The sun was shining, the free Red Bull was flowing and the carts were crashing and falling apart.

Red Bull’s Soapbox Races were held Saturday in the parking lot of Denver’s Empower Field. Contestants loaded up shoddy, jerry-rigged carts to race them through a short course as thousands looked on, eager to see a record-breaking time, but more eagerly awaiting someone to fail.

The race has been held roughly 150 times since its inception in 2000 in Belgium. Red Bull organizes soapbox racing events all over the world, with Saturday’s race being the first in Denver in 18 years.

Teams of as many as five create a soapbox, or gravity-powered carts, to compete in the race. Before pushing off, they perform a small skit for the amusement of judges and the crowd before careening down a 40-or-so foot ramp and around a bend before heading down another small hill and jumping through a goalpost and finally crossing the finish line, with nothing but gravity propelling them the whole time.

Judges then assess scores based on the comedy of the skit and personality of the contestants, as well as how well their carts actually performed. Several of the carts either completely fell apart or just stopped moving entirely, leaving its riders stuck as they hopped out to push their carts to the end.

Take the Party Animals’ cart “Holy Cow,” make to look like a barn, complete with riders dressed in a cow and chicken costume. The team, made of former frat bros from the University of Denver, seemed equal parts elated and distraught after the cow house started losing parts and fell apart before crossing the finish line.

“I lost my house!” said the cow-dressed man after finishing the race.

Or Downhill Syndicate’s “Avalanche Escape,” from which powder-snow adjacent fluff flew from as they tumbled down the first hill. The team’s cart was left stranded in the middle of the track after losing its wheels, leading the team to finish the race in a turtle’s pace. When asked what happened, riders responded matter-of-factly.

“We’re just fat,” they said.

Of course, contestants were confident in their cart’s abilities before push off. How fast will the carts go? “A million miles per hour,” says one contestant. “Mach five,” says another.

Well, in reality, it was closer to just five.

Tens of thousands of spectators were expected Saturday. The crowd was mainly packed around the track with their phones out, trying to find any elevated viewing platform they can. Weaving through the spectators were sunglasses and Red Bull logo-wearing twentysomethings, eager to supply people with their energy drink of choice.

“Need a Red Bull, boss?” They say before reaching into their Red Bull can-shaped backpack to retrieve one of three flavors. And if the free Red Bull wasn’t enough for you, you could always buy one from the concession stand, at half the price of a bottle of water.

A good time in the race is considered to be around 20 to 25 seconds. It’s unknown if the wings Red Bull promises its consumers had any effect on the winning times, but each cart tries to compete and do well in something, even if it is just comedy. Because for crashers or finishers, the goal remains the same.

As one rider put it just after his cart crossed the finish line: “We go full send, full speed.”