words by Nic Powley
This event was modelled on the highly successful War of the Roses held last year at the Works in Leeds and Bones in Bolton. Two parks over two days, best trick jams on several obstacles and the usual chaos!
Day 1 was Unit 23 in Dumbarton just outside Glasgow.
The main focus of action was the newly completed 4ft deep bowl which had just been finished the night before. The Death? team including Blackwell, Cates, Steak, Zorlac and new recruit Carl Wilson aka Potter had all made the mission up and Turvey dragged along team riders Si Skipp, Dave Davies, Ben Leyden and more.? Add in local rippers like Div, his brother Colin, Big Mark and Benson and you can picture the session!?MC duties were as usual in the trustworthy hands of Bob Sanderson.?
I didn’t see all of the action this day as I spent most of my time sat on the bowl chatting with Cates but what I did see was ridiculous.? Notably the big handrail session with kids chucking themselves down it like lemmings on apocolypse day!? Cates was first to get wheels down on a caveman boardslide but it spat him out on his lanky arse leaving Div to ride away from a caveman 50:50 clean (the trick that is, Div is far from clean!).
The bowl jam I guess was the main focus of the day and it would be hard to say who was ripping hardest, pretty much everyone who was in there. Si Skipp had some nice switch lines and his traditionally spontaneous approach to riding. Josh ‘ASBO‘ Parr impressed a fair few with his smooth style and big bag of tricks for a little man. Div really has to be seen to be believed, never has anyone been so deserving the title ‘beast’. Potter and Blackwell were also both on ridiculous form all weekend.? Judge for yourself from the following footage:
http://www.powow.com/kruger/War%20At%20Dumbarton.mov
Day 2 The Factory Skatepark – Dundee
Fatigue levels were high on Sunday, increased by the fact most people had got up and gone in search of concrete in the morning before the comp.? What followed was similar to the day before and is best explained by just watching the footage:
http://www.powow.com/kruger/War%20At%20Dundee.mov
Respect to the organisers and sponsors for another grass roots skate comp.
The turnout was a bit lower than I’d expected for both days but I guess it’s a fair trek for most people.? When the weather gets a bit better you should definitely think about getting your ass up there and checking out the new flurry of concrete parks (the Dundee one is worth the trip alone).? There’s also plans to run a War of the Thistles concrete park series over the summer hopefully.
Footage courtesy of perrykruger.co.uk
Pics by Ross Thomson