Inside the world's most terrifying sporting event: Red Bull Rampage is an event like no other that will leave you feeling every emotion under the sun

As human beings, we are hardwired to avoid danger. Most of the world’s population is risk-averse; in many ways, everyone wants to survive and will steer clear of situations that could lead to injury or worse, death.

Climbing a mountain? Please use a harness. Big waves in the ocean? Probably best to avoid going in. On a hike? Don’t go too close to the cliff edge, you might fall.

Heck, I even get the heebie-jeebies when at Sky Garden looking over the city of London.

So, in a world where health and safety is at the centre of everything we do in society, seeing mountain bikers chuck themselves off the top of a near 230-metre-high jagged rock in the stunning Utah skyline is a breath of fresh air.

Welcome to Red Bull Rampage, an event like no other. To put it in the words of the many Americans I spent five days watching the competition with, it’s simply ‘gnarly dude’.

Gnarly, mental, crazy, gripping, nauseating, terrifying, exhilarating, exciting. These are just a few of the adjectives you could use to describe the Rampage, which is the pinnacle of free-ride.

'It’s the Olympics, it’s the Super Bowl, it’s whatever you want to call it of mountain biking. This is the ultimate proving ground,' said American rider Luke Whitlock. 'To even get to the bottom at Rampage is an incredible feat.'

With a Bob Ross painting-like red rock mountain range as the backdrop – a place that made me feel like I was in Radiator Springs from Disney’s Cars – riders risk their lives in front of thousands of pumped-up fans as they carve their way through treacherous rocky terrain, producing death-defying tricks on their way to the base of the sierra.

To be frank, it’s a wild spectacle. At times, it felt like my stomach was in my mouth as I watched 24 of the world’s bravest men and women drop in to take on their own unique lines they had spent two weeks crafting on the dusty cliffs of Virgin, which neighbours the beautiful Zion National Park.

The 19th edition of the competition was unparalleled compared to previous instalments, for a multitude of reasons.

The spectacle was more thrilling than ever before. In both the men's and women’s competitions, riders were taking on riskier lines and producing jaw-dropping flips, nac-nacs, no-handers, and tricks so hard to comprehend that their names escape me, as they were scored out of 100 on difficulty, amplitude, flow, and creativity.

But with increased risk comes the likelihood of more severe crashes.

This year saw two of the most horrific crashes the competition has ever seen, as both Adolf Silva and Emil Johansson had to be airlifted to hospital.

The Spanish rider was the first to go down as he attempted a double backflip off a ledge from over 50 feet. Silva under-rotated, went over his handlebars, and landed head-first on the rocky surface before he flipped and slid over some distance down the grade.

It was a terrifying moment to watch. The place went from being rowdy to deadly silent in a split second; all you could hear was the slight buzz of a drone flying between canyons as anxiety swept the 3,000-strong crowd strung across the mountain.

Now, you’d think this would be enough to put any rider off from taking their second run, which is only optional, and for the competition to be suspended. But if you know Rampage, that’s not how they roll, and thank goodness both the riders and organisers had the mettle to continue.

The sobering crash had tanked the vibe of the afternoon, and standing on a cliff edge, I had no idea how the event could go on. But somebody who was stood next to me said, ‘This is extreme sports, the show must go on.’

The riders banded together 30 minutes after Silva’s crash and continued descending the cliff, the mood still low, as they aimed to restore the energy that had consumed those lining the terrain before the scary incident.

18-year-old Finley Kirschenmann, who is the youngest male to ever ride in the Rampage, took to the wooden platform at the summit of the mountain just 40 minutes after watching his fellow rider crash.

He admitted to Daily Mail Sport, after the event, that he was ‘struggling’ after seeing Silva fall. But he showed no signs of that when competing, hitting mammoth tricks which injected the spirit of the sport back into those watching on.

So how did he do it? To be a rookie at your first Rampage as a rider and witness a crash like that before hurling yourself off the very same cliff must have been incredibly daunting.

It took an extreme amount of steel and courage for the newbie – a Utah local who was a digger at last year's event and has been at every rampage in some compacity over the last decade – to take to the top.

But it was because of Silva that he knew he couldn't back out of his trick-riddled run.

‘It’s so hard to watch your buddies crash; it’s always tough,’ Kirschenmann said. ‘At the top, you go through a range of emotions where you [feel] guilty, you wonder “why did that have to happen to him?”. The stuff he was trying was pushing the boundaries.

‘But in those times, it’s the most important to be the most hyped you can be, and be the most positive you can be. If Adolf was here, he would have been so bummed if all of us had stopped riding and been like we are going to take it chill.

‘He wants to see us all push just as hard as he was, so the goal was to bring the energy back and that was exactly what we needed. I’m stoked that I was the person that could have done that.’

My biggest takeaway from the event was the tightness of the free-ride mountain biking community and the camaraderie between riders. Yes, they are competing against each other, but they are also like a band of brothers and sisters who are in it together.

They are just some of a select few who know exactly how it feels to flip and tail whip off canyons hundreds of metres in the air. Those of us watching find it incomprehensible and stand in awe as they perform a horde of fearless moves.

Danger is part and parcel of the sport; all 30 riders who started the training weeks prior to the event know that serious injury could be on the cards.

So how do they do it?

I couldn’t even ascend the men’s course in its entirety because I was too scared of falling off due to how exposed many of the ridges are; my brain was running wild with fear as I climbed the big lump of ragged rock.

These riders, though, manage to block out all fright somehow as they go through their run, even after witnessing their compatriots crash.

Kirschenmann added: ‘It’s kind of like a blackout, a controlled blackout. You shut your brain off, you know what you are doing.

‘For me, it’s music. Honestly, when I dropped in, I was listening to Afroman, and that’s what I’m focused on, the music, muscle memory. I know that my brain knows how to do it, my body knows how to do it; it’s all about trust in yourself.’

Silva has since confirmed that he has sustained a lower back injury and is now starting his recovery, while Johansson was lucky to escape with just a dislocated hip after flying 15m down a cliff edge immediately after the start of his second run.

However, they were not the only two severe crashes in Rampage. In the women’s event, Casey Brown broke her tibial plateau and suffered a minor brain injury when falling off 12m drop in training three days before finals day. She had to be airlifted to the hospital and couldn’t compete any further. Chelsea Kimball also had to pull out due to an injury.

However, it was the story of a certain Cami Nogueira that showed just how tough these riders are.

A phrase I used consistently throughout the week was ‘built different’, it just flowed out of me whenever I saw the gnarliest – yes, I am qualified to write that now – of jumps. Argentinian rider Nogueira really is a warrior – built different.

Three days prior to the women’s event on October 17, Nogueira dislocated her elbow during training, an injury that she has suffered from recurrently over the years. You’d think it would be curtains for her place in the competition, no?

Well, mountain bikers are as courageous as they come. She battled against every nerve and logical answer that pointed toward her sitting the event out, in order to leap off the steep, razor-thin edge at the top of the cliff.

She even drove herself to the hospital to get it popped back into place. Crazy.

Amazingly, Nogueira finished fourth and booked her spot in next year’s Rampage. Of course, her sheer tenacity and bravery to take part won her the women’s Toughness Award.

‘I decided to take it step-by-step because I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to ride or not.

‘This is my dream, and I was putting all that I had in this, so I did my two runs with my heart, and my brain.

‘I dislocated my elbow four times before this one. I had never [previously] been able to ride two days after I injured it, so it was a rollercoaster of emotions. I went from “no way I will be able to ride” to maybe, and then training and doing two runs in the final.

‘Once I was up there, I was like “you’re fine, you’re good”, I was trying to keep my vibes high, my energy positive. I really think that everything is in the brain, and when your brain is strong, everything is going to be good.’

Those quotes encapsulate what rampage is and how the riders think. Free riding isn’t for the faint-hearted, but even though there are so many things that can, and do, go wrong, the athletes have this innate ability to block out nerves and concerns to produce what we mere mortals deem impossible.

As somebody who regularly covers football, to see these riders taunt death in order to do what they love, and entertain those who love the sport too, was spectacular. I am used to seeing a gust of wind blow over football players, and now I am watching many riders get up and continue their runs despite crashing.

Red Bull have manufactured the most thrilling of competitions. One that makes you feel every emotion under the sun, from fear to elation. You just can’t take your eyes off it, even though the anxiety you feel coursing through your brain is telling you to.

‘In the sport that I do, it’s definitely the pinnacle,’ British rider Tom Isted, who came 10th, said. ‘There is this, and then there is Red Bull Joyride; these are two events I’ve been very lucky to compete in both of them. This is definitely the pinnacle of this sport.’

Hayden Zablotny became only the fourth rookie to win the men’s event, producing a near-technically perfect run, which was rubber-stamped with his usual flair, and a flurry of tricks.

Meanwhile, Robin Goomes remains the only woman to win Rampage, making it back-to-back victories in the Utah desert.

It’s a year that may well go down as the craziest in the competition’s history.

Re-watch the 19th edition of Red Bull Rampage on Red Bull TV here