Exotic locations, incredible courses, and, of course, the most insane tricks, the Crankworx Triple Crown of Slopestyle is a can't miss series of contests. Relive the jaw-dropping highlights and white-knuckle drama from all three stops in 2015.
Since Red Bull posted this article and presumably reads the comments, I'd like to ask them to donate to Paul Bas' recovery fund. I know it would make myself and many others on here see them in a more positive light
Doesn't look like they want to help, they put the link in a article on their website and expect the mtb community to raise everything for him...the only thing I saw red bull do for people who didn't get a spot on the podium was give them a red bull soda at the finish. Lol
You have a very wrong expectation of an event's title sponsor. If you want to be pissed, be pissed off at that rider's sponsors for not covering all the expenses and to the US healthcare system for being so screwed up that Paul and many fellow Americans have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for even the most basic treatment. Never in any event for any sport is event's title sponsor responsible for insurance/medical costs of all the competitors. Now stop with the misdirected hate towards a company that is responsible for the Rampage and many other events and riders' careers existing in the first place.
If you don't like Redbull, then don't support the company or the events they host. Simple as that.
gotta agree with scott on this. red bull probably paid well over six figures for the insurance to just hold the event. not to mention all the staff they paid, the helicopter filming and the live internet broadcast. you all watched the event FOR FREE (which cost redbull a lot of money) then demand they give an athlete a handout?
if event coordinators started helping people out, where does it stop? does your local mtb race pay for your bills if you get hurt? at what point is an event coordinator "big enough" to be held responsible? did anyone ask the race coordinators to give money to that enduro racer that died?
if youre all so bent about a redbull event, then dont watch next year. you all only bitch about judging anyways.
@iyophilization If my company made millions every year I would have no problem paying 100k or more to a man who might never walk again. And red bull wouldn't host rampage if they lost money on the event, they pay staff, for the helis, etc. but they pay for it because the end result is a big fat pay day for red bull. It's just ethically right for red bull to support Paul. You probably never broke a bone in your body so it's easy to criticize people who's life might never be the same.
@pigit77 You have a skewed view of our opinions. It would be ethical for Red Bull to support an injured rider on their team (for the most part, they do aside from a few exceptions), not for someone participating in an event they and NBC (everyone seems to forget about that cable giant) put on. Again, be pissed at his personal sponsors because they're the ones who dictate how much a rider is paid, their travel expenses and if they're covered or not. All Red Bull does is provide a venue and anyone who doesn't have insurance cannot participate... which they're not obligated to do either.
This is no different than the FWT events except at the Rampage, thankfully no one has died and the lines they choose they have a ton more control over.
Regardless, this is a silly place to have this convo. This is about the Crankworx's stops which were sick this year.
as bad as it could be, this is not the first case in redbull, all riders should aware what coverage they are getting precisely and know their terms and clauses as good as their riding. Paul Bas co. & his sponsors should have know this.
@pigit77 first off. no need to get personal. you dont know me and i dont know you. my medical history has nothing to do with this argument. these are just opinions being talked about. we might be bickering on an internet forum, but its pinkbike. keep it classy.
more importantly. you need to think long term about the effects of what youre asking. even big companies cant just start handing out 100k to everyone hurt in their events. with every redbull event worldwide and in all sports, theyve got thousands of athletes competing, and probably a lot of injuries every year. if they paid out every time someone was injured, events like rampage (and crankworks) would get a lot less fun really quickly. over regulating, coddling of athletes and neutered elements would become the norm. we get INSANE comps like rampage precisely because redbull isnt held accountable.
i will say, if paul makes it public that he feels he was pressured to do something he wasnt comfortable with, then i will eat my hat and pick up my pitchfork. but as of now, he hasnt. he knew the risks going in and signed on the dotted line. his choice.
would it be really awesome if redbull helped him out? YES 100%. but should they be held accountable? NO 100%.
Yeah, you really need to think about the ramifications here. Sure it seems easy enough for a company to do the right thing just this once... but the next thing you know, people will start expecting companies to do the right thing over and over.
Pretty shameful Redbull does not explain brandon had a concussion in Rotorua. Even more shameful Brandon was allowed to drop in while showing obvious symptoms. The risk of a repeated concussion is very serious. Repeated concussions in quick succession are so dangerous that even a Neanderthal sport like football knows that "when in doubt sit them out".
Brandon is tough for trying to ride through his injury. He is a badass for pulling the plug on his run and focusing on his safety. If slopestyle was managed by responsible people he would not have been allowed to drop in.
this is so far gone i dont even know where to start...
do you actually want someone on redbull payroll running around making safety calls for the PROFESSIONAL ATHELETES THAT ARE ADULTS AND CAN MAKE ADULT DECISIONS? do you really think that these ADULT ATHLETES dont think about long term effects of injuries?
if youre going to bitch, at least come up with a scapegoat more original than redbull. theyve been blamed to death lately.
I think an impartial and trained professional should make the call whether athletes drop in again after a hard crash, not the athletes themselves, who have far to much on the line to make objective decisions.
Other sports do this... it is responsible, it is not disrespectful.
Furthermore:
It is fair: all the riders would face the same criteria.
It is just: all the riders would benefit in the long term.
Maybe the blame on Redbull was unfair. If so I apologize. I just want to draw attention to this issue. Few people are well informed about how dangerous head injuries are. Lack of awareness and preparations could be considered negligent on the part of the event mangers.
I was going to comment about this too...pretty ridiculous that all they said about Brandon's second run was that he was "Not 100% after run" instead of saying that he made the smart decision of opting out after momentarily losing vision due to a concussion. On the same note they spread the shit out of Rogatkin's crash where he walks away from trained first aid attendants to hop on his bike and finish his run, glad he's okay and he's a badass but imagine blacking out halfway through hitting the canyon gap...not so good.
im surprised that with all the pitchfork wielding lately, you would still want an event coordinator making the call for safety. if redbull had said aggy couldnt take his last run because the wind was dangerous people would have flipped so much shit.
even if you can figure out a safety threshold, its a slippery slope into over-regulated comps. maybe its not safe to drop more than 40 feet or ride a slope steeper than 50 degrees?
clearly we dont want the problem the NFL has, but i think youre under estimating the athletes. theyre also professionals and this is often their main source of income. they dont make these calls lightly.
i want to see an edit with both brett and brandon, no pressure, just ripping their bikes together as teammates not competitors no one upping one another just two of the best riders weve ever seen doing what they do best, that would be easily the best edit possible.
Getting really sick and tired of all this negativity towards redbull... they have done more for our sport than any of you ever have or will. Plus they're still figuring things out, they are pioneering these types of events and are still making changes and improving the structure each year. They don't have any other company who's footsteps they can follow. Cut them some slack.
I mean he isn't in the world tour MANA624. He didn't register for the FMB this year, just like 2 years ago, thats what makes him "not ride the world tour". He rode the 3 Crankworx events and Rampage, which happen to be Diamond series events, but didn't ride Prime Line because he isn't part of the FMB as a rider, only part of the factory team ranking.
Doesn't seem to like the format of the FMB, he's been fairly vocal about it for a while. He rode is last year after taking a year off, because they changed it to the diamond series format, with only 5 stops. But said that he was only going to do the Crankworx series and Rampage this year.
If you don't like Redbull, then don't support the company or the events they host. Simple as that.
if event coordinators started helping people out, where does it stop? does your local mtb race pay for your bills if you get hurt? at what point is an event coordinator "big enough" to be held responsible? did anyone ask the race coordinators to give money to that enduro racer that died?
if youre all so bent about a redbull event, then dont watch next year. you all only bitch about judging anyways.
This is no different than the FWT events except at the Rampage, thankfully no one has died and the lines they choose they have a ton more control over.
Regardless, this is a silly place to have this convo. This is about the Crankworx's stops which were sick this year.
more importantly. you need to think long term about the effects of what youre asking. even big companies cant just start handing out 100k to everyone hurt in their events. with every redbull event worldwide and in all sports, theyve got thousands of athletes competing, and probably a lot of injuries every year. if they paid out every time someone was injured, events like rampage (and crankworks) would get a lot less fun really quickly. over regulating, coddling of athletes and neutered elements would become the norm.
we get INSANE comps like rampage precisely because redbull isnt held accountable.
i will say, if paul makes it public that he feels he was pressured to do something he wasnt comfortable with, then i will eat my hat and pick up my pitchfork.
but as of now, he hasnt. he knew the risks going in and signed on the dotted line. his choice.
would it be really awesome if redbull helped him out? YES 100%. but should they be held accountable? NO 100%.
Brandon is tough for trying to ride through his injury. He is a badass for pulling the plug on his run and focusing on his safety. If slopestyle was managed by responsible people he would not have been allowed to drop in.
www.cdc.gov/concussion/HeadsUp/pdf/Football_Fact_Sheet_Coaches-a.pdf
do you actually want someone on redbull payroll running around making safety calls for the PROFESSIONAL ATHELETES THAT ARE ADULTS AND CAN MAKE ADULT DECISIONS?
do you really think that these ADULT ATHLETES dont think about long term effects of injuries?
if youre going to bitch, at least come up with a scapegoat more original than redbull. theyve been blamed to death lately.
I think an impartial and trained professional should make the call whether athletes drop in again after a hard crash, not the athletes themselves, who have far to much on the line to make objective decisions.
Other sports do this... it is responsible, it is not disrespectful.
Furthermore:
It is fair: all the riders would face the same criteria.
It is just: all the riders would benefit in the long term.
Maybe the blame on Redbull was unfair. If so I apologize. I just want to draw attention to this issue. Few people are well informed about how dangerous head injuries are. Lack of awareness and preparations could be considered negligent on the part of the event mangers.
if redbull had said aggy couldnt take his last run because the wind was dangerous people would have flipped so much shit.
even if you can figure out a safety threshold, its a slippery slope into over-regulated comps.
maybe its not safe to drop more than 40 feet or ride a slope steeper than 50 degrees?
clearly we dont want the problem the NFL has, but i think youre under estimating the athletes.
theyre also professionals and this is often their main source of income. they dont make these calls lightly.