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Professional Thrill Seeker Devoted To 'Crashed Ice'

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- Crashed Ice is expected to attract more than a 100,000 people to St. Paul this weekend for one of the most extreme sports on earth.

So it'd be a good idea to introduce you to one of the most extreme people on earth.

If you want to take a wild ride, just ask Reed Whiting what he does for a living.

"I'm an insurance adjuster, and I have a turtle farm," he said with a laugh.

Whiting might just be the most interesting insurance man in the world. And the Rochester native has been all over it -- 21 countries.

"It's just how I live my life," he said.

And when Whiting lives his life, he lives it on camera.

He's a former college hockey player-turned professional thrill seeker. He's no stranger to running with the bulls in Pamplona, swimming with more than 100 sharks, kitesurfing, speed flying, bungee jumping, cliff diving and bull riding just to name a few. And he even invented a new sport that involves inline skates on a dirt-bike track.

"It was really fun but super dangerous," he said. "So that was only a one-hour event and then we quit."

And just how did Whiting decide to unwind after that harrowing hour?

"We also went down the highway [at] 60 miles an hour after, passing cars," he says. "That was pretty fun."

However, Whiting says that it's more than just for the love of the rush.

"It's moments that these sports make me feel alive. They make me kind of live in the moment. With all we have going on day to day, sometimes it's hard to just really embrace life," he said. "And when I'm doing these adrenaline junkie-type sports, it just puts me in a place that I can't get anywhere else."

Crashed Ice is his latest adventure, which he did for the first time last year in St. Paul. Now he's on the world tour.

"I've put everything else aside," Whiting said. "Not that I don't do all that anymore, but I've really put my focus on being the best I can be at Ice Cross Downhill."

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