"New Year. No Limits" returns for 2011

Updated: December 31, 2011, 5:02 PM ET
By Megan Michelson | ESPN.com

On Dec. 31, Robbie Maddison and Levi LaVallee will attempt a simultaneous world record-breaking jump over 300 feet of water in downtown San Diego for ESPN's 2011 "Red Bull: New Year. No Limits" event.

Maddison will be trying to set a world record for distance jumped on a motorcycle by beating the existing record of 391 feet. LaVallee will attempt to break his own record of 361 feet and set a world record for distance jumped on a snowmobile.

"Jumping long distances is a passion of mine, and I'm excited to come back for New Year's Eve and sail over San Diego Harbor," Maddison said. "Four hundred feet is my goal. It's not all about getting the world record to me, it's more about understanding this feat and the commitment ahead to achieving what most would consider an impossible jump."

LaVallee, a seven-time Winter X Games medalist in snowmobiling, set the existing snowmobile record last year while training for the 2010 "New Year. No Limits" event, but a crash on another training jump later that day forced the cancellation of the 2010 New Year's Eve stunt, which was to be televised live on ESPN.

Last year, LaVallee told ESPN, "I would love to do another distance jump. We broke the record this time, but we ended on a bad note. I want to go out on a good note next time."

A mock-up of the jumps Robbie Maddison and Levi LaVallee will hit over San Diego Harbor.

This will be the fourth "New Year. No Limits" event and the first time that two athletes have attempted a jump at the same time. Maddison returns to the event after a hiatus of several years.

In 2007, Maddison jumped his dirt bike 322 feet over a football field in Las Vegas, and the following year, he jumped off the 96-foot-tall Arc De Triomphe at Paris Las Vegas. At that event, pro drifting racer Rhys Millen also attempted to back-flip his truck. In 2009, Travis Pastrana jumped his rally car 269 feet over water in Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, Calif.

This year's "New Year. No Limits" event will air live on Saturday, Dec. 31, at approximately 11 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPNHD and ESPN3.

Maddison and LaVallee will make the jump at San Diego's Embarcadero Marina Park. LaVallee's in-run, which will be made from artificial turf, will be 1,100 feet long, 8 feet wide and 6 feet off the ground. Maddison's in-run will be 1,400 feet long, 8 feet wide and 6 feet off the ground. The landing will be 80 feet wide and 300 feet long.

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