There isn’t too many event’s that happen in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but when there’s one worth talking about there is no doubt that I’ll be there. 

And guess what, I’ll be at Copper Peak in Ironwood and not only sitting there recording and interviewing the Red Bull fans and athletes… but… I’ll also be competing in the media heat. 

No big deal. Just me out of shape trying to run up a hill with a bunch of people who are in shape. How will this go? I haven’t done anything athletic in the past three years.

On May 11th, 2019 take a stop in Ironwood and enjoy the Red Bull 400.

If you’re attending the event – be sure to say hi!

Here are the highlights from last years event:

That’s enough about me…

Let’s find out who the Red Bull athletes who’ll be at this years event:

Sarah Hendrickson  – Olympic Gold MeSky Jumper

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From Sarah’s Wiki page:

In the first ever women’s World Cup season in 2011/12, Hendrickson dominated by winning nine competitions; her first being on December 3, 2011 in Lillehammer.

The 2012/13 season saw her win four World Cup competitions while finishing runner-up to nearest rival Sara Takanashi. Hendrickson was also able to win the women’s event at the 2013 Ski Jumping World Championships in Val di Fiemme.

On August 21, 2013 in Oberstdorf, Hendrickson suffered a serious knee injury which required reconstructive surgery for a damaged ligament. She was one of five top female jumpers who, within a few months, had a bad fall and was forced to take a long recovery period. Hendrickson’s injury would drain the chances of the United States women’s team for a good result at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, but it was announced on January 22, 2014 that Hendrickson would still be able to make the team in time for the Games. She was granted the historic honor of being the first female to ever jump in a ski jumping event at the Olympics, with women having been allowed to participate in Olympic ski jumping for the first time in history.

Hendrickson re-injured her surgically repaired knee during off-season training in June 2015, ruling her out of the 2015/16 season.

In 2017, in an event sponsored by Red Bull, Hendrickson jumped off the historic Nansen Ski Jump in Berlin, New Hampshire. This event marked the first time the jump had been used in 32 years.

In December 2017, Hendrickson won the women’s ski jumping competition at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Nordic Combined & Ski Jumping, securing her place on the U.S. Olympic team for Pyeongchang.

Gunnar Sterne – Snowmobile Racer

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According to his bio on RedBull.com:

Gunnar Sterne got into snowmobile racing when he was just eight years old, riding a small Ski-Soo Mini Z in drag races and at snowmobile shows near his hometown of Chicago. He was soon hooked on the sport and graduated to riding kitty cats and kitty mods, a type of smaller machine which helped him develop his snowmobile racing skills.

Success at amateur level soon followed, with victories at events throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. A Driver Of The Year award came in 2008, followed by a Semi-Pro Driver Of The Year award and High Points title in 2010, which was the catalyst for Sterne turning pro towards the end of that year.

Since then Sterne has amassed an impressive list of achievements, culminating in him becoming TLR Cup champion in 2017 after dominating every oval-track race of the season. That victory also helped his Stern Racing team to win Team Of The Year.

Now Sterne is looking to building a snowmobile racing dynasty with more titles for his family-run team.

Nico Deportago – Cabrera, Fixed Gear Bike

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According to Nico’s Red Bull page:

Cycling came into Nico Deportago-Cabrera’s life rather ironically. After losing his driver’s license, Nico turned to a bicycle to get from home to work and it slowly went from utility to obsession. Five years later, Nico’s musical endeavors began to decrease and he found himself full of potential energy. The only other thing he understood how to do well was ride – and thus began Nico’s life as a Chicago bike messenger.

As Nico got better at the job of couriering, his competitive nature guided him into alleycat racing. Nico’s passion for cycling and competition goes beyond mere sport – his life is spent in the saddle, pedaling to work, play and the podium.

Jeff Provenzano – Red Bull Air Force – Skydiving

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From Jeffrey’s Red Bull page:

Jeff Provenzano is one of the pioneers of the high-speed, high-stakes skydiving discipline of swooping. “It’s like driving a Ferrari as a parachute,” he says. Not only was Jeff the 2007 Overall Champion of the Professional Swooping Tour but, for four years running, he took the crown at the U.S. Pond Swoop Nationals.

His countless other honours include winning the Vertical Relative Work World Cup Championship, and contributing to five world records. But what ‘Jeffro’ is best known for is his talent for inventing never-before-seen aerobatics, such as ‘The Miracle Man’ that’s been equated to pioneering the backflip in freestyle motocross. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Born in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1976 and raised just outside New York City, Jeff was studying at the Big Apple’s School of Visual Arts.

He remembers: “I went to a drop zone with friends and made a tandem jump, then decided I wanted to do it again… and again.” Over 17,000 jumps later, the artist who had formerly been obsessed with snowboarding and skateboarding still can’t get enough of skydiving. Jeff stays super busy with Red Bull Air Force demos in cities from coast to coast. Jeff also teaches skydiving techniques to elite military units, is aiming toward a helicopter pilot’s license and has his SAG and AFTRA cards – the entrée to work in film and TV.

He’s performed in major motion pictures such as Godzilla and Iron Man 3 and you can watch him in action in the Red Bull TV series Miles Above.

Miles Daisher – Red Bull Air Force

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According to his Red Bull page:

“It’s a magical thing when you fall out of the air,” says Miles Daisher. He loves canopy work so much that he’s completed well over 4,500 BASE jumps, in addition to his 3,100 skydives. In 2005, he set a BASE jumping record by launching 57-times in a single day, climbing a total of nearly 29,000 vertical feet in total.

A United States Air Force brat, Miles grew up on military bases, which explains his UK wrestling championship and pole vault titles.

He made his first solo skydive at 25 and inaugural BASE jump two years later. Today, he teaches skydivers to BASE jump, and he and his wife Nikki also organised the annual Perrine Bridge Festival to raise money for kids with special needs.

Miles is always stoked to advocate new sports, such as ‘skyaking’ (aerobatic skydiving while seated in a kayak, for a high-performance landing on water) and ‘rope-swing BASE jumping’ (launching a freewheeling BASE jump by swinging off a building or bridge).

He’s also got his talents immortalised on camera by starring in several high budget movies such as Iron Man 3 and Human Flight 3D. “Instead of actors that do their own stunts, we’re stunt men that do our own acting,” he laughs. Talking about Human Flight 3D, he continues: “We captured the most amazing footage. People are going to feel like they’re right in the harness with us!”

In 2017 he was back in the record books, increasing the world record for most unassisted BASE jumps in 24-hours to 63. Throughout the 24-hour period, Miles climbed more than 30,500 vertical feet – about 1,500 feet higher than Mount Everest.

Who else to look for?

Charles ‘Traps’ Robinson – Personal Trainer / Ninja Warrior 

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Charles “Traps” Robinson

Gideon Akande – Fitness Trainer

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Miles Fink-Debray- Past Winner @ Park City – Trying to win BOTH US Races:

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 MOST IMPORTANT: TrevStone 

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Trevor is more than likely to place first during the Red Bull 400 media heat as he is the best looking and also the person who is typing this. 

I’ll see you at Red Bull 400!

 

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