I've pretty much had it with Rampage. In fact I have.

[2manyoranges]

....after last year's judging fiasco - 'digging' prize for Brendan F for goodness' sake...that's something we award to badgers around here not elite athletes who run life threatening sketchy lines - I resolved to give Rampage a miss. And what I have read runs shivers down my spine...really. I know that they are paid and they get massive exposure but SO many athletes are getting seriously injured - ie things that will need surgery and/or stay with the athlete for the rest of their lives (I know about dislocations, ligament damage and broken bits, from regrettable experience...). Utah is a mighty windy place at certain times of day, and make things mighty hazardous. Camille B was blown sideway in Andorra and in many ways this stopped her progression and led to early retirement. But this year at Rampage serious injuries for Emil Johansson, Adolf Silva, Aidan Parrish, Chelsea Kimball, CJ Selig, Casey Brown, Vaea Verbeeck, Harriet Burbage-Smith...and more.

I think we should use Rampage as a model in the Olympics and add '1000m dash through a minefield' and 'high jump over razorwire'. That way we can see athletics take out its leading practitioners on a semi-random basis. Great for them, great for us, great for the sport.

I didn't watch Rampage. And that's it, I have had it.

 

[Frankenorange]

They choose to do it. Same goes for all the high risk sports like eventing with horses, racing motorbikes, etc and nobody is holding a gun to the Rampage riders heads to do what is, to a lot of people, really dumb.

What isn't right is if an event goes ahead, that really should not due to weather/unsafe courses, because of pressure from sponsors and TV companies. That just increases the potential for serious injury and, possibly, death.

 

[Frankenorange]

Have watched the crashes and surely it is just what most people would expect. Sometimes it goes right and sometimes it doesn't and events happen where, for some weird reason, you get loads of serious crashes all in one event. Like a years worth in one day.
I was at Castle Combe helping a mate with a car , many moons ago, and every race was red flagged due to really serious crashes. Properly high speed violent crashes with cars bent nearly in half, fireballs, etc and then delays with the clean up and waiting for replacement ambulances.
There were some races that had the re-started race red flagged and all races ended up not running full distance. i think the plug was pulled on the last couple of races due to running out of time, but we had turned our back on the day by then. Then years will go past without a sniff of anything more than the usual for another horror meeting/race weekend with dead , or very seriously injured , riders/racers/spectators like some evil is making up for lost time.

Agreed; if this does become a trend with Rampage then they need to start limiting heights, distances, and what riders try and pull off. It is all well and good doing new tricks and pushing the envelope, but nobody really wants to see people die on their watch. Maybe have set tricks and it is scored on who does it best like diving, acrobatics, and so on. Even if they ramp it back a bit the tricks they do will still be out of reach for 99% or normal people.

 

[Frankenorange]

My wife reminded me that the olympics already has one of the most dangerous sports and i did mention it upthread without thinking. Eventing with horses is very dangerous and i think i might be right in saying that it is top of the list, for death and disablement, in sport.
There aren't a great number of competitions and most of the incidents don't make the news, compared to say 2 Superbike riders dying at Oulton Park on the same weekend as vintage car racer dying at Donny, but the major incidents are very frequent. Getting squashed under a horse, or against the big ass jumps, or kicked into permanent submission are the risks.
Flat racing, or hurdles, is way safer even though the speeds are far, far, higher. The horses are the less fortunate one's whereas in eventing it is most certqinly the other way around.

 

[2manyoranges]

My wife reminded me that the olympics already has one of the most dangerous sports and i did mention it upthread without thinking. Eventing with horses is very dangerous and i think i might be right in saying that it is top of the list, for death and disablement, in sport.
There aren't a great number of competitions and most of the incidents don't make the news, compared to say 2 Superbike riders dying at Oulton Park on the same weekend as vintage car racer dying at Donny, but the major incidents are very frequent. Getting squashed under a horse, or against the big ass jumps, or kicked into permanent submission are the risks.
Flat racing, or hurdles, is way safer even though the speeds are far, far, higher. The horses are the less fortunate one's whereas in eventing it is most certqinly the other way around.

Interesting.

I gave up on horses in my youth. I like being out and about in the woods and hills and very much appreciate the historical role of the horse in Europe. But they tend to have a mind of their own, unlike a mountain bike, and almost in every case any mistake is my own when I am cycling off road. And they get ill; many friends when asked 'have you been out and about...' say 'nope, ill again...'. A Cotic or Stanton for me, not a cob or grey.

And then your stats - indeed interesting. Horse riding generally is quite accident prone in the UK - and are on the rise. Traffic density probably is the main reason behind the increases.
https://www.bhs.org.uk/about-us/lat...ll-being-killed-at-alarming-rate-on-uk-roads/

Until you posted I hadn't thought about eventing for years, and then read a bit. Invented in 1902 in France. Surprisingly modern. And indeed dangerous as you say...

https://www.ntu.ac.uk/about-us/news...ry-of-one-of-the-most-dangerous-equine-sports

and this brought me up short

https://knowledge.lancashire.ac.uk/...s a dangerous,improve safety within the sport.

I try to think things through at the level of principle, and if a sport runs a high risk to people who have given their lives to excel in it, then that's an infringement of Kant's ethical principal - don't accept things which negate the possibly of a thing being the case - ie don't commit murder since if everyone did it, then murder would no longer be possible. So this would suggest a sport is wrong if there's a high chance of the elite participants being injured sufficiently to no longer practice the sport. Eventing looks a bit questionable. And social views of risk change over time. Obviously there can be very different views of what the risk is, but the figures from this year's Rampage seem pretty adverse. I like seeing Semanuk and Johansson do mental things - but prefer it when they are not being pushed by sponsors or media. Many years ago I found this very inspiring...far more so than Rampage:

And yep he has a dressing on his wrist so it's not all straightforward, but it's all inside his control....

 

[clubby]

You’re going to have to ban DH racing as well then. Look at the number of serious head injuries in the last few years, Jackson hitting a tree at Hardline Australia last year and writing off his season etc.

I do get where you’re coming from, but crashes are just part of pushing limits of human performance. This is coming from a parent who’s 6 year old had a hospital visit on Saturday to get his head glued after his helmet peak snapped in a crash and cut him.

 

[Tootyred]

I know this sounds like an "old mans" comment (well if the cap fits)...but these guys and girls have more to worry about later than now. A cracked vertebra or 2 now will heal up and for 20 years you will be fine. Then you get old....and it all comes back, but in a permanent way.

I know its pointless telling people stuff as we only ever learn from our own mistakes (sadly some dont live to gain the wisdom), but I think its important we raise the issue still. There is now growing interest in the field of study around the relationship between metal decline and vibration brain damage too! Cycling and running are apparently both being looked at, let alone more violent pastimes!

However, had I had any idea of the effect on me crashing bikes..and smashing about on rigid bikes come to that was going to have on me now, I wouldn't have paid any attention what so ever! Mainly as my teenage self was a bit if a tit, and tbh I probably wouldn't have said anything just to serve him right! .

 

[2manyoranges]

I've tried to ensure that the Grom pushes the envelope slowly rather than discovering his limits by over-reaching them.
There have been a few offs. Nothing TOOOOO serious so far.
Not the same for me - ACL, AC, collar bone, various concussions, broken back (not my fault), grade3 tears. Pretty creaky in the morning, fine by 9am after a decent coffee. You are right...some stay with you.