Category: Features

In case you hadn’t heard the DuFFS concrete carnage at Rom took place last weekend and went off!

Heads from all over the place turned up to get their hands on some cash in the Snickers best trick comp and prizes from DuFFS, Eastpak and Independent.The whole park got hit up with the pool getting the most attention!

For those who don’t know Rom is one of the OG parks in the UK and is 30 years young! Its rough, gnarly and it’s a real proving ground, there are endless lines and the fun potential is huge, as long as you go there not expecting a street plaza.

The whole idea was to have a fun jam session on the whole park with anyone and everyone who dropped something good getting prizes and a chance of some cash!

In the house were living legend Trawler, the “count” otherwise known as Death pro Lee Blackwell, Steak, Sean Goff, Rob “wob, wob” Smith, Chris Ault who ripped all day and Robert and the Welsh side crew!

Simon Skipp and other local rulers Nige, Pedge and Dion and even Jon Hayward put in an appearance and made a kickflip rock in the pool!

The DuFFS squad were in full effect, Mattias Nylen the cockney Swede is back in town although he is injured right now alongside Ben Raemers, Carl Wilson and team manager Munson. The Bay 66 boys were also about with Awad ruling and kev the plasterer gave himself a battering trying to axle stall 270 in the pool! Local grom Andrew was killing it all day! Even little Alex from Milton Keynes was in the mix getting some airs going. The kids session was rad all of them were killing themselves! with everyone getting stuck in and most of them going away happy with some prizes!

Raemers did a NBD fs alley oop over the hip in the snake! And FS blunts over the hip in the pool.The pool session was fierce with locals Paul, Dion, Fred and the boys going off, alongside legends like Sean Goff who was throwing todd twists and maddona’s in the pool!

With Blackwell getting sweeper’s, egg plants, Munson fingerflipped to tail ,FS inverts and maydays in there. Carl Wilson put down some nice fs airs and stalefishes and an ollie blunt! Wob Smith was ruling with FS 50’s to fakie! Everyone ripped and the whole park saw some action!

In the end the money got split between Sean Goff, Trawler, local ruler Paul who was riding with bare feet and trying to break the coping with FS grinds! And Wob Smith also got his hands on the cash for some craziness like heel blocks in the pool and a mental nose blunt off the fence!

All there was left to do was hit the BBQ and sink a few well earned Beers!

If you missed it you missed out! But you never know Concrete Carnage pt 3 may well be on in 2007!

Check out the footage to see what went down on this page put together and donated by by Kevin Parrott..

Dom’s Triple-Shot is the first in a series of interview and photography features from various invite only photographers from around the World. Crossfire will introduce you to their favourite photography with a little inside of how they see skateboarding through the life of a lens. Enjoy the very first one of many..

Full name please sir? Dominic Marley

How long have you been a photographer?

I got interested in photography about five years ago.

How did you get into skate photography?

Through Skateboarding and getting into shooting photographs, also seeing Wig Worland and Leo Sharpe about and thinking they were cool!

What were the best and worst bits of advice anyone gave you in regards to photography?

Wig gave some amazing advice and help when I started getting into shooting photo’s, he really did take some time to talk things through and Leo has always given really good advice too. They are both inspirations.

Have you ever felt bad about taking a photo?

If I feel bad about taking a photo I won’t take it. There’s time’s where you feel it’s not right too take a photo. Personally I think a photo should be an agreed thing.

What image first inspired you to take up photography?

There wasn’t one particular photo that made me take up photography, but its definitely amazing to see great photo’s.

I can remember seeing a photo of Rick McCrank doing a kick flip out of that sculpture at La Defense on a Transworld cover in around 2000. The photo was amazing it was spot on, I think it was shot by Pete Thompson and if you’ve ever skated that spot you will know that riding up that thing is a mission in itself let alone getting the speed to pop a kickflip out of it! The footage was amazing too.

As for non skate photo’s David LaChappelle’s work is amazing. His photo’s are more like stills from a film, each photo has a narrative and is put together with a team of assistants and with amazing lighting.

It’s also amazing to see Nadav Kander photo’s, his photo’s are also the culmination of an idea and technically they stand out as fantastic. His portrait work is really great.

What are the best days shooting skateboarding?

It’s great sitting by a sunset….

What’s the relationship like between a photographer and filmer?

When it’s your mate its good because you’ve got someone to sit there and have a natter with.

What advice would you give to upcoming skate photographers?

Don’t carry too much stuff because its not good for posture.

Are there ways of getting better/free equipment as you continue to grow or do you have to fund everything yourself?

Well if there is any lighting company out there that is selling free flashes i’l definitely try and get down there.

What is your most favourite skate photo that you have shot over the years?

This would probably be a photo of Mark Skinner doing a front board at Fairfields in I think 2001 or 2. It was the first photo I had published in Sidewalk. Skinner’s such a laugh, he’s the boy, it’s always a laugh hanging about with him and always good times.

That was on one of the days where there was an amazing atmosphere at Fairfields, the place just erupted when he rolled away.

..and your most cherished photo that you snapped outside of skateboarding?

This would Be Hilder the Butcher and the Dog’s 2002, 5.30am.

Sometime’s as a photographer you learn that no matter how much time and preperation you put into shooting a photo, you can always get a pleasant suprise from just throwing everything together and having no time at all.

This photo was for a project we (Hilder in the photo) were working on and we had arranged to shoot this photo with John the Butcher from Shortlands. He told us to meet at Shortlands train station at 5am on a Sunday morning so we could go with him to the dog training facility in New Addington where he keep’s his dog’s.

We managed to turn up late and drove down to the Kennel’s to look for him. When we got there we bumped into him on the driveway there, he was heading back in with his dog’s, he literally gave us five minute’s to shoot the photo, so the flashes were thrown up there and then and we quickly started to shoot. It was fun shooting that photo and John gave us a good tip on the dog Shadwell Lemon!

If you were to buy a pocket snapper for capturing skating on a budget to get going, which camera would you suggest?

Fm2 all the way, it’s still a camera that holds the test of time today. Some skate photographer legends are shooting on them all the time and they are great cameras.

Would you recommend digital or film?

For sequence’s its definitely digital, its no stress you can shoot all day and not feel bad.

What are the benefits of using film or digital?

Film and digital both have their good points, digital is a really quick way of producing photo’s. It’s great to know that whatever you have shot worked out there and then.

Thanks for kicking off this series Dom, do you have a website address of your work if people want to see more?

Yeah, it’s www.dominicmarley.com

Dominic Marley regularly shoots for Sidewalk Magazine and also shoots photo’s for Blueprint Skateboards adverts.

Saturday 24th June

Let’s set the scene. The sun is blazing, the temperature’s about 75′ and skaters from all over the country are making their way down to London’s most influential skate spot ever for a day of solid carnage.

You see, the 2005 event was such a success that we decided to do it again, but there was obviously no guarantee that this one would be attended especially as we only had 3 weeks to initiate the whole thing, but I guess with the power of the internet, things have become a lot easier for skater run operations like Crossfire to spread the word if good things are about to happen. Saying that though, it was still a gamble and one that was worked on ferociously until the day itself, looking back though, I guess it could not have gone any better on the day…

A week before the event, Rich “Badger” Holland from the Side Effects of Urethane and Zac decided to concrete the cobbles.The same cobbles that have stood there at that spot since the 1970’s, the very same cobbles that if were deleted, could open up a nice manny pad for the SB locals and the hundreds of hungry skate travellers that pass through there annually.

With this in mind, covert operations ran through the Southbank from midnight until the final gloss was achieved by Sam Griffin. Thanks for the helping hand..

A rail was then knocked up to fit the length of the manny pad and the rest is history. Please note though, that this was all organised and agreed by the heads of the Queen Elizabeth Halls and done properly, just like anything else that should go on there in the future.

With this mutual respect in mind, this jam, comp or whatever you call it started with a huge crowd of people at 2.30pm with a minute’s silence, dedicated to Matt McMullen, a South London skater who unfortunately passed away this year. Matt had skated this spot since he was a kid and probably like myself, managed to learn his first kick turn at these banks before going out into the wilderness of the streets to discover more ways of tweaking his rig.

As the 60th second kicked in, the crowd may have well have bayed for blood as the Cheese Block Jam opened the ceremony to a rapturous applause. This block is not that easy to skate, and once the clock started ticking, people started to find out just how much of a bitch this thing is to ride.

But with some luck and some skill, Enjoi rider Richard Flude managed to crack open his virgin Crossfire account with a kick flip nose pick from the bank to the cheese stub whilst Element rider Lucien Clarke tried to get his steez down. Seth Curtis (pic) grabbed a wallie 5-0 and Chris Oliver pushed for a nose grind dropping deep into the banks on the other side. He managed one but the crowd judged today and deemed Flude the winner, even though Australian Quiksilver rider Josh Roullion’s backside tail stall to bigspin into the bank and frontside nosegrind revert into the bank missed the cash. One thing I would like to point out is that Louie Barletta was skating this block and hucked a wonderful wallie lip slide on it before the jam kicked off…you try that one next time you are there…wonderful line.

The manual pad and rail jam was next up on the agenda. As dirty garage rock from bands like 13th Floor Elevators, Count Five and The Electric Prunes rained out on the Wookie box, Chris Oliver was trying to ollie the entire manny pad, and in two attempts is was his.

No fucking about whatsoever, much like Chris’ unique style, he just cracked one over that whole thing. He was riding with a seriously bruised coxis bone, bigger than the bruise he got from an Australian spider earlier this year on his arse!

Blueprint’s Neil Smith gave it all and was the only person to 5-0 the rail. Death flow rider Boots was desperate to get a nosegrind across it, he must have hurt his ankle in the process as he was missing form the stair jam and he usually kills stairs. Look out for this kid as he is on the up.

The most impressive part of this jam was at this stage, where a small kid called Nick decided that it was an open jam and he was gonna get in there and get some! This kid could not have been more than 10 years old and made people stop so he could boneless off the 5ft acid drop in front of the crowds! This is what it’s all about – having fun – everyone in. It doesn’t matter if you are not an amazing skater, if you are sponsored or not,….these jams are to bring people together, to share a few beers, cokes, laughs and that, these are fun times man, fun times.

So, Chris Oliver alongside a kickflip manual cleaned up the dough, a cheeky £50 went in his sky rocket and the bank jam began. This is where Barletta decided to join in.

All sorts of tricks were going down on the banks, but the main attention focused on the block that sits on the top of them. Barletta shut this down with a blunt onto the block and frontside flip’d his way out! The whole place went off!

Louie’s name and address now joins the previous mentioned riders in the Crossfire invoice tray and by now the Thames could not be seen through hundreds of people jammed into the railings and the fuzz didn’t even grace us with their annual visit.

So, the 7-Set Jam was the grand finale and I have to say that it was 20 crossfire minutes stuffed full of lemmings tumbling every 10 seconds down that set and was funny as fuck! This year, most people avoided the ledge. Maybe it was Vaughan Baker’s stack from last year that put people off or maybe it’s just too darn gnarly for people to skate under pressure.

Anyway, it was annihilated by Danny Jack who attempted a back tail big spin on it for ages and broke 2 boards in the process, it just wasn’t Danny’s day. Everyone wanted to see that go down and he was so close.

Last year the Blueprint team taught this set a lesson; this year though was a different story. With Chewy Cannon and Danny Brady opting for sunrays by the Thames instead, it was left to Neil Smith to come up with the goods but could not land his nollie bigspin heelflip. If he had landed one of them, he would have won cash, but it was not to be his day after all but not from trying. Neil is one of the most gifted skaters the UK has right now.

So, the Blueprint riders left the door wide open and headlines were up for grabs for others. Dan Wileman knocked out a massive tre-flip and also a super-sweet inward heelflip to bolts, Josh Roullion provided a nollie backside flip, Barletta cheekily threw in a frontside no comply down it, and in-between a melee of nippers launching their steez down that set an unknown American rider carved out a bigspin, then a nollie backside bigspin, then a pop shuv, THEN a massive heel flip, and finished with a huge stylish tre-flip. The atmosphere was electric down there. It went OFF!

With Chas’n’Dave replacing Slayer’s Reign in Blood on the stereo for the final 5 minutes, temperatures were raised as they always do when the pressure is switched on and Aussie Richard Flude hucked a fakie kickflip and a fakie varial flip to come in third, Reese Westlake pulled himself into second place with a shuvit late flip which was sublime but no one could take out Plan B and Duffs rider Adam Howe who took the £200 cash for first prize with a switch 360 shove it.

Free shit was chucked out, kids scrambled for boards and t-shirts, stickers rained down, rubbish was cleared up and the Southbank transformed itself back to it’s usual self.

There were so many people we don’t even know the names of that were skating, we are really sorry if you did not get a name check. You may find pics of yourself below though.

Big thanks to the all UK skate companies that turned up and represented their scene, Genex peeps, Jon at Grain, Mei at Extreme, Steve Crawford, Alan Christensen, James Sherry, French, Badger, Jamie Harrison, (its only just started), Sam Griffin, Abjekt, and If you came down to this event, big thanks for being around and supporting UK Skateboarding.

We have received a lot of messages from skaters from all over the country that turned up and it’s amazing to know that people give a fuck. Thanks for your support, enjoy the video and see you at the next Crossfire Jam.

This event will be televised on the Extreme Sports Channel on August 3rd on their GENEX show. You can view scheduled shows at www.extreme.com

All pics mainly shot by Robin Hayes others shot by Nav, Stylee, Robin,Derek Bremner and Benjamin Norton. Thanks guys. There are more pics from this event at this link here from Boris Austin.

Chuck Bangers

“Wo! – I can tell you what it isn’t…”

I sat there dazed and confused. Some random dude in the bleachers fired water in my ear with his freebie pistol which stirred my inner demon, but I sat still with my eyes fixed on something far more obscure: 10 feet away, a skateboard legend, Tony Alva, was happily signing his name across a 12 inch rubber god-stick! This dedicated dildo was only the tip of the bizarre, brilliant and brutal weekend I was spending atop the Snickers Bowl at the Donnington Download Festival.

It all kicked off on Thursday night. A late check-in and one too many tipples had our minds racing with thoughts about the longest grinds and best tricks we were about to witness. DJ’s Zac Slack and The James Sherry Fanclub had compiled an extensive list of tracks to blast out of the PA, when the live bands were busy at the bar. Both mine and Alan’s batteries were charged to catch all the great footage and photos of skateboarding’s elite as they battled it out inside the belly of the beast. The Snickers Bowl is truly a feat of engineering and construction that could blast all those philistine make-over shows into outer space. 15 foot walls of pure pleasure or pain depending on how you play it. My first few tours on the platform had my vertigo playing tricks with my motor-neuron abilities.

As we checked in, the first result was founded: Alan and I were a mere stroll from the bar and swimming pool complex, whilst The James Sherry Fanclub and Zac had to align their inner GPS’ every night. With the bags in the room we hit the bar. Schwingy! Four hour drives out of London are mini marathons in comparison to this four day weekend, but the crew was hot and thirsty. Despite the exorbitant prices, the late bar satisfied our thirst and had us laughing away at the 9 o’clock wake up call for Friday’s UK skate bonanza.

Day two started off in a puddle of sweat. So much so, that my ear was blocked. We may have won the best room, but the Air Conditioning unit was not complying with the general safety rules of a blistering hot 4 day sleepover. Alan got scared when our room mate for the night, Alex Gosman stood tall with nothing but a toga tied loosely around his waist. I had no trouble with this attire, but Alan wasn’t feeling it and made sure our friend Alex spent the rest of the weekend alone in a tent. Downstairs was a breakfast of champions, and I nearly dropped my croissant when I spotted skate legend Christian Hosoi sitting three feet from us. I rarely fan-out among professional skaters, but Hosoi is the Man. Nobody can walk confidently up to a ramp in spandex and day-glo tiger print, rip it up for a few hours and get all the girls. Hosoi can. Luckily the spandex wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Gradually, the Crossfire crew assembled and we brushed our teeth of bacon and eggs and made our way off to the site.

Alan insisted on a quick dip in the pool which was a mighty good idea, I must say, especially when the only female company you have is a 60 year old woman waiting for your nimble young limbs to step into her Jacuzzi. The old girl seemed fine with my presence as we made polite chit-chat about the festival, but Alan’s burly South African build had her running for the steam room.

It was a true mission to get to the actual bowl, especially when one of the many essential wristbands you need to visit the site is missing. A couple of quick calls and some stern talk had all of us in the VIP suite where athletes sang inner mantras and lined up for massages before the skating kicked off.

UK FRIDAY

Today was UK Friday with the best of British skate talent taking to their stage- the Snickers Bowl. Schwingy! Naturally Slayer was the call of the day on the decks and Death’s Mark Munson swung his body around for back to back miller flips and other various reverted inverts. Any trick that involves dangling upside down over the edge of a ramp on one hand deserves respect in my book, and Munson got a good cheer for his effort. Fresh with freckles was Ben Raemers who cruised the bowl nonchalantly and came oh-so-close to a backside crailslide varial out. Next time buddy! A lad I’d never heard of called Luke Haslett (local Epic ripper – Z-Ed) let it rip with lots of air time and a good bag of tricks to throw at the judges, but it was the Scottish Devil Spawn himself, Div that grabbed everyone’s attention. For starters, this red-headed fire starter wore no pads- Not even a helmet. His cruising and boozing antics had jaws dropping and ambulance attendants mentally prepared for first aid. But Div knows what he’s doing (I think…) and his frontside ollie up and off the entension into the bowl was definitely the trick of the day for me.

It was later learnt that Tony Alva patted Div on the back and expressed his pleasure at watching the young lad skate. Div celebrated by getting blind drunk. A quick run down of the top three finalists had Jim ‘The Skin’ Atkins in third behind UK skate legend, Sean Goff. Sean was ripping, but his best trick would come much later on… The well deserved first place and golden ticket to the pro comp on Saturday and Sunday went to little Sam Beckitt. Sam has only just reached his teens, but you’d think he’d been skating since day dot. Nice frontside airs, frontside rodeos, and a backside 540 were all it took to walk away the winner. As UK Friday wrapped up, the big guns strolled into town and had a little whiz around the ramp. Bucky Lasek’s massive frontside air through the corner pocket was only a taste of what the weekend would hold. As we all celebrated with cold Carlings and admired Strapping Young lad blow a fuse on the main stage, Mr. Vans a.k.a. Steve Van Doren and his mate Alan threw a proper barbeque US style with burgers and bangers a go-go. Cheers!

“WO, WO, WO…!” – sorry i had to jump in here Ralph…

This Friday night was a fucking riot after the burgers went down. The drunken walk over to the tents was a legendary one. Imagine 30 skaters at a security gate, all fired up. One security said “WO..WO! and the rest is history…we used that to get everywhere! A party brewed in Aiden’s van, we rinsed his cold beers and fuck me they were cold! Props mate! We danced around to Tiffany and Flock of Seagulls on bennies and Shwingy! and then rampaged a party in the exhibition centre that saw everyone hit the floor. Aftershock and anything else they carried behind the bar was rinsed, the rest, they say…is history apart from the 2 skin deep carpet burn on my elbow! Z-Ed

SATURDAY

I woke up on Saturday. The James Sherry Fanclub and Alan looked awake, but a lie-detector test might have been necessary to verify that. Zac was out for the count in someone elses room! Unofficially, the Blue Jean Cowboy Denim entourage at the exhibition centre had taken him on a wild ride. Officially, he was compiling a top-secret tracklisting that required complete concentration and calm. Even the cleaning lady was turned away. As Alan and I waited for the bus down to the Bowl, a debate arose over the true colour of a zebra tail, and whether or not they had tails at all?? Alan couldn’t figure it out, so I squashed his distress by letting him know zebras do have tails and they resemble elongated paintbrushes with white stems and black tips. Case closed.

Now, unless you were tripping off your tits somewhere deep in an Amazonian jungle about to be cast into the brain drain that is that awful series Lost, you would know England had their first World Cup football match on Saturday. I will not commentate on the match itself as 50,000 metal fans can probably tell you more about it than the poor bands and BMXers that had to play during those engrossing 90 minutes.

In any case, the main event at the Snickers Bowl was the Longest Grind challenge; A simple test of speed, balance and balls. Ride the dragon, enjoy the ride. Juergen Horrwarth and Lincoln Ueda must have been on the same train because they both clocked in 22 and 21 foot grinds respectively. Omar Hassan stepped it up a few gears and smashed his previous record of 27 feet with a whopping 30 foot 5-0 to fakie. Go Omar! But the boy to beat was Brian Patch who won the comp with a stupid 33 foot long double axle grind motion. His grind was longer than Mr. Trujillo from Metallica’s guitar solo, but we’ll talk more about that later…

With the longest grind in the bag and Zac Slack emerging from the dust cloud of Donington Castle, skate practice could get under way and stops were getting pulled. Of all the stars and skate talent that lined the platform and sweated it out that afternoon, only one was missing: Div. Our man from Scotland had got lost in the arms of security and socialising, and was last spotted face down somewhere on the circuit with a bag full of bottles and a bemused smile on his ugly mug.

Anyway! Schwingy! Back to the thunder dome where urban athletes with taught muscles were flying through the air and whooshing past at high velocity. Now, there were only a few UK heads skating on the Saturday- Andy Scott, Pete King and Sam Beckitt. The rest of the fort was being held down by the Yankees- Neal Hendrix, Benji Galloway, Bucky Lasek, Omar, Brian…- and their foreign cohorts- Lincoln, Juergen, Terence Bougdour, Renton Millar, Sandro Dias. Despite the small British contingent and Pete proclaiming how he felt like a ‘wanker’ opposite the others, I must say they put on a damn good show.

Sam had his airs and 540’s spinning, whilst Pete took care of the lip tricks and Andy… Well, let’s say Andy skates like he’s asleep at the wheel. The dude just drops in out of nowhere and grabs everyone’s attention with a single trick; As Double D Dave Duncan on the mic put it: “The skaters are suddenly red hot!” Neal Hendrix was skating very consistently, pulling back to back nollie heelflips and full cab heelflips all afternoon. However, the session suddenly turned cold when Stratospheric tourist, Lincoln flew a massive frontside stalefish to back truck hang-up and consequently a fast forward dive to the bottom of the bowl. Clutching his ribs, Lincoln was out for the count, but the crowd applauded as he made his own way out of the specially designed plexi-glass trapdoor.

Another trapdoor that got opened on Saturday was the gateway to tequila fuelled debauchery. You see, as the day came to an end and everybody made their way over to the main stage to watch Metallica play Master of Puppets from start to finish (plus a couple of Misfits covers!), two merry young women joined the testosterone toned group of Crossfire men. Say hello to Niki and Dee!

You might recognize these lovely lasses from previous Crossfire events or musical features. In any case all you need to know is Niki warned us straight away about the danger of opening the tequila trapdoor, but seeing as we had succeeded in taming the dragon for two nights already, her sweet South African pleas fell upon deaf ears. One Metallica concert, several fireworks, two stalkers, some bennies and a whole lot of alcohol later and Zac was reaching out to Mother Mary like a scared child at 6am! Apparently he has no recollection his early wake up call by the Crossfire gang, but The James Sherry Fanclub definitely does. In his own words: “No guys! We’ve got to sleep! We’ve got a huge set to play tomorrow… Oh alright, jump on him!.”

SUNDAY

Sunday, the day of rest and repentance had already begun by the time we lay our heavy heads on the sweaty pillows. No rest for the wicked, eh? With no naked Alex around, Alan dreamt sweetly of braiding Axl Rose’s hair, whilst Niki tried to compose the best and most sincere apology of her life. I just rode the wave of adrenaline and alcohol fumes, annoyed that I had gone to bed at dawn and missed the sunrise.

Despite the mixed emotions, we all felt worse for wear and disappointed for having missed the skate finals. As Alan avoided direct sunlight and filmed anything with a pulse, Niki sealed her trapdoor shut and I went my investigative ways to find out what we had missed. Thank heavens we live in the digital age where everyone has a camera at the ready. I watched all the footage from Sunday’s early morning battle and came to the following conclusions: Lincoln Ueda doesn’t let a heavy spill dampen his weekend and rode the pain away to 8th place.

Fellow South American, Sandro Dias reached for the sky with huge airs of which one spun 540 degrees placing him in 4th. The top three ran as follows: Brian Patch 3rd, Bucky Lasek 2nd and Omar Hassan 1st- Now, there are three names that don’t budge all that often from the top, and rightly so. You see, the trick to win is consistency, variety and air time. Each of these three guys played it right, be it Brian with his ‘bolts’ approach to skating hard and fast, Bucky switching things up to a level very few have witnessed, or Omar mixing flip tricks and lip tricks like an age old recipe. An honourable mention must go to Benji Galloway for his 360 inverts back to back and Andy Scott keeping the dream alive with a magic mix of tricks that mixed the extension, flips and slips.. Well done guys!

The only thing left on the to-do list was the Best Trick Comp, but that wasn’t for another couple of hours, so I took this break to try and find a cool and quiet spot to gather my thoughts. As I wandered aimlessly through the human mass of Donington, I saw Darth Vader and metal fans sun burnt enough to be Imperial Guards. The endless thrum of Fenders and the smell of charred skin sent me quickly back to the Snickers Bowl where the BMX fraternity were busy with their Best trick. I know this piece should concentrate on the skating, but BMX riders are something else, plus they get all the hottest chicks, goddammit! Some burly Texan by the name of Joe Rich went one better on Bucky’s frontside air through the pocket by about 10 feet and 90 miles an hour. On the first two attempts he broke the guard barrier bailing and almost killed a photographer too close to the action. Needless to say, he finally got the honey and the money and left a satisfied man. What would the skate Best Trick comp have to offer?

Not much, at first… Honestly, Best trick comps are tough to call at first because everyone is pushing themselves after a very long and enduring weekend, and when you want to land a trick that you’ve never attempted before, the outcome is unknown. After 30 minutes of playing with the crowds nerves, Juergen Horwarth spun into first place with a fakie 720 tailgrab, only to be followed closely behind by Bucky with a nollie flip frontside tailslide up the extension buttery smooth and Renton Miller’s kickflip frontside 5-0. Other tricks that came so close but no cigar were Andy Scott’s ridiculous kickflip eggplant, Lincoln’s sky-high frontside Madonna, and Sandro Dias’ jokeman attempts of an alley-oop540 Christ air spanning a good 15 feet of the ramp! As I mentioned earlier, Sean Goff also had his little surprise for the crowd which consisted of a stark naked invert to full cavity search. Schwingy!

The deed was done and Guns and Roses featuring Axl Rose puffed up with ginger braids played us out to the tune of Live and Let Die. As I verged on a nervous breakdown, Niki got the last round of drinks in- Strictly Coke and Ice!-, Zac called his Swiss bank manager from Hotel reception, The James Sherry Fanclub asked to join my nervous breakdown and Alan watched the World Cup on the big screen.

Next stop: Paris for the Etnies 20th Anniversary Party! Schwingy! – Go on, click that red link right there, you would not believe it, after this carnage for 4 days in a row, we had to go to Paris the next day for the most rocking party, it continues!

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
15/06/2006

For 4 years now we have traditionally attended this event in Marseille, France but everyone knew it had run its course there and with rumours of the local council wanting back handers floating round the internet, it was looking doomed. But to be honest, the Marseille council in all those years never even installed toilets for the thousands of people who witnessed Europe’s most influential Bowl Comp so it was definitely time to move on.

We had a false start though. Got to the airport and missed the flight, in fact we saw it leave the runway, the pilot actually waved at us as we stood waving frantically with tickets aloft to see if there was a chance. Basically, if you go on a trip with Guido Gazzi (crossfire filmer) make sure you check the departure gate numbers yourself! The beer we had in the wrong gate was the most expensive one in the house! We had to stay in a hotel nearby and got the flight at 6am the next morning but my baggage and skateboard had already arrived in Sweden and my board did not even make it that far….bummed.

The event of course ended up in Malmo, Sweden after it was released to be taking place in Bologna, so many UK skaters from our crew spent their weekend there instead as they had already purchased flights, so that was a bit disappointing from the start but we went to Malmo anyway and were greeted by sheets of rain and an outdoor skatepark that looked like it would be the best fun in the world to skate.

The weather did not dampen our spirits whatsoever; we were picked up by Danijel Todorovic and our Swedish session maestro Seth who lives in London and welcomed by the local scene with open arms. Within 20 minutes of arriving at the event, the guy who works in the local skater owned shop Streetlab, mentioned that they play Crossfire Radio shows in the shop a lot, so that put us in a great mood and the rest is a total blur!

The weather dried up and this park was unleashed to the worlds best bowl skaters. The heats ran and the beer flowed at 4pm as it always does. It rained in Fosters beer all afternoon, and the atmosphere was fantastic as everyone caught up with each other.

I stayed in the bar whilst people legged it over to Pontus Alv’s mad little bowl for a sesh, in fact, I had to, I missed the ride! Free beer huh! It pissed down with rain anyway though so I didn’t miss much.

The first night we were there, a party took place in a cool club, it was a Streetlab video premiere and Malmo’s scene turned out in force to witness the first showing. It’s a great movie and worth grabbing if you want to find out more about how good European Skateboarding has got thesedays. These guys rip. One thing I have to mention is that Sweden is full of tight units, girls and boys. Obviously the girls are off the hook, throughout and tonight, the club was awash with beautiful women. We realised that this would be the case for our entire weekend, it was superb.

The other notable thing for the traveler is that the clubs have smoking bans throughout, which, if you like to smoke, is a pain in the ass and something us Brits will have to get used to next summer apparently. Some of the yanks went to jail that night for smoking in clubs. I spoke to a bouncer about how things have changed since the ban and he said straight up – “it’s healthier cos there is no smoke and people’s clothes don’t smell like they used to, but at the end of the night, the clubs stink of body odour and piss, so I would prefer to smell of smoke!“

That night was fun, although David Martelleur from Belgium was arrested and thrown into the slammer for being drunk and disorderly again! Every skate trip, every country, you know where to find David at 6am – being released back onto the streets!

The hangover on the Saturday was priceless but the skating today was even more so. You see, this skate park is a work of art and most people have not sessioned this place yet as it is so new. It did not take too long though and the park was hit at every angle. It was built by Stefan Houser, a yank running PTR Skateparks and was completed in November 2005, but with snow falling, the Malmo faithful had to wait until the good weather arrived, you can imagine how stoked they are about it now, in fact if you click here and read Danijel Todorovic’ interview on this site, he will explain the Malmo scene in much more detail.

I think we should concentrate on the good times as the skating can speak for itself in our Bowlriders video filmed by Guido Gazzi and Alan Christensen on this page. Download it to save our bandwidth.

There are too many names to mention, but of course the style and trickery of Italian heavyweight Daniel Cardone stole the show with Spanish rider Alan Goikoetxea in 2nd and the Dane Rune Glifberg stealing 3rd on the day. It was fucking mental, that is all I have to say, and the pool sesh that followed the final was electric.

Have you seen that kid Screech skate? What the fuck?! this is him right here smashing blunts in the pool!

So for the first time in Bowlriders history, the Europeans stole the first 3 places. Omar Hassan was followed by Benji Galloway and Chris Senn to finish the top 6 places and British rider Pete King lost out on the opening rounds whilst Ross McGouran who looked lethal, went through with Andy Scott who reached the semis and skated really well.

The Saturday night started with a pizza. We managed to attract new friends from the USA as well, namely Craig Whitehead (who is now writing for the site) and his entourage from San Diego…I don’t know what it is about that part of California but people from there seem to rage harder than anywhere else, and yeah, San Francisco, take note! You were missing this year J-Dog! The other hilight of the weekend was meeting Chris Cab from Austria. Top penis, great cab driver! Here he is below admiring Fosters!

The pizza went down well, then a crew of 15 drunken skaters tried to make sure that Renton Millar didn’t piss himself in the main square as he shouted “Cunt” at the top of his voice. Things were getting gnarly. We went to see Jocke Olsen at an underground bar who was playing drum and bass and then went off to a “Skate Party” that most thought would be a sausage fest, funny how they all managed to scramble into that place once we got there and they got the message it was 50/50.

You would have loved to have checked the moves on Niall Neeson Editor of Kingpin Mag at this party, this bloke can seriously be a contender for Staying Alive, and actually I think the entire party must have just thought we were gay! Oh well! It could have been worse, I could have been dancing with Silent Will and Jason from Method Mag who were legends all weekend.

This party was amazing, great music, seriously tight units everywhere and cool people, maybe this is standard stuff in Sweden but it rocked! Once that ship sunk, we went back to Jocke’s where Aussie Tom was about to headbutt one of the bands I do PR for in Malmo. I saved his arse as Tom is like an Elephant on Acid at this time of the night and the band member went home in one piece but probably woke up with a sore arse! Ask Tom! When Jocke’s club kicked out at 4am, it was the usual – just me and Pete King left!

We hit a cab and went to a rock club, only hour left on the clock so they said, we got there and a full on fist fight erupted outside a kebab shop (Swedish Kebabs are the nuts btw!) and the whole street was in disarray! Out came the meat cleavers and baseball bats and the place kicked off. The rock club was empty but they played The Slits for me before I stumbled out of there pissed as a fart! A blonde girl took me down the street on the back of her bike and then I woke up in my hotel room cock in hand, still dressed. Sunday’s finals had arrived!

The finals were indeed a spectacle. The rain came and went but no one gave a fuck. Everyone was in high spirits. At one point there was a board focusing moment at the bar and The Harmony Skateboard Company will be very happy to know that thier boards were unbreakable to all pro riders at that bar! Kids take note!

After the comp, the annual Quiksilver party rocked the City. The concoction of Dave Duncan and David Martelleur got David locked up for a second night of the weekend but at least this time the tables didn’t all go over! Gerald Roche in true Gerald only style was banned from the main event for drinking a beer outside, I must admit, my main man went missing all weekend but flew the flag, top geezer.

The comp was amazing, Malmo’s people are amazing, the park is off the hook and Quiksilver once again pulled off one of the best events of the year. Thanks for the hook ups.

Enjoy the video on this page.

Chuck Bangers

Etnies roll out the red carpet in Paris…

As each bump of turbulence resonated through the tail-end of the plane, I rode it out to the loops and samples of some exclusive grime beats.

The rescue remedy and sleeping pills had me in a subconscious state of mind that I warmed to sweetly after a brain drain of booze, bass guitars and head-banging. The last 4 days and nights had been spent locked in a Heavy Metal vortex that my psyche wasn’t accustomed to at the Download Festival (click here for the rundown once it’s up).

Flying 50,000 feet above the ground with solid street music in my ears felt like a much deserved massage of my nervous system. I daydreamed back to yesteryear and the circumstance that had me strapped into a volatile metal tube here and now- Skateboarding: A passion far stronger than any drug I knew, and a culture that’s underrated and untouchable. Who’d have thought that flying down a country lane on a wood plank and four wheels would later have me invited to an exclusive party at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, all expenses paid and a 600 euro a night bedroom?

The weirdest part of all this was the party celebrated Etnies 20th Anniversary, and my first pair of real skate shoes were a pair of Etnies! I remember vividly picking a pair of grey suede mid-tops with a lace saver Velcro scratch. I don’t recall the name of the model, but it was all about the lace saver…

Flash forward to Paris, June 12th 2006, and I am racing across the city for interviews with the Etnies Pro team who have all flown in especially for the occasion. I’m staying in the same hotel as them and President Chirac lives just down the block. I notice Jacques has some lovely bank to wallrides on his Presidential compound, the Elysees, plus a few ledges round the corner. Rune Glifberg later informed me that him and a few others skated past there the other night and got bum-rushed by unmarked police cars and security guards, so I leave my board in the room and head across town to the main hub of activity on foot.

The media circus has been set up at the Concorde Lafayette, one of Paris’ most prestigious hotels with its own conference and shopping centre. The Concorde Lafayette is also a golden opportunity to get lost as me and UK Etnies Rep Gemma soon found out, two floors below the complex in a service elevator! No mind though, things are running like clockwork and the Etnies team relaxes whilst kicking a football around on one of the top floor balconies.

In attendance we have Steve Forstner, Ronnie Creager, Ali Boulala, Rune Glifberg, Bastien Salabanzi, Elissa Steamer, Ryan Sheckler, Kyle Leeper and another huge handful of magazine faces and European riders alike. If you want to fan-out on a pro skater, this is the time and place to do it. Luckily, I don’t. Well… I do a bit, when I get to meet one of my idols, Ronnie Creager, but he’s really cool and doesn’t intimidate me or come across as a rock star in any way or form. To be honest he almost looks as surprised as me to be in such circumstances. Top bloke Mr. Creager!

With the formalities and interviews out of the way (much to the relief of the riders who have been quizzed, plucked, picked and fondled by every type of action sport and fashion media type for the last three days!), I leave the boys to kick around their football, and head back to my suite on foot whilst Zac rolled into town on his 5th night of carnage in a row to. He heads straight for the bar and gets the party rolling.

It looked close enough on the map, a virtual straight line, but in actual fact… Paris is a huge city, and in June the summer is already in full swing with temperatures tickling the 30 degrees centigrade! My 15 minute taxi ride, was an hour on foot, but as Mr. Bob Sanderson pointed out; the women in Paris are stunning as is the architecture, so I rather enjoyed the scenic route. A quick wash and a change for tonight’s festivities, I remember someone telling me specifically not to wear Vans or any other major competitor to this evening’s birthday boy, Etnies. Problem is, I don’t own a pair of Etnies, but I do own a pair of Es- Etnies younger more sophisticated brother. However, these Es were my skate shoes and a damn fine pair I might add! Anyway, I doubt anyone would be checking my feet at the door, more likely my crazed red-beard that I had grown out during my four day Heavy metal debacle…it turned out that Zac turned up in a pair of Vans but I’m sure he got away with it!

Dinner and drinks with the team is a relaxed affair with everyone gradually winding down after hectic schedules and a bizarre photo shoot with a man named Claus. Apparently Claus was a poor fashion photographer with no prior experience of working outside his studio, let alone at a skate spot with a bunch of skaters whizzing around. Needless to say, Steve was looking tired after his 30th run at a trick that Claus couldn’t get the true ‘essence’ of…

Camera. Check. Voice recorder. Check. Golden ticket. Che… D’oh! I forgot it, but who cares? I’m rolling into this party with the boys, right? Well, security needed a bit more convincing than that. Even the bloody massive 30 foot visual display and posters that adorned the Palais de Tokyo and the fans pointing, and the groupies ‘Oooo-ing’ and Aaaaahhh-ing’ weren’t proof enough as someone (un-)helpful tried to send us to the back of the queue. Ha! Luckily, the German Rep was on hand and woman-handled the situation very well. Thanks! We’re in!

Now, take two steps back and realize the scheme of things that Etnies is putting on display for their 20th birthday bash. The main Parisien spot with enough history to fill a book and a DVD documentary has been decked out head to toe in Etnies paraphernalia, from plasma screen projected drapes, to a full museum archive of glass cabinets that recall Etnies story so far. A stage with some of France’s top DJs spinning the wheels of steel, and free booze all night. The free booze was going to prove a testing point for patience however as rappers, skaters, BMXers, business people and glamour girls huddled around the square drinking fountain like bees to honey. I tried one side to no avail. Then, I tried another side and spotted Al Boglio, Cliché team manager, trying to juggle about 6 cans of beer and two cocktails as he scored an opportunity to place an order with the frantic bar staff. Even though I still couldn’t get served, I laughed as some Parisien socialite squealed because Al had dropped one of his cans on her precious Prada shoes! My third attempt bore alcoholic fruit, so I even placed an extra large order for some dude I randomly knew standing in the line behind me.

With a beer stuffed in each pocket, I felt like a thief, but then I saw my greedy technique was actually being carried out by everyone else I bumped into, so the guilt evaporated in the heat. Did I mention it was hot in Paris? Anyway, as I made my way back to the crew I met so many people I knew from different skate scenes, it left me feeling uplifted.

Etnies had really pulled a biggie off by getting so many true skate heads into one venue for the night; friendship buzzed and bounced around the marble Palais. I talked shop and complimented Ali Boulala on his unique form of self promotion via the modelling of his new pro model as a giant medallion. Ali’s take on bling gave me flashbacks of Ghostface Killah and his ridiculous golden eagle wrist band. Ali’s shoe-chain doubled up as a beer-cozy too though- stick that in your XXXL dressing gown Ghost!

The Etnies 20th Anniversary had such an eclectic mix of skateboard notables under one roof; I remember sharing a bottle of Champagne with Chris Pastras, Dave ‘Double D’ Duncan, Kyle Leeper and Sal Barbier. But celebrity status aside, this party really had everyone mixing it up and enjoying themselves which is a tough trick to pull at your usual Jet-Skate events.

Now, comes the fun as alcohol levels rise and the hunt for hi-jinx is on! Ali Boulala kicked things off by knocking over a table and smashing bottles. Over-zealous security tried to rush the gypsy king, but skaters easily out-numbered the gorillas to chants of “Ali Koumbaya!” in reference to a prize fighter. To vent their anger, a security gimp punched innocent bystander, Steve Forstner in the back of the head. Sorry Steve…

Whilst this was all going on, Zac and Lee Dainton from Dirty Sanchez had formed a bond that would see them rage harder than ever before. The 5th night on the tiles was becoming easy and the pair of them made sure that they had the best time ever. Here’s a tip that worked for Zac you may want to try out next time you are on the rip. Meet girls at beginning of night, find them half way through, ask where her friend is. If she says her friend is making out with someone in the toilets, sigh and say how gutted she must be not to be making out with someone at a party like this and then cheekily ask if she wants to make out with you….end result, a beautiful tongue sandwich from a stunning New York City Magazine Editor! Both Zac and Lee win the award on the night for Minesweeping and best raging to Daft Punk! Emerica rider Vaughan Baker gets the award for being the most stoked on life and deservedly so!

The clock had hit 3am and the Etnies team was unleashed on the serene streets of Paris. A herd of us began the trek back to the Concorde, but soon realised that the walk would last a couple of hours if we didn’t grab a cab. Take this minute to envision a drunk and disorderly group of pranksters hailing lonely cab drivers and begging for the journeyman to squeeze at least 10 sweaty bodies into his pristine vehicle… Zac’s crew, namely all the A4 crew and more UK rampagers had started to steal wheelbarrows to get back to the hotel but with obviously no joy. Not happening! Eventually, three cabs pulled up one after another and the party could continue.

Did I mention the Concorde Lafayette was an affluent resting place with a skybar? Well, the word circulated and somehow we found the secret lift that got you to the top-floor pleasure dome. In true rebellious style, we bum-rushed the show and greasy business men with their escorts reeled in disgust and disdain as Etnies scoped out the venue. The bar staff wasn’t all that concerned with Ali’s get-up, but more intrigued by the exclusive character that ordered them to fill his jewel incrusted chalice.

Celebrity misogynist, Don Magic Juan self-proclaimed Pimp was in attendance with two young ladies draped on each arm and about $5000 of bling on each hand. Apparently the pimp met Andrew Reynolds recently and an Emerica shoe collaboration is in the mix! The Bishop (as he likes to be known) really is a pimp, at least he does a good job of acting like one judging by the way he man-handles the women, The most bizarre thing is that the ladies love it and were literally fighting for his attention. I don’t think they noticed him carrying a Yellow Page plastic bag all night though… Not so glamorous, is it?

Obviously the skybar got shut down in less than five minutes, so we dropped 35 floors to the lobby where news of a nightclub around the corner from the hotel had everyone stoked. The night club in question was called Le Night, and advertised the fact that it open till dawn. Perfect! However, once inside, the melodies of Madonna and Dizzie Rascal weren’t going to put a sweet swing on the 15 euro beers! Zac’s first round of three bottles of 1664 beer clocked in at a whopping 51 euros, so the nectar was sipped like the finest of cognacs after that until Zac supplied the entire party with a stolen bottle of Vodka, suckers! As people relaxed fully and lost their inhibitions (Did anyone have any after midnight anyway???), a few beautiful ladies danced around crossing eyes with the men. For public privacy I cannot disclose the man who nearly fell victim to one of these ladies of the night. Let’s just say, she wasn’t asking for a cab fare home…

I signed out around 5am and retreated to my lovely hotel room, only to be awoken an hour later by my surprise room mate – Mr. Bob Sanderson! I practically had a heart attack when this burly Birmingham lad laughed and roared about the fact that we would become bedroom buddies for the night. I knew Bob would be around, but not within such proximity, he was out there reviewing for Sidewalk Mag, look out for the write up in July’s issue.Luckily, the party had tired us both out so conversation never went further than a blurry greeting. It wasn’t till the next day (later that day?) that Bob and I shared words and views on the event, Paris and our host Etnies. We both came to the conclusion that Etnies sure know how to hold a party, and Paris is probably one of Europe’s most beautiful cities with plenty more skate spots that Barcelona.

After a good and greasy lunch at the pub over the road from the Concorde Lafayette, I bid farewell to my new friends and felt relieved and rewarded for having run the gauntlet. I had survived a week long haul of partying in three different continents, whilst Zac was missing and wouldn’t resurface for another three days!

I take my hat off to all those involved in Etnies who have done skateboarding proud for the last 20 years. Bring back those lace savers!

Visit www.etnies.com for the full experience. We have a feeling that we will be able to cover the LA party in October so watch this space.

Big thanks to Pierre, Brenda, Gemma, and Josette, Jenny, Rudi and Victoria for their hospitality and organisation..

Ralph Lloyd-Davis
17/06/2006

On Saturday 27 May, this years Girl Skate Jam UK saw female skateboarders from all around Britain and Europe travel to the infamous Pioneer Skatepark in St Albans.

The only ‘girls-only’ competition to take place in the UK was the third organised by Pioneer Skatepark locals Jenna Selby and Jenny England and is now an annual fixture in the summer skate event calendar. Following on from the previous two years events, which have grown steadily bigger and better each year, this latest Jam was no exception.

Competitors travelled from as far afield as Italy, Belgium and Norway to take part and girls living in the UK travelling from places including Warrington, Bognor Regis, Birmingham, Derbyshire, Bristol and London, to name a few.

With four months preparation before the comp day there were one of two setbacks for the organisers. Perhaps trouble with the winners trophies being one of the more amusing. After collection, a closer inspection was made and there seemed to be slight discrepancies in the engravings. Instead of “Sponsored Slag” appearing on the sponsored section trophy, the dyslexic engraver had written “Sponsored Schlae” (Did he not realise it didn’t mean anything!!) and on the over 18’s trophy, “Grandma” now read “Gradnma.” However once Jenna’s dad had performed his DIY magic, trophies (which were formerly for female runners) combined with tech decks then became one of the competitions unique attributes.

The day of the comp started with a two hour jam, followed by competitions split into categories for those who wished to take part. Unfortunately this year the gods did not smile on the outdoor miniramp, and the rain that started just after midday persisted until the end of the day, calling off that particular comp. Nevertheless that disappointment was made up for by the level of skating that took place on the indoor street course.

In the under 18 competition winner Helena Long (who rocked the best knee pad steeze) impressed the crowd and judges alike with her two runs, which included a blunt nose grab to fakie on the small quarter pipe, kickflip on the driveway and unless my eyes were deceiving me a 5-0 on the Koston. Second placed Kim Lewis and third placed Georgina Winter concentrated on technical flatground “Mullen esq.” flip tricks, Georgina pulling off some varial pretzel flip malarkey!

In the over 18 section Kerry Dennis from Derbyshire was the winner for the second year running. Her tricks included a backside ollie, boardslide on the rail and a floaty ollie to fakie on the six foot quarter.

But it was the sponsored skaters competition that once again found the crowd in full voice. Third placed Sadie Hollins showed why she is one of the UK’s brightest female skating talents, cheered on by her local Death boys, her run included a nollie backside heelflip, switch kickflips and lots more Essex technical wizardry. She was piped to second place by fellow Rogue Skateboards rider Emma “The Brum” Richardson, who made good use of the whole park, pulling off amongst other tricks 50:50 grinds on the rail, frontside 5-0 on the quatre and a backside kickflip on the flatbank.

But it was Etnies sponsored Kristina Westad AKA “the Viking” from Norway who bagged herself first place, impressing judges Pip Procter and Andy Willis with two stylee runs (she did later admit that this was actually all thanks to her section tune of Queen’s: Don’t Stop Me Now) Her runs included lipslides, frontside boardslides down the rail and a 360flip on the Koston block. Kristina was very impressed with her trophy even if she did get slightly confused by “Sponsored Shlae.”

One notable absentee from the sponsored competition was Belgian skater Evelien Bouillart who unfortunately injured her ankle at the park the night before the competition. Even though she had to suffer the delights of Hemel Hempstead Hospital for that night, on the day of the competition Jenna and Jenny put her to good working use as a judge – a task she performed admirably! Other notable events were Kristina Westad winning best trick with a perfect frontside kickflip on the flatbank and Rebecca Aimee Davies, who had travelled from North Wales to take part in the miniramp comp, attempting an insanely difficult acid drop into the vert wall!

The crowds and skaters were once again entertained by MC Jack Wiggins from the Oxford Wheels Project with his unique style of MC-ing. Choice snippets included “Look at them go people, they’re risking their lives for you, it’s a wonder they’ve still got their own teeth!” All whilst wearing a rather fetching multicoloured lycra downhill luge catsuit!

The crowd were also kept happy with Djing from DJ Lupee and Pip, who very kindly stepped in when the other DJ’s pulled out at the last minute.

All in all, a great day was had by all. Once again the level of girl’s skating went up by more than a few notches and a small piece of the Pioneer’s reputation for holding skate comps was restored.

Jenna and Jenny would like to thank the following sponsors for supporting the Jam: Rogue Skateboards, Carhartt, Gallaz, Etnies, Eastpak, Rockstar Bearings, Death Skateboards, Heroin, Blest Lifestyle, Motel 6 Skateshop, Social Disorder, Riot Squad, Conspiracy Skateshop and:

Also a big thank you to Pioneer Skatepark for help with funding the event and everyone who volunteered on the day, as we couldn’t have done it without help from a lot of people.

Lastly thanks to the Selby and England families and Simon Kidner for all their help with organising on the day and putting up and feeding a lot of sweaty, drunken skaters!

Full Results

Under 18:

1st – Helena Long
2nd – Kim Lewis
3rd – Georgina Winter

Over 18:

1st – Kerri Dennis
2nd – Becky Wood
3rd – Kate Hayden

Sponsored Section:

1st – Kristina Westad
2nd – Emma Richardson
3rd – Sadie Hollins

Best trick:

Kristina Westad

Best Slam:

Evelien Boulliart (Retrospectively)

20th-21st May 06

May 20th saw the first ‘Saaf of the River Skate jam’ in Deptford South East London. How did this all come about? I hear the voices ask!

Well, long story short, I’ve got myself a pukka little Demo Mini-Ramp that until recently was dwelling, all neatly stacked up in my parents garage (cheers Ma + Pa) from the elements but unfortunately unskateable.

Now I’ve got a pal, whose got a pal who runs an arts exhibition/workshop type of affair in Deptford, who just so happened to have a lock up available which was just big enough to house a pukka little mini ramp…Bish-Bash-Bosh, Robert’s your Fathers Brother, couple of weeks of monkeying about with wood and screws and the ramp was up and ready for a thrashing.

Putting on an event is a real pain in the jacksy but that’s a different story altogether . After spreading the word about, and with a little bit of very generous help from some sponsors (Big Up Phil at Snickers, all at A4, Howies, Death and everyone else who chipped in) it looked like a good couple of days of skating were about to go down. It being an Am comp on the Saturday and the big spuds coming out for a Sunday sesh. Saturday was actually the most fun I’d had in quite a while, quite a few heads turned up for a mellow days skate. Little Ellie from Finsbury Park took some proddy for an array of sick lip tricks and some nice flippery.

Chris Jackson from Greenpeace smashed it all day with long, sick runs of some of the hardest lips tricks I’ve witnessed in a while. Glory boy of the day though was Jake Harris representing Repent Skateboards who glided through the nicest alley-oop BS Ollies, long BS Smiths and took home a firsta first try Switch Tre in exchange for some spanking new E’s shoes! Nice one son! Jobs a-good-un.

Sunday was the day of reckoning and despite all my fears of no one turning up and looking like a right Pilchard were dashed as a ton of my favorite ramp skaters all showed and tore my ramp a new arsehole! Not one to name drop but Nowick, Churchill, Jed, Stevie Thompson, Zorlac, and a chunk of the Death Squad, plus Bay 66 Crew and a sprinkle of some less known but ripping talent all threw down in exchange for some cash loot via an increasingly drunk MC Mark Brewster.

Highlights of the day for me were Nowick’s Blunt Tre flip in ala Deawon and India Matt Aka Steak’s early grab BS 540! Everyone who was there will probably have they’re own favorite parts of the day and if you want to know more, then you should have turned up you bunch of mugs!!

Basically, you’re only mugging yourself off if you don’t show for the next one, I can confidently say, if you ask anyone who was there and they will tell you they had a stonkingly good time. Picture it, good ramp, good music, shocking skating, beers flowing. Events run by skaters, for skaters are definitely the way forward!

Keep a beady one open and at www.rampjam.co.uk for info of the next one, it’s gonna be a cracker!

Thanks to everyone who helped with building the ramp, all who turned up and the sponsors who, without their support could not have made this happened.

Dave Chesson

All pics by Gorm

May 2006 came and the rain was still falling in London. These guys got off the plane and had to make the most of it, but they had a good time as you will see in this video feature put together by Alan Christensen.

The footage is on the top right hand side of this page. You can download it to keep if you right click it and save target as.

Finsbury Park in North London is a huge green space stuck right in the middle of chaos.

I lived there in 1994 for 3 years, we were burgled twice, the car done once. I only revisit when i have to, as the area has become a serious dumping ground for stinking chavs, illegal immigrants and drug dealers.

Traffic pours through there in droves, it gets clogged up, people are tired looking and hang out in gangs with pitbulls. But on a positive note, Arsenal Stadium is just round the corner and just outside the tube station have a bagel shop that rocks, especially if you like saltbeef and pickle.

The park hosts the occasional festival annually, in fact the last bands i saw their on the same bill where The Sex Pistols and Iggy Pop in the late 90’s – one of the best shows that park has witnessed to date, but now, the park has concrete to skate, so we went to check it out a week after the last pour went down.

As we moved up the hill towards the park it is clearly far from finished. The area around the bowls are still covered in scrap wood, pipes and bricks but the first thing we noticed about the park itself is that it has a really strange layout that could be fun. The park was built by Fearless Ramps also known for their concrete build at Dagenham which has some nice lines but this bowl in Finsbury Park is tight. They were obviously stripped of a budget like all parks seem to be in London. Same old story.

Locals we spoke to who sat in on committee meetings mentioned that the mellow bowls at the Southern point of the park were supposed to be a small bowl with a spine in the middle of it, until people shouted “what about us street skaters” and instead of building ledges, a manny pad and stairs across a flat smooth surface and scrapping the bowl idea altogether, the design was changed and a block with coping edges was dumped into the middle of this mess making it very difficult to skate. If you hit the tranny straight up and down, you then have to avoid this block at your peril. This is just word of mouth though so not set in stone.

The bowl is as tight as arseholes. Too tight to really enjoy a great session there. There is nothing like flowing around a bowl and although you can have fun in there, you just wished it was bigger. Greysocks managed to skate it well as he can shred anything in sight but to be honest even he was struggling to keep his lines flowing without running out of space. We met a guy called Jake who ripped it. He even managed to get a fs grind up the ridiculous escalators that were dumped in there but yet again, it’s so tight that you run out of ideas after hitting a few walls. Also, if you ever run into Jake, ask him about the egg he has on his elbow due to the PLASTIC drain installed, yep, it’s a wheel killer.

I asked every person skating what they thought of this park out of 10 and the average figure that came back from 10 skaters was 5.5. The fact that London STILL does not have a World Class Plaza/Skatepark still bemuses us all and this tiny park and the new surface that ruined Stockwell are the latest additions to taking us further away from skating really decent parks. The better the parks, the better the skaters.

In addition to this news, locals from Cantelowes were skating with us at Finsbury Pk who also report that the plans for their local in Camden are completely up in the air due to budgets and designs conflicting, so the project is currently on ice with local media sniffing around trying to help skaters to voice their opinions.

In other London skatepark news, we hear on the grapevine that Rich “Holland” Badger who recently designed the Interstices Exhibition at the Lille Expo (click here to read a feature on this exhibition) has designed a street plaza for a new indoor park in London Bridge but this is far from done. With gas pipes becoming an issue and the council being fans of prefabricated skate ramps, it has reached a sticky point. More on this soon but Badger is also designing the new street plaza for Bay Sixty6.

If you want amazing parks to skate, don’t travel to Central London right now, all our parks are good, but just not amazing. The 2 most recent concrete parks worth skating are in Potters Bar and mainly Boreham Wood made by Freestyle. Travel up North instead as up there, they seem to be on a level par with the rest of the world, or even down South to Bournemouth. Maybe London is just too expensive to get shit done, maybe people just take the money and don’t give a shit, but with key people sitting in on meetings about council funded skate parks, there should be no room for errors such as the tightness of Finsbury Park but as i said before, some people will love it’s quirkiness, we are all different. I just hope that one day we will have the luxury of watching the real skate park designers and builders sign up to the UKSA and hopefully like regular builders, their work will be stamped with an official UKSA badge so we know what parks are worthwhile and ones that are just shite can be ignored. We also hear that a UK pro vert skater is thinking about organising a UK skate park book. With lots of new parks being built all over the country right now, it may well be needed.

Finsbury Park is located in North London. You can get there by tube on the Victoria Line.
Click here for a map of the tube.

When you leave the station, head along the main road and follow your nose to Finsbury Park, you can’t miss it, it’s opposite a bagel shop. Go into the main entrance, up the hill and you will find the park on the left hand side of the tennis courts.

Chuck Bangers

Written May 10th 2006