Mayor has bruising campaign on Crashed Ice course

January 22, 2015 at 4:59PM

Red Bull Crashed Ice lived up to its daredevil name Wednesday, as Mayor Chris Coleman and other St. Paul city officials donned skates and hockey gear to try out the event's steep and twisting ice track on Cathedral Hill. Coleman, along with Finance Director Todd Hurley, Council Member Chris Tolbert and former Council Member Melvin Carter, tested the track's starting ramp, waves and steps, collecting some bruises but no broken bones.

The hardest part, Mr. Mayor? "The ice," he said, smiling. The Rev. Paul Shovelain, associate pastor at St. Peter Catholic Church in Forest Lake, said that sixth-graders at the parish school pressured him into skating the track, but he called it "a great time."

About 100,000 people are expected to turn out Thursday through Saturday for the Crashed Ice competition, one of four international races that conclude with the championship in Edmonton, Alberta, in March. Saturday will be a busy day in downtown St. Paul, as 200,000 people are expected for Winter Carnival events and the Grande Day parade, Crashed Ice Village on W. Seventh Street, concerts in Rice Park and Roy Wilkins Auditorium, and college hockey at Xcel Energy Center. For more information, go to www.visitsaintpaul.com/jan24/.

KEVIN DUCHSCHERE

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman skates back up a section of the Red Bull Crashed Ice course in St. Paul on Wednesday, January 21, 2015. ] LEILA NAVIDI leila.navidi@startribune.com / ORG XMIT: MIN1501211443215034
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman skated back up a section of the Red Bull Crashed Ice course at the Cathedral on Wednesday, site of a weekend competition. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman skates down a section of the Red Bull Crashed Ice course in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015.(AP Photo/Star Tribune, Leila Navidi) MANDATORY CREDIT; ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS OUT; MAGS OUT; TWIN CITIES LOCAL TELEVISION OUT ORG XMIT: MIN2015012117155256
Coleman wore a video camera to track his adventure down the twisted, rolling course on Cathedral Hill. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

about the writer

Kevin Duchschere

Team Leader

Kevin Duchschere, a metro team editor, has worked in the newsroom since 1986 as a general assignment reporter and has covered St. Paul City Hall, the Minnesota Legislature and Hennepin, Ramsey, Washington and Dakota counties. He was St. Paul bureau chief in 2005-07 and Suburbs team leader in 2015-20.

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