The new Red Bull Empire of Dirt event will be coming to London’s Alexandra Palace on the weekend of 19 – 20 May.
Empire of Dirt is a BMX slope-style contest that aims to find the best pro-riders from the various disciplines of BMX.
The competition will take place in front of Alexandra Palace in North London, where over 1,000 people will watch the best 36 riders take on oversized ramps, motorcross-style jumps and snowboard-type hits, all jam-packed into two days of extreme BMX fun.
The last Empire of Dirt contest was held on a farm in the Devonshire Hills in 2008, and was not only praised by the riders and audience for being the most progressive BMX course of its time, but also the most entertaining. The fun is being brought to London for the very first time, where the outdoors of Alexandra Palace will become a playground.
According to the website, this year’s event will be more challenging. It says: “From the get-go we start on real steps, cross a real road and ride down real rails. From here, we go into a big Catty Wood-influenced step down leading into a right hand 270 berm.”
The first split section of the event will slow the riding down a bit, giving the riders a choice of rails on the right and more traditional trail hip jumps through the trees.
“The mellower gradient at the point should allow for nice tricks, although consistency will be important to get through smoothly,” event organisers said.
The next obstacle will be an elevated quarterpipe, which was built in 2008 for the event in Devonshire. The quarterpipe goes straight down the big curved wall synonymous with Red Bull Empire of Dirt. The course picks up even more pace as the riders head towards the final obstacle in the Super Finals.
Finally a huge, flat bank spine and the last straight again splits. On the left, to increase the difficulty, there is a mega ramp gap to grind. On the right, there will be a Robbie Madison step up to vertical roll in. If any rider manages to get to the finish line, it will all end with an oversize trick booter.
Speaking of his experience at the event, Anthony Napolitan, 2012 contestant, said, “It was fun! I hope it happens again, I’ll be back for sure.”
The event will be divided into three rounds: Round One, The Finals and the Super Finals.
Saturday: Round 1
- 36 riders will be split into 4 groups (9 riders in each group)
- There will be 2 qualifying runs- the best run counts
- The top 16 will go through to the finals
Sunday: Finals
- The remaining 16 riders will be split into 4 groups (4 riders in each group)
- Order of riders will be determined from the qualifying scores on the previous day
- There will be qualifying 2 runs- the best run counts
- The top 4 will go through to the super finals
Sunday: Super Finals
- 4 riders in the super final
- Order of riders will be determined by the scores from the finals- runs with lowest score going first
- Only 1 run – best run counts, including the two runs from the previous round
The first batch of tickets have now sold out. On Monday 14th May there will be a final limited release of tickets, available from 9am. To check for tickets, click here.
Check out the full competing course track here:
Red Bull Empire of Dirt Course Track
Leave a Reply