Come Memorial Day, the International Gravity Sports Association (IGSA) will have local teenagers thinking about blazing down Duluth streets on their skate boards -- if they haven't already.
At a press conference on Monday, Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson announced that the IGSA and Red Bull are hoping to bring a major extreme race to the Central Hillside over Memorial Day weekend.
The sports event is a far cry from a ball game. It will include street luging, downhill skate boarding, downhill inline skating and gravity biking. The gravity sports racers will often reach speeds of 70 to 90 miles per hour.
Instead of flying head long into the lake to stop, the racers strap rubber on various parts of their bodies to function as brakes.
As one racer put it, "The lugers put pieces of tire on the bottoms of their shoes and drag them... Fred Flintstone style."
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The race, if it happens, will be one part of the 2005 World Cup series. The other events will be held in Sweden, Austria, California and South Africa.
Requirements for the race locations include a mile and a half track of steep grades, speed building stretches and sharp turns.
As many snow-weary drivers in Duluth know, getting down to Superior Street can often feel like an extreme sport in itself.
"Duluth is a natural location for an event of this type...," Bergson said.
The president of the IGSA and organizer of "X-games" for ESPN, Marcus Rietema, said IGSA is excited about Duluth's hills and the great views.
The city is also excited about the possibility of the event. Previous IGSA races in the Midwest have drawn crowds of nearly 36,000 people.
Terry Mattson, president of Visit Duluth, said the event will be a great opportunity to bring a little extra money into Duluth.
Up close demonstrations, an evening concert and an after-party are also ideas that may be included in the event's festivities.
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"We are hoping this will become a pillar event in the community," Mattson said.
But before it can become a pillar event, it has to come up with some support of its own.
The city is still looking for more community sponsors, especially food and beverage, and some private investors have already expressed interest.
Bergson said he is confident the event will happen, but the quality of the event remains to be seen.
