Celebration, Fla. – Roaring ATV engines, leaping dogs and intense timber action highlight the five new sports to debut at this year’s ESPN Great Outdoor Games. Four Wheel Frenzy, Terracross, The Launch, Hot Zone and SuperJack will thrill fans as they hit the stage at Disney’s Wide World of Sports ® Complex, July 7-10.
ATV’s will be roaring, soaring and racing to the checkered flag in two heart-pumping, fast-paced competitions – Four Wheel Frenzy and Terracross.
Four Wheel Frenzy tests riders’ ability to maintain control of their 450cc engine ATV as it hugs corners, flies over jumps and screams into the backstretch. In the final round of competition, sixteen riders will face-off, battling straight-aways, turns, jumps, water hazards and other obstacles as they race towards the finish line.
Terracross combines archery and ATV racing over rugged terrain. Riders are penalized for missing targets, losing cargo, hitting obstacles or losing control of the ATV. Eight riders will face-off in the final round with the fastest and most accurate competitor taking home the gold medal.
Flying dogs and flying discs will be the trademarks of this year’s sporting dog events. Defying gravitational limits with every leap and bound, The Launch and Hot Zone will crown two new canine champions.
An offshoot of a Great Outdoor Games favorite, Big Air, The Launch measures height as well as distance as dogs bound down the dock aimed for a canvas dummy mounted above the water on an extender. At the end of each round, the dummy’s height and distance from the dock are increased until every dog but the champion has been eliminated.
In the Hot Zone, speed and accuracy are essential. Starting at their owner’s side, dogs run down and attempt to catch discs in six different zones. Catches must be made in the air, and all six catches must be completed in three minutes or less. What’s more, if so much as a paw strikes the Hot Zone (Zone 6) while making catches one through five, all previous catches are eliminated and competitors must start over.
Decathletes and pentathletes beware – the SuperJack event is the ultimate test of lumberjack skill. It’s an octathlon of giant redwood proportion.
Competitors must possess agility, balance, strength and speed to come out on top. In the final competition round, eight competitors will complete the Springboard Chop, Obstacle Pole, Single Buck Saw, Boom Run, Axe Throw, Underhand Chop, Speed Climb and Speed Birl disciplines. Competitors will be ranked 1st through 8th on each discipline and awarded points accordingly. The competitor with the most points at the end of competition is crowned the SuperJack champion.
The ESPN Great Outdoor Games feature top outdoor athletes from around the world and are the ultimate championship of outdoor sports, featuring one-of-a-kind, head-to-head competition in timber and target events, sporting dogs and ATV skills competitions. While entertaining large crowds on site, the ESPN Great Outdoor Games also draw a worldwide television audience on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports.
Since its inception in 2001, ESPN Outdoors has strived to inform and entertain anglers, hunters, campers and people of all ages who enjoy the outdoors. ESPN Outdoors is committed to increasing awareness of outdoor activities, a direction best exemplified by daily television programming totaling nearly 1,000 hours annually on ESPN and ESPN2.
Each year, ESPN Outdoors stages more than 30 marquee events including the CITGO Bassmaster Classic and the ESPN Great Outdoor Games. ESPN Outdoors comprises BASS, the worldwide authority on bass fishing that sanctions more than 20,000 events through the BASS Federation. ESPN Outdoors also features Bassmaster.com, ESPNOutdoors.com, a weekly outdoors show on ESPN Radio as well as a growing array of promotions and activities that deliver a clear message of conservation and ethical sportsmanship.
For more information, contact Kim Jessup, ESPN Communications at (407) 566-2175.
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