Kill Hill Vol 2 Teufelsberg Rennen

Berlin, Germany

This was a regional race in the Kill Hill series. It was held on Teufelsberg Hill, just outside of Berlin. This was an artificial built hill, that held a US listening post during the cold war (apparently in the early 60's it was also used as a ski hill!) The course is the little used access road up to the station. The road is overgrown with lots of debris along the edges. The course started at the gates of the compound with a large right hand sweeper. Almost immediately after was a sharp left hand hairpin. From here till just short of then end is a fairly straight high speed run, with one kink. This little kink was fairly interesting, you were approaching top speed, and the kink was almost sharp enough to need brakes. But due to some quirkiness, the turn looks WAY tighter than it actually is. I kept panicking and thinking I was going to run off the road. It took me a while to realize what the problem was. The road already appeared narrower due to the trees and debris. But at the end of the turn, the road dropped away and you only saw trees, so at first glance it looked like you needed to keep turning. I eventually learned to have faith that I didn't need to turn. Shortly after the this kink was a right hand 90 degree turn. The finish was just around the corner, 700m from the start.

Saturday, July 15

I showed up at the race just a few minutes before things were supposed to get started. As usual things were running late. Registration got under way about 30 minutes later.

After our first run, as the truck began to go up the hill for our second I witnessed one of the worst chase truck accidents. Our chase truck was a small open air cube van, with ropes tied to the back to for the standup riders to hold onto. One of the standup riders decided to hold onto the side of the truck near the cab. Just after the truck rounded the bottom turn, the standup rider fell. And managed to fall under the truck. Someone screamed at the driver to stop, but not before the truck drover over the riders leg! The paramedics worked on him for a while. Eventually they took him to the hospital. We were told it didn't appear that he had any major injuries! A HUGE bruise and some minor cuts.

We finally got under way. There were two kids who were riding. One WON the race last year! His brother is only 4! With a short road and not a lot of riders, we got in quite a few runs before a short lunch break and qualifying. During lunch someone set up a slalom course after the finish line. They set up a a food booth selling sodas and sausages. I think the local news was out doing a piece of the race.

After lunch we did qualifying, starting with standup. Each discipline got a run, as there was rain threatening. Dirtsurfers qualified second. Despite the fact that I was the only person that brought my luge, I went ahead and ran a qualifying time. Buttboard was last. My luge time was pretty bad, it beat my buttboard time by a half second. I let it all hang out in my second luge qualifying, knocking over 2 seconds off my time! I had the second best time on the hill, behind a local standup rider. I was actually a little surprised, as the short course and slower speed gave the standup guys, with a good kick a huge advantage.

We had a DJ out playing a variety of music. Frank was also announcing the runs over the loud speaker. Qualifying was run by Frank hitting the stopwatch when the started said go. The "Go" was announced through the loud speakers via a radio,

We finished up qualifying pretty late, it was almost 7 by the time I left. I went downtown to grab a bite to eat, and saw the tail end of the Love Parade. Some of the festivities were still going on, but the bulk of it was over. The parade is a huge 1.5 million person party! After diner I went over to the the Fritz club. A large night club that hosts 3 large dance floors and an outside area, with another small dance floor. Red Bull had given the riders free tickets and a free drink! I had to be up early so I left about 2. There must have been a couple hundred people waiting to get IN when I left!

Sunday, July 16

We started the day off with the standup race. There were practice runs after each round, but I wanted to watch some of the racing. The final few rounds were pretty tight. Of course there were quite a few accidents too. The straw was pretty fluffy. I thought its main purpose was to stop the riders from hitting the small curb, but it did a good job of getting them on the road and away from the spectators as well.

We were half way thought the buttboard race before I understood the format. There were 8 racers, so we raced two four man heats. Each heat lost one rider, then two 3 man heats. Then we raced the finals. In the finals I got hit as we entered the final turn. I lifted my legs, but not quite high enough. My foot caught enough of the bale to twist my knee. While it was quite painful, and I could stand for several minutes, I knew that I had only sprained it. Dirtsurfers were run last.

Immediately after the races the prizes were given out.

Buttboard:

Standup:

Women's Buttboard:

Dirtsurfer:

Racing had started fairly early, and the days evens were done early afternoon. With my knee hurting and a 6AM plane trip tomorrow I took off early. Meanwhile many of the racers continued to ride the hill for the remainder of the day.

This was a fine little regional event. The course was too short, and there were fewer spectators than I thought we would get being so close to the city. But the course was fun for being so short, there were plenty of prizes, and they even announced the race! I think we only had the two injuries, the one run over by the truck, and me with a sprained knee.