June 22, 2006 – Only 4 weeks to go for the biggest freeride spectacle — Red Bull District Ride 2006- which will start in Catania, Italy on July 15th &16th. The best riders of the world are already confirmed for the Red Bull District Ride in Sicily. They gonna throw down hard in the old town of Catania. They’ll show all their sickest tricks in order to get also the chance to go to the District Ride in Nuremberg on August 4th & 5th where one guy can win the huge overall prize — the pimped up Ford Pick Up truck.

You can find the major details on the new website for both events which is online since a few days: www.redbulldistrictride.com . The website shows all you need to know about the Red Bull District Ride: great action with a video clip and photos, details on both courses, the rider portraits of the best freeriders in the world and other information about the two cities.

The Riders
Besides the big guns of Freeride that everyone knows which will come to the Red Bull District Ride, some unknown talents get the chance to compete with the stars of the sport. The first wildcard went to the youngster Adam Hauck at the SeaOtter Dirt Jump in California. Christopher Hatton won the CUT slopestyle series in Germany and got the 2nd wildcard of the year. Andreu Lacondequy gained himself also a wildcard at the BRAUN 26TRIX in Leogang, he scored a 2nd place at the biggest dirt jump event of Europe. The 17yr old rider from Spain is, besides Adam Hauck (also 17yrs.), the youngest rider on the athlete list.
The last wildcard is going to be decided at the Best Tricks Contest of the Red Bull Trailfox in Laax, Switzerland on June 24th.

Most riders already confirmed their attendance for Catania, the list of riders sounds amazing:

– Aaron Chase (USA)
– Geoff Gulevich (CAN)
– Paul Basagoitia (USA)
– Grant Fielder (UK)
– Kyle Strait (USA)
– Nathan Rennie (AUS)
– Cameron McCaul (USA)
– Darren Berrecloth (CAN)
– Carlo Dieckmann (GER)
– Adam Hauck (USA)
– Timo Pritzel (GER)
– Gee Atherton (UK)
– Thomas Vanderham (CAN)
– Christopher Hatton (FRA)
– Cedric Gracia (FRA)
– Andreu Lacondequy (ESP)
– Gareth Dyer (CAN)
– John Cowan (USA)
– Joscha Forstreuter GER)
– Jamie Goldman (USA)
– Guido Tschugg (GER)
– Darren Pokoj (AUS)
– Trond Hansen (NOR)
– Alberto Accetulli (ITA)
– Lance McDermott (UK)
– Eric Porter (USA)
– Cameron Zink (USA)
– Kyle Ebbett (USA)
– Greg Watts (USA)
– Mischa Breitenstein (SUI)
– Niels Windfeldt (NOR)

Besides the riders also the judges are confirmed: We’ve got the head judge Paul Rak from Whistler, last year’s judges Ben Gordon and Benny Paulsen (both from Germany) and Vincent Vegas from France.

We are proud to announce the co sponsors of the Red Bull District Ride in Catania which will be Dainese, Ford and BRAUN. Dainese will do a best trick session; BRAUN will provide their truck with the giant screen. Ford will provide the shuttles for riders and journalists. At each event the riders can win total prize money of 20,000 Euros. And then of course the grand prize of both events — the pimped up Ford Pick Up truck.

For the Red Bull District Ride in Nuremberg the co sponsors will be Oakley, Marzocchi, BRAUN and of course Ford. Watch out: Oakley’s Sick-O Award will happen again in Nuremberg. The media partner at both events will be Freecaster.

After each event you can see video clips from the urban freeride action that goes down in Catania and Nuremberg, just go on www.freecaster.com . Freecaster, the source for freesports and music beyond TV.

For any more info concerning the event in Catania please contact:
Laura.mele@it.redbull.com or tarek@redbulldistrictride.com
and for the event in Nuremberg just contact us at:
kirsten.veil@de.redbull.com or tarek@redbulldistrictride.com

One thing is for sure: both events will be the two biggest spectacles in the world of mountainbike freeride in 2006. So don’t miss the action!

April 21, 2006 – Nuremberg was the centre of the world in September last year with over 40,000 spectators witnessing the making of the first Red Bull District Ride. This year the Urban Freeride event will be in two great locations, Red Bull District Ride in Catania (Sicily/Italy) and in Nuremberg (Germany)! First up is Catania July 15-16th with 35 of the best riders invited from around the world. The second event in Nuremberg August 4-5th will be taking along 25 of the world’s finest athletes in the freeride sport.

The Red Bull District Ride 2005 turned the heads of people that have never heard of mountain bike like this before. That event definitely storied in the world of mountain bikes and so did the winner Aaron Chase who was blown away by the crowds of Nuremberg.

The Red Bull District Ride set a new standard of professional mountain bike events in 2005 and it returns turning it up yet another notch for 2006.

Bringing the sport to the city allows people the convenience to experience the excitement without having to go into the mountains. People can be on the streets, gathering around massive video screens cheering their favourite rider on. Many spectators don’t even need to leave their living room because they have an aerial view from their balcony!

Riders Selection
Tarek Rasouli has been busy getting in touch with all the top riders and they are pumped to be part of the 2006 events. The top 14 from last year’s Red Bull District Ride are invited to take part in both events with an additional wildcard awarded to Darren Berrecloth. He had such solid performances with a 1st in Saalbach at the Adidas Slopestyle, another first at Monsterpark and a 2nd in Whistler at the Crankworx in 2005. And to the unfortunate injury during training at last year’s event in Nuremberg he has earned a spot.

The list of riders invited to both events (Nuremberg and Catania):
-Aaron Chase -Gareth Dyer
-Paul Basagoitia -Cedric Gracia
-Kyle Strait -Joscha Forstreuter
-Cameron McCaul -Trond Hansen
-Carlo Dieckmann -Grant Fielder
-Timo Pritzel -Nathan Rennie
-Thomas Vanderham -Darren Berrecloth
-Geoff Gulevich

Along with the 15 pre selected riders there will be an addition of 18 of the world’s best freeriders at the Red Bull District Ride – Catania, Italy. Additional wildcards will be selected for up and coming riders that have what it takes to ride with the ‘crème de la crème of freeride’, but haven’t been given the chance to do so. One wildcard has already been given away to Adam Hauck at the SeaOtter Dirt Jump Invitational. The 17yrs. old rider from New Jersey got 2nd at SeaOtter in California in front of Paul Bas and impressed the judges with a 360-Tailwhip, so he won a wildcard plus plane ticket to Sicily. Another wildcard will go to the best rookie at the Braun 26TRIX in Leogang, Austria in June 9th – 11th also to the greatest rider at the best tricks session of the Red Bull Trailfox in Laax, Switzerland at June 23rd-25th. Expect to see some young guns pushing hard to prove themselves.

For other possible qualifiers just check out soon the event website: www.redbulldistrictride.com

The best 10 riders from the additional 20 places in Catania will advance and make up the top 25 for the grand final in Nuremberg.

Each Event has 20,000 Euros in prize money plus a very special surprise for the overall winner of both events!

Why Nuremberg and Catania?
The perfect locations for the Red Bull District Ride have one very important similarity; they both descend from start to finish allowing the riders to concentrate on the district or section of the course ahead saving their energy for the tricks.

Nuremberg was selected for last year’s event for the uniqueness of the city, the castle as a starting district and the opportunity to integrate a huge drop from the castle itself. The streets then twisted through monuments such as the Durer Platz, Sebalder Square finishing up in front of the Town Hall. The infrastructure of the city together with the special environment and the opportunities to integrate a course with flow created the perfect package.

Catania in Italy shares most of the same characteristics starting from a massive church that looks like something from another planet. After the two options to drop from the church the course goes directly into a narrow alley section passing right by the Piazza dell´Universita, twisting past a number of historic churches and buildings, finishing at the most impressive Duomo Square with the “il elephante” statue, the emblem of Catania. On top of the course being an incredible venue, the streets are completely made of volcanic rock left from past eruptions thanks to Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano!

A Run down of the Course
The 2006 Red Bull District Ride courses will be designed by Cory Moore and built together with his crew of guys. Nuremberg will be stepped up with some nice changes in the streets together with a completely different set of obstacles. Catania starts at an impressive church leading directly towards typical Italian alley streets twisting through the old town ending at the Duomo Square. Both courses will be broken up into districts filled with drops, spines, wallrides, step up and downs, dirt jumps and mix of other props integrated into the city streets.

If you are interested in mountainbiking or simply in extreme sports, make sure you book your trip to Catania or Nuremberg or even to both events. It will definitely be an unforgettable experience for you.

More info about the Red Bull District Ride visit: www.redbulldistrictride.com.
Find detailed information about the events 2006 from mid of May on the event website.