Here at Crossfire, we try and keep you connected to everyone, no matter how big or small, so when we peeped the new trailer for a video from Plex Skateboards out of France we had to post it up for all to see.
Also, it has been heard that Plex are looking for sales reps so that they can establish themselves a bit more, but when the video drops that shouldn’t be a problem. Contact info@plexskateboards.com if you want to know more.
News in today regarding the Crossfire’s annual 7-Set Jam next Saturday reveals that new obstacles will be built especially for the jam by The Sound Effects of Urethane boss Rich Holland. New blocks are apparently being shipped into the Southbank in July but this jam will see concrete poured across the cobbles and a mid-sized slide bar installed so you can manual and slide across the acid drop the other side.
Other news in today regarding the jam is that the full Emerica European Team will be joining us alonside Element Skateboards riders plus heaps of pro skaters from across the UK are gearing up for the day in question, so expect it to be one of the best jams you will witness all year.
More as soon as it comes in, send this flyer to everyone today, this one will go off.
1992 Saw the birth of one Skateboardings most influential companies, Element. They established themselves quickly and soon became household names amongst skaters and those who choose to wear skate apparel.
For years and years they produced excellent skate products, whilst their team riders at the time (Donny Barley, Reese Forbes, Mike Frazier, Kenny Hughes, Natas Kaupas, Tim O’Connor, Bill Pepper, Rob Pluhowski etc) delivered world-class video parts on all fronts. Everybody knew of their talents as they ruled the scene, especially the Element Ramp scene!
Not one of the riders mentioned above are still on their PRO team; they’ve been replaced by the likes of Bam Margera, Mike V, Tosh Townend, Brent Atchley and many others. All of them are unique in their own way, especially Tosh and Brent, but Element has a different feel to it. People move on and companies change, evolve and come up with new ideas. Elements latest addition to the skate industry (besides the amazing Nyjah Huston) comes in the form of footwear. That’s right, they’ve taken the big step and decided to launch a shoe range.
Not a bad idea I thought at the time and looking back at it now, I remember checking their site and thinking the shoes don’t look half bad…till I actually received my pair of Travertines. They look like deck shoes crossed with Clarkes finest own brand casuals. I thought “fuckit”, they might skate better than they look, so I starting wearing them in a little.
The back of the shoe comes in really low and hurt the back of my ankle a lot. This gradually became less irritating as I continued to sport them, keeping the faith. Other than that, they were fairly comfortable and rather grippy.
I suffered a heel bruise whilst trying them out and realised that there was very little cushioning going on underneath my heels.
I was losing my faith in their shoe concept and fortunately for me, these shoes started perishing after the first skate and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before they fall apart. They say pictures don’t lie, so I documented my element shoe experience for the sake of it.
You decide…
“Shoes have always been on our agenda,” said Element Founder and President Johnny Schillereff. ” We feel that the time is now right for Element to enter this category. The line has been in development for some time and we are looking forward to bringing it to the market. Shoes are a natural extension to the Element brand and we will focus on delivering a fresh approach in design, functionality and performance.”
Since reading our reviews of Element Shoes on this very site, the company have told us personally that “Element took on board the criticism given and hope that in Autumn/Winter, all those out there who are Element fans will see the changes they are looking for next season in the new line of footwear.”
TWO PEE
Tum Yeto have just announced the cancellation of their Pig Wood Pro skate team. Currently signing on elsewhere are Shuriken Shannon, Ragdoll, Matt Ball, Brian “Slash” Hansen, Adrian Mallory, Sammy Baca and Eric Hamamoto.
However, just because the wood’s no longer good, Ragdoll, Don “The Nuge” Nuygen, Matt Ball, Brian “Slash” Hansen, Adrian Mallory and Shuriken Shannon can still rep Pig Wheels in the ‘hood. Pig will still produce limited runs of boards and completes.
In other Tum Yeto news, Don “The Nuge” Nguyen has scored a spot on the Foundation team.
The DVS team are one busy lot when it comes to touring. After the 4 week Skate More world tour, the boys are back in town with their European Vacation, without forgetting the Search for Chupacabra Bro Brigade Tour that just went down South of the border in Mexico City, Leon, Guadalajara and other south American hotspots. Apparently this last tour was strictly skateboarding and left team manager Gabe feeling slightly confused as to where he was- Belgium or Buenos Aires..?
A whole lot of sick footage is getting clocked up for a future 30 minute feature show on Fuel Tv. Plus, the nice guys that they are, DVS have dedicated an entire series to their homies the photographers, because without them the myth would be nothing but words. The Photographer Series showcases work by Gabe Morford, Atiba Jefferson, Ben Colen, Giovanni Reda and Mike O’Meally. Next time you spot Giovanni, ask him to speak French – “Bonjour Guillaummmeee!”
Why we all accept mini-ramps and not their older brothers, the vert, I will never understand… The level of skating that goes on atop a 15 foot monster is just as amazing as that little combo some street skater pulled, but the adrenaline rush is ten times stronger.
If you want a taste of the action, get yourselves over to Holland for the Halfpipe Horror event that will single-handedly try and resuscitate the Dutch vert scene. A 12m wide, 3.7m high vert ramp stands tall in the centre of Rotterdam at the Westblaak Skatepark and awaits your arrival on the 25th June for a comp that can hopefully pump some young blood back into skateboarding’s roots.
Whilst out at the Etnies 20th Anniversary Party, we managed to get and up close look and feel of the new Ali Boulala shoe.
Still in the prototype phase but looking 99% ready for consumer consumption, the Boulala is a simple and efficient shoe with a slight bit of flair that characterizes Ali very well. Find out where the idea for black lace and red rubies came from very soon in Ali’s second Crossfire interview.
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)
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It was a really hot, long and loud Download festival that received the world’s best vert skaters for the annual Snickers Bowl comp. The weekend kicked off with UK Friday- a day dedicated to homegrown talent to shine for a place in the finals with the pros – and Div‘s freestyle no pads mayhem got edged out by the amazing skills of little Sam Beckett. Rodeos, 540s, big airs and consistent style saw Sam win the golden ticket.
The following day kicked off nice and early with a longest grind session. If you weren’t clocking above the 18 foot mark, forget about it. So, Lincoln Ueda ground a whopping 21 feet, with Juergen Horrwarth getting one better on him with 22 feet. Omar Hassan smashed his previous record of 27 feet with a massive 30 foot 5-0 to fakie, but Brian Patch was the man of the hour with a ridiculous 33 foot grind through the knuckle!
During Saturday’s Practice sessions, things stepped up a whole lot when Juergen, Bucky Lasek, Andy Scott and company stepped up to drop in. Lincoln threw a 7ft frontside stalefish to body slam 20 feet below and thast called it a day for the warm ups.
Sunday went off in true form with Neal Hendrix wiring together some very solid and tough lines with Nollie Heelflips and full cab heelflips on lock. Sandro Dias was flying so high that the passengers in the overhead planes could read his sponsors off the bottom of his deck. Bucky was switching things up and Andy Scott was seriously on fire. Before the results were called, the Best Trick comp went down and everyone was pulling out the stops, even injured Lincoln with more hair-raising high flying antics. Despite busting out a nollie flip frontside tailslide up the extension, Bucky couldn’t budge Juergen’s head height fakie 720 tailgrab.
Final results run as follows:
13th: Sam Beckitt
12th: Sean Goff
11th: Terence Bougdour
10th: Renton Millar
9th : Lincoln Ueda
8th : Andy Scott
7th : Benji Galloway
6th : Neal Hendrix
5th : Juergen Horwarth
4th : Sandro Dias
3rd : Brian Patch
2nd : Bucky Lasek
1st : Omar Hassan
For a full detailed report on the Snickers Bowl and Download event that includes more detail on who threw the horns with ‘Double D’ Dave Duncan, who was still awake at dawn, and was spotted signing dildos.
Click over to the features section of the site once it’s up later this week.
If there was one place to be on the night of Monday 12th June, it was the Palais de Tokyo (think famous Paris street spot with huge marble hubbas!) in paris for the Etnies 20th Anniversary Birthday party.
The place was packed to the rafters with free drink and great music played live by some of France’s greatest DJs. Between two complimentary drinks and breather from the VIP area, you could check out the timeline of Etnies Memorabilia that lines the walls. Just looking at what Etnies have done over the years, makes you realize that they are at the top of their game.
The entire Etnies professional team were in attendance as well as just about anyone who’s anyone in the Jet-Skate world, so expect to read more about this event very soon with a full photo feature (as soon as we find out where Zac is!), right here at Crossfire.