Crashing Red Bull’s Crashed Ice 2015 With Jenna Westerham

Disclosure: We loaned Jenna Westerham a GoPro HERO4 for the purpose of this post.

Jenna Westerham grew up on the ice — from learning to skate and fall as a kid to playing hockey competitively through college. Little did she know that at 23 years old all those years of falling, skating and scoring goals would become invaluable in another venue — Red Bull's Crashed Ice 2015.

The worldwide event has been held in Jenna’s backyard of St. Paul, MN for four years and draws nearly 140,000 spectators to witness the extreme ice-skating competition.

Jenna was introduced to Crashed Ice two years prior to her competing, and it was only last year that she learned women could participate. The 2015 competition was the first to feature an official Women’s Division and offered only 20 spots. “I knew I could do it,” said Jenna. And, she proved herself right by nabbing one of those coveted spots.

With less than a month between tryouts and the main event, Jenna packed in as much training as possible. A key to her success was heading to YouTube and watching videos of previous Crashed Ice competitions to pick up skating strategies.

Jenna Westerham in a photo from her GoPro HERO4 at Crashed Ice 2015.

Verizon hooked Jenna up with a GoPro HERO4 so that we could come along for the ride. “It was pretty cool to be able to relive the experience through the video,” Jenna said. “My friends and family can now get an up-close view of what it was like to fly down an icy slope at 40 mph.”

Jenna made it to the semi-final round, in which she placed third in a heat where only the top two advance. But therein lies the beauty of an annual event — Jenna channels the Terminator with a convincing, “I’ll be back.” See more highlights from the first women’s division of Crashed Ice here. And, check out Jenna's GoPro video of Crashed Ice 2015 below.

For more Verizon Wireless news, subscribe via RSS feeds in the right rail.