San Diego, Calif. - Just after midnight on the East
Coast (9 p.m. Pacific) Levi LaVallee and Robbie Maddison soared over 300 feet
of water, and when they safely landed, both established new world records for
distance jumping on a snowmobile and motorcycle, respectively, at Red
Bull: New Year. No Limits. The event was telecast live from San Diego, CA
on ESPN, ESPNHD and ESPN3.
LaVallee, a 29-year-old native of Longville, MN, who was slated to jump in the
same event last year before a testing accident derailed his New Year's plans,
redeemed himself in a big way-by breaking his existing certified world record
of 361 feet with a leap of 412 feet 6 inches.
Maddison, a 30-year-old Aussie now living in Temecula, CA,
also achieved history by breaking his existing certified world record of 351
feet 3 inches by more than 30 feet, landing 378 feet 9 inches from
his take-off ramp.
Soon after the fog blanketing the event site cleared, the two athletes blasted
toward the take-off ramps on the North park at Embarcadero Marina Park in the
downtown area of San Diego
Bay and launched across
the 300-foot water gap, touching down on the massive landing ramp on the South
park. A capacity crowd of thousands packed the park and got an early jump on
their New Year's Eve celebrations.
"I'm as excited as I think a person can be," said LaVallee. "I just landed an
over 400-foot jump. I'm not sure how the sled's doing, but I'm OK, so it was
good. It's an amazing feeling. You have no idea how pumped I am."
"It's a cool feeling to do what I do and have the backing I do," said Maddison.
"I was confident we were going to go a long way tonight and we're going to come
back and go even further."
Maddison boasts an accomplished freestyle motocross career,
with an X Games silver medal in 2010 in Moto X Best Trick and two wins on the
Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour (Calgary 2009 and Madrid 2010). He also has a
successful history of record-breaking achievements and globally captivating
feats. Among them are backflipping across the Tower Bridge in London and
clearing the Corinth Canal in Greece, to go with his previous New Year's Eve
successes, beginning in 2007 when he jumped his motorcycle 322 feet over a
football field in Las Vegas and followed it up in 2008 by jumping onto - and
off - the 96-foot-tall Arc De Triomphe at Paris Las Vegas.
LaVallee is a seven-time Winter X Games medalist (four golds) and champion
snocross racer. He is widely known for becoming the first person to double
backflip a snowmobile in 2009 at the Winter X Games. Despite the temperate
climate in San Diego,
LaVallee used artificial turf on his run-up path, which provided the necessary
grip for his snowmobile's track to ensure maximum speed as he hit the take-off
ramp.
VIDEO OF THE JUMPS: http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satellite/en_US/Video/red-bull-new-year-no-limits-021243143084453