So I’m just sitting in the plane and have some time to think bout the last days… my happiness after my 4th place got blown away pretty fast. We visited Marja Persson in the hospital in Reno Monday night. She had a bad crash, her hip is broke and also some rips. So hard to see her lying in the hospital, also if i dont know her that long. But she will get well!
But what i heard right after that really made me think bout the sport, the risk and how we’r forcing our body.
A guy crashed at day 1 in Kirkwood after a massive backflip, a cliff i wanted to do at first, but cancelled my ideas later and picked another line… The guy was one of 4 riders who got dragged out of the venue on the first day. So coming to the point: The rider is in a coma at the moment. He lost so much blood that its not sure if he’ll survive. Nobody of us knew that before the second comp they. In that case, does it make sense to have a second comp day, if a competitor might die??? Doesn’t make any sense at all. Especially cause they had a complete results after the first comp day that would have counted. Maybe its the spirit of the Americans that the show must go on, but in that case i totally dont understand that. A Freeride World Tour comp (European) would definately have been cancelled.
This accident really made me think bout what we’r doin there in the mountains. I was really lucky the last years and had no bad injuries, but one mistake can change everything.
Honestly, its pretty hard now to go straight to the next comp. Freeriding is a extrem sport, and it is spectacular, but you always have to have the consequences in your mind!
Not sure if a blog is the right place to talk bout that, but i had to write my thoughts down.
Hope all the guys get well soon!!!
Take care,
B
