Skateboarding
Longboarding
You need to check out the Red Bull No Paws Down downhill longboard race
The Red Bull No Paws Down concept is simple: bomb down a scary Slovenian mountain pass called Bear's Guts as fast as possible and without putting a steadying hand down. It's as exciting as it sounds.
While most of us would likely come to grief trying to ride a longboard down even the gentlest of inclines, for competitors in the fourth edition of downhill longboard race Red Bull No Paws Down in Osilnica, Slovenia on August 3–4, the steeper and twistier the slope, the better. That's just as well, because they'll be racing side-by-side on a hairpin bend-filled mountain pass known ominously to locals as Bear's Guts in this unique race, where controlling speeds and skidding longboards with their hands is 100 percent forbidden.
Get an idea of what Red Bull No Paws Down is all about in the video below:
2 min
No Paws Down: a high adrenaline longboard race
4 kilometres, 18 hairpins, 14% gradient, 85kph… and another thing: no hands on the ground allowed!
The rules of Red Bull No Paws Down are quite simple, according to longboarder Rob McWhinnie. "The first two riders to reach the bottom of the course in each heat advance to the next round, but if the duct tape on the palms of your gloves shows any signs of sliding with your hand, you're out," he explains. "It's a stand-up race, which makes it technically very demanding."
While the concept is simple, actually racing against other boarders without dragging a hand through the many hairpin bends is incredibly difficult, even for experienced longboarders, and especially at the speeds reached on the fearsome Bear's Guts pass. That's why Red Bull No Paws Down is such an exciting and unpredictable race that you don't want to miss.
There's one rule: hands must not touch the ground
© Katja Pokorn/Red Bull Content Pool
Scuff these pads up and you're out of the race
© Jan Pirnat/Red Bull Content Pool
Taking corners like this at speed without dragging a hand takes real skill
© Sinisa Kanizaj/Red Bull Content Pool
With a cliff one side and drop the other, there's no room for mistakes
© Sinisa Kanizaj/Red Bull Content Pool
Ian Freire (Brazil), Nico Gallman (Switzerland), Ryka Mohammadian (USA) and Patrick Lombardi (Italy) all raced fast and clean to qualify for the final in 2018's race, where five minutes, 18 gnarly slides and a group-crash later it was the young Lombardi who crossed the line victorious, followed by Mohammadian and 2017's champion, Freire.
Who'll achieve downhill longboarding perfection to take the Red Bull No Paws Down title this year? You don't have long to wait to find out and we can pretty much guarantee plenty of thrills and spills along the way.
