cathedral drenched in color. No one seemed to care that it was minus zero as we watched. We took a shuttle over to avoid parking fiascoes learned from years past. It is also amazing how near you are able to view the course from all angles in spite of make-shift scaffolding; it must be an insurance nightmare.
But exciting - definitely. For those that live out state, it is broadcast delayed broadcast on Fox Sports1.
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