Red Bull Rampage is one heck of a gnarly competition that is unlike anything else on the planet.
The annual event continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible on two wheels. The 14th edition of the high-mountain MTB freeride featured 21 athletes who thrilled with creativity, skill and courage on the steep and rugged mountain terrain in Virgin, Utah, on the edge of Zion National Park.
Brandon Semenuk took home the top prize and now joins Kurt Sorge as a three-time winner of mountain biking’s most iconic event. Brett Rheeder dropped into second place following his second run down the mountain, with Tom Van Steenbergen rounding out the podium places.
“Obviously last year didn’t go very well, but this year we had a good line, I didn’t rush and I got something good down,” said Semenuk after his winning run. “It was still nerve-racking, but I was feeling it.”
Semenuk, who prefers working on film projects these days, such as his new short Semenuk’s Rad Company, rather than competing at events demonstrated nerves of steel and sense of great team effort.
That feeling carried off the bike and into the hearts of the hundreds of men and women who helped put this beloved annual competition together.
A project like this takes sheer will and a vast knowledge. World-class technicians and a top-notch production crew made this epic task a reality.
About 110 staff total, both internal Red Bull and third party vendors, focused on the production and content creation. There were 16 live cameras on-site with an additional 5 cameras rolling. Then over 6,000 feet of fiber was laid through out the mountain to power up this beast of a show.
In addition, this year Red Bull Rampage fans watching from around the globe were be able to experience innovative new virtual production technologies added to the live broadcast, plus updated augmented reality features and added visual enhancements to the Red Bull TV app. By using the latest augmented and virtual reality technology, viewers brought the entire mountain right into their living room – literally! The 3‐dimensional A/R model of the mountain was accurate to scale and photo realistic. It allowed users to zoom in and move around the course at the touch of their fingertips. The enhanced second screen experience was available to mobile viewers on iOS and Android devices by downloading or updating the latest Red Bull TV app. Additionally, utilizing state‐of‐the‐art virtual production technology included the use of virtual cameras and ultramodern graphics packages, the broadcast brought fans even closer to all the action and provided more viewing angles of the riders, course and lines than ever before, completely changing the way viewers experienced the live event at home. And on top of that it was all available in seven languages including English, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Portuguese, and Polish.
This certainly is the Super Bowl of mountain biking. Here is to a great year in Utah and many more to come with Red Bull.
Photo Courtesy Red Bull
