Crashing ice with Amanda Trunzo

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Last Updated on Thursday, 20 December 2012 18:07

The Red Bull Crashed Ice Event is making headway for the second-year winter event.  The event consists of five stops. It began on Dec. 1, in Niagara Falls, Ontario and continues in St. Paul, Minn., on Jan. 25-26. From there it continues to Landgraaf, Netherlands then to Lausanne, Switzerland. The final stop is Quebec City.

The St. Paul course starts at the Cathedral, meanders down 1,300 feet of ice-covered course and finishes more than 130 feet below the starting gate. Besides playing forward for the Whitecaps, Amanda Trunzo is a 2011 graduate of Dartmouth, a girls’ high school coach at Benilde-St. Margaret’s and also involved with Red Bull Crashed Ice.

Q: What is the history about the event?

AT: It started in Stockholm, Sweden in 2001. Since then there have been 24 races in 10 different countries and it has been a growing sport that hundreds of thousands of people come to watch and have a good time!

Q: What is your role with the event?

AT: My role in this event is to represent Team USA as a female athlete and just compete in all the competitions that I can and try and get better and more comfortable every time I am out there on the track.

Q: How did you become involved?

AT: I became involved last year. All my friends at college, in particular the Canadian ones, were telling me to do it and thought I would be good at it, so when the try outs came to St. Paul last year I signed up for them. From there I competed in the race in St. Paul versus all guys, then Team USA asked if I would like to join them for the tour as a female athlete. I couldn’t say no and went to Quebec and competed in March of 2012.

Q: How are the people selected for the event?

AT: People are selected through a try-out process that happens on flat ice. Then from there is pretty much goes off of how well you do in an event and how many points you receive.

Q: What has been your success during the event?

AT:  I took fourth in the world rankings last year and first for the USA women so that was pretty exciting!
 

Q: What type of planning is there for the event?

AT: It’s hard to plan and practice for this because there is no course that you can just go practice on. Although skiing is one of the ways you can train as well as skate parks. As for me, when I am out at the event I take as many practice runs as I can to get a feel for all the bumps and turns that are on the ice.
 

Q: What have been some challenges and how have you overcome them?

AT: A lot of challenges come from the track itself. Whether it’s because it is a technical course or certain bumps and jumps that you need to practice, it’s all a challenge. To help me overcome them I try and look over the track and see where there are spots that I can cut to shave my time off a few seconds or how I am going to approach a certain jump.

Q: What is one thing people do not know about the event?

AT: It is a lot harder then it looks!

Look for news at MinnesotaWhitecaps.com or follow us on facebook and Twitter @whitecapshockey for updated schedules and information about the team!