Home-Made Crashed Ice Course In Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Three weeks from tonight, dozens of daredevils on skates return to St. Paul. They'll be racing down icy slopes and around sharp turns near the Cathedral.

It's the Red Bull Crashed Ice event, back for a third straight year.

Most of the competitors have already been chosen, but Red Bull has opened up 10 "wild card" spots for those who can prove they belong.

Blake Huovie and Aly Lund have something they think will impress the judges. It goes from their backyard to their front yard.

"This is an ice cross downhill course that I built in my yard," Huovie said, "with the help of my girlfriend, Aly."

"It kind of started as a joke," Lund said. "I was like, 'you could probably just build a ramp right off the top of your garage and go right down into your front yard.'"

The next day, they started drawing up the plans. They spent less than $100 for the lumber to build a 9-foot platform next to the garage.

Then they molded snow for the course, icing it over with a hose.

"The first time you get up there," Lund said, "you get a little nervous but after the first time, it's just like second nature."

They are both long-time hockey players who met at a hockey game on Lake of the Isles.

"We like to do a lot of adventurous things," Lund said.

They each submitted videos (Blake Huovie video, Aly Lund video) to Red Bull, hoping to be selected for Crashed Ice.

At night, you can see the course has lights and music, too.

"A lot of what we're trying to show here in the video is just that we can actually skate on ice that's not flat," Huovie said.