The Van Doren Invitational – What a Blast!

Jul 14,2014 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

It’s crazy how someone cracking their head open and knocking themself out over the biggest gap in the bowl gets the crowd more stoked…. That’s the Vancouver Skate Scene for ya. Nice try Raney Beres!

This was the first big Pro contest in many years since the infamous Slam City Jam competitions shut down and the excitement was in the air. Bleachers and grand stands were set up to surround one side of Hastings Bowl and there wasn’t an empty seat in the house for the Finals. Guys from all over North America came out to show their skills, Tom Schaar, Omar Hassan, Mason Merlino, Brad McClain and many others came to try to beat out the local talents of Adam Hopkins, James Clarke and the legend Rob Sluggo Boyce. All 3 of these guys skated well in prelims on Friday and all made the Semi-finals, but only Hopkins got into the Top 6 for the final Finals. He ended in 6^th place and that was definitely respectable.

The highlights of both days were focused on Sluggo doing backflips to fakie in the deepend both days which amazingly are the only ones he ever landed on concrete. The crowd will remember those forever. A great guy to watch was Riley Stevens, he came out to have fun and that is what he did, best trick had to be popping out of the 9 foot to smith pick on the fence and back into disaster for the ride out. Dude had a smile on his face the whole weekend and the feeling spread. Tom Schaar killed it vert style tossing a couple different 540’s around the bowl and a few kickflip indy’s but he didn’t quite make Top 3. Brad McClain reminded the crowd who skates the fastest, Raven Tershy showed who could hang in the air the longest of every hit and Alex Sorgente just plain laid it down all over the bowl to take 1^st place.

The contest was great, it was well set up, well managed, and the weather was amazing. Thanks to Vans and Kevin Kelly for working together to make it happen. I’m sure that we will be seeing more of these types of events in the near future, but until then the Vancouver crowd has lots to reminisce…

Vans Invitational at Hastings Bowl

Jul 6,2014 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

There is a first time for everything and this is one of those times you wouldn’t want to miss. Hastings Bowl has been the home to some amazing competitions in the past with The Battle at Hastings annual events, and there have been some amazing demos there over the years including ones from Tony Hawk, but a $75,000 purse for a full on Pro Comp? It’s about damn time.

Brought to you by Vans, along with the hard work of Kevin Kelly from BLVD Skate Shop, this thing is almost here. Read the write up below and wait for more info on how to get your tickets

Vans brings the world’s greatest skateboarders to Canada this summer with skateboarding’s premier bowlriding competition, the celebrated Van Doren Invitational to be held at Vancouver’s legendary Hastings Bowl on July 11 & 12. Top skaters from around the globe will battle it out before a live audience for top honors and their share of US $75000 purse as the competition hits the global stage on Saturday, July 12 via live Webcast on thrashermagazine.com/vdicanada.

The invite-only organized jam format will showcase
modern bowlriding’s greatest talents, such as current World Champion Pedro Barros, X-Games gold medalist Curren Caples and reigning Van Doren Invitational champion Ben Hatchell, plus top challengers like Grant Taylor, Ben Raybourn and many more.

“It seems like only yesterday that Vans helped to bring the Slam City Jam skate contests to Vancouver’s PNE and today Vans Canada is excited to present the Van Doren Invitational as we bring together some of the greatest bowl riders from around the world to the Hastings Bowl at the same location. Don’t miss this exciting day in Canadian skateboard history!” – Steve Van Doren, Vans Vice President, Events and Promotions

Kicking off at 10 am on Friday, July 11 at the Hastings Bowl located at the PNE, the Van Doren Invitational bowl jam is free to public spectators. The event will offer two days of fun and activities for the entire family including an interactive village, learn to skate clinics, plenty of giveaways, food stations and music by Vans skate legend John Cardiel, aka DJ Juan Love, and local favorite DJ Vinyl Ritchie. The event will be streamed live at thrashermagazine.com/vdicanada on Saturday, July 12th from the Hastings Bowl in Vancouver, British Columbia. Stay tuned to thrashermagazine.com/vdicanada for Webcast information, contest schedule, athlete profiles, videos and more.

The Canadian edition of the Van Doren Invitational at Hastings Bowl is proudly presented by Vans in association with Thrasher Magazine, The Boardr, UTMG, and supported by Ace Trucks, Anti-Hero Skateboards, Creature Skateboards and Bones Wheels.

“Vans doesn’t mess around when it comes to throwing a contest and the 2013 Van Doren Invitational will go down in history as not only one of the best, but the event where the new generation of bowl rippers really took control.”
– Thrasher Magazine

The inaugural Van Doren Invitational debuted in 2013 at the Vans US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California and is set to light up the Open once again this year on August 1 & 2. Visit www.vansusopenofsurfing.com for more information.

Bowl Series #20 Begins

Jul 3,2014 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

It felt just like it did 10 years ago, the same faces, the same styles, and probably a lot of the same music, Bowl Series #20 is here. Led by Mike Strato and Jimbo Jak the microphones were filled with great words all day and the skaters were definitely their to feel the vibes. Hundreds of people on site the whole day and everyone was having a blast, Canada Day every year is for sure the biggest and best Family Reunion in existence.

The little dudes started it off with 5 kids in Beginner, then there was about 10 people in Intermediate, the ladies had 6 in their category and then of course there was the Advanced with over 40 dudes competing of all ages from 18 up to 46, what an event! Everyone was killing it in Advanced, the Surrey Heat consisted of myself Hippie Mike, Surrey Stu, Giver and the young buck Andy Anderson – Andy blew away the crowd by mixing freestyle skating into speedlines, something I don’t think has been done before. If you were there, then you will have those runs etched in your brain, and if you weren’t there then watch for footage from Ethan Craig. Eve Feaver, Stevie D, Jonny B, Steve Lange, Jamie Sherratt, and many more regulars were shredding super hard and all the ex-Kings of the Bowls were praised throughout the day. Little Prince Rylee Wong stepped up to the Advanced to defend his crown but the old guys had something to say about it. Adam Hopkins and Rob Rickaby battled it out for 1^st Place with multiple techy tricks and awesome gaps but Hopkins was on his game and pulled through for the win. I thing that huge transfer over the MFP Gap had some influence in the judges decision.

All in all a great day in the sun, and a great kickoff to the 20^th year of the most amazing skateboard contest series in Canada.

Happy Canada Day!!

1^st – Adam Hopkins

2^nd – Rob Rickaby

3^rd – Andy Anderson

4^th – Clinton

Cloverdale Skate Park Official Grand Opening

Jun 21,2014 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Well, it’s official – The new Cloverdale Skate Park is officially open for shredding. The park was completed about a month ago and people have been ripping it up since the May long weekend but the opening ceremonies hadn’t taken place. June 20^th, 2014, summer is kicked off properly in Surrey, BC as the ribbon was cut. Counsellor Mary Martin showed up, made a great speech and made the snip accompanied by some city of surrey members and Constable Troy Derrick as well. It was good.

But even better was the number of people that showed up to celebrate and the amount of prizes to give away. When I was first asked to host the event I got right on the horn to all the distributors and everyone was stoked, these kids got spoiled at this one and almost everybody went home with something. There were hundreds of people there, Free BBQ, fun games to play, and skateboard demos from the shop teams of Coastal Riders, Street Dreamz and Authentic Board Supply. Finally after 3 hours of insanity it was time for Hippie Mike to sign off. Another awesome addition to the list of skate parks in Surrey, and the lower mainland – thanks City of Surrey!!

Contests Extreme Sports Skateboarding

JK ALL DAY!!

Jun 8,2014 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another awesome day to be a skateboarder, the vibe at this event was amazing. Celebrating the life of a young kid who lost his life in a completely unfair situation is never easy but the fact that this event happens every year helps a lot of people who loved him get through those tough days. And for Jamie’s family to see so many people show up and have nothing but smiles on their faces all day means more than words can say. Chris Somerville from Street Dreamz got a bunch of sick decks made with Jamie Kehoe’s faceshot printed on them and Jamie’s dad Jay was giving them out all day, everybody wanted one for sure.

The main point of the day was to have a god time and everyone was down with that, there was Free BBQ, Free Drinks, tons of prizes to be won, and tons of awesome peeps. Donny Chang would pick out the obstacles and I (Hippie Mike) would call out the tricks. Stuff was goin’ down all day and dudes to watch were Tony Casano, Andy Anderson and Zach “Doogie” Lester. Doogie was the star of the show managing to do a heelflip on every single obstacle in some form, but was just stomping tricks solid all day. His best accomplishment was an inward heelflip down the 3 block – BAM! Dudes of all ages and skill levels took home prizes from Street Dreamz, Authentic Board Supply, Protest Skateboards, Huf, DGK, The Hundreds, Vans and more.

Thanks to DJ Cuz-O for keeping the sound smooth for the event and big props to everyone who came out to make this an awesome day – Until next year….

Authentic Cloverdale Best Tricks

Jun 5,2014 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

WIN A PRO COMPLETE SKATEBOARD OF YOUR CHOICE FROM AUTHENTIC BOARD SUPPLY!!

The new Cloverdale Skate Park has been jumping since day 1 and we know it won’t slow down until Fall so Protest Skateboards has partnered with Authentic Board Supply to bring you a sweet Online Best Trick Contest!!

Film an “Authentic” or Awesome trick at the park, upload it to youtube and then submit the link to the contest on the protest site – www.protestskateboards.com (Please name your video CLOVERDALE BEST TRICK – YOUR NAME to make it easier for people to search for your entry and get you more votes)

Once your video is approved by our web team it will be promoted on our site and be ready for voting. You want to get as many votes as possible to try and win the contest. People can only vote once per video from their computer so make sure you share your video to all of your friends and get them to vote.

You can submit as many separate videos as you want!

Submissions cut-off date will be July 14^th

Voting will continue until July 28^th

Winner will be announced July 31^st

You can take a peak at the leaderboard here. Cisco Gooding was the first to submit a video which you can see below.

Take a look at all the fine details in the poster above.

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King of the Railside

Jun 4,2014 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

This sunday June 8th, Michael James and the City of Port Coquitlam are bringing King of the Road to Railside Skatepark. The first ever “King of the Railside” will features teams of youth skating and completeling various challenges throughout the day. Teams will complile points throughout the day with the end result to be the “King of the Railside”. There will also be individual awards and prizes which will be announced in the coming days.

This free event is open to boys and girls age 18 and under and features team challenges that are fun and inviting for all skill levels.

Registration for the event begins at 11am SHARP at the Railside Skatepark. Deadline for registration is 12:30pm that day so get there on time. Once registration is closed, there will be no opportunities to compete as the teams will be set. This is to ensure that all the teams are fair and the balance isn’t thrown off.

We invite you to follow @pocoyouth on instagram for all the details on the event including what the challenges might be, contests, prizes, awards, registration info, and much more. Keep an eye on their instagram for contests where you can win decks from the events sponsors.

See you this sunday, June 8th at Railside. Don’t miss out, this will be awesome.

The World Round Up 2014 – An Awesome Reunion

May 30,2014 / By Hippie Mike / 1 Comment

Being the 3^rd year for this event there was a little more competitive spirit in the air but it still came down to everyone just being happy and excited to be present. The first year of The World Round Up was all about showcasing the best Freestyle Skateboarders in the world and setting a precedence for a new world-wide competition, the second year was a reunion of sorts which attracted even more competitors than year one and created a true family feel to this event, and the third year was even better. When these guys fly into town from other countries they are super excited to be in Canada and even more excited to show off what they dedicate their lives to for hundreds of people day after day. Interesting features this year was Shen Meng being the first skater from China to participate in a world-wide contest and little 11 year old Isamu Yamamoto coming all the way from Japan to try and prove that he could be the next biggest thing in Freestyle. Isamu dominated the Amateur competition all weekend and managed to squeeze out the win. Everyone will remember that forever.

So making the recap video was pretty amazing, I love being invited each year by Monty Little and Kevin Harris to film this event and create something special out of it. After getting to know all the competitors from the last 2 years I have made a bunch of great relationships and really respect these guys in a lot of ways. Freestyle skateboarding is such a rare entity and the people that name themselves true Freestylers are very strong people, and they all seem happy just to go skate. This year I really wanted to focus on the feelings and emotions that pass through all the competitors’ minds over the 4 day weekend. Everybody always talks about how awesome it is to be in a room with so many people that they consider family, and I think I know why they are so tight. Think back to when skateboarding was fully not accepted in society, this was when street skating just became a trend and pool skating was all trespassing. All skateboarders were shunned by the community, people judged us without ever knowing us and they put us down for being ourselves and doing something creative that made us feel good and accomplished inside. Now think of the way that the skateboard community feels about Freestyle Skaters, a lot of it seems like we treat them the way that the whole world used to treat us. People diss freestyle but what are they actually dissing? Just other human beings that found something they love to do and dedicate their lives to. I’ll tell you why I love these guys – because no matter how many times they have been pushed down they keep on standing strong, they do what they love and they do it to the best of their ability, and no matter where they are it’s always about promoting skateboarding in a positive way. I don’t see anything wrong with that.

After 3 years at this event I feel blessed to know all of these guys and appreciate that they accept me into their family. With less than 300 freestyle skaters in the world, you know that you are meeting the best of the best, and every single one of them is the most humble, most appreciative, and most supportive person you will ever meet. So sit back and check out this recap video of The 2014 World Round Up Freestyle Championships and feel the love…

Ryan Brynelson goes Pro

May 26,2014 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

I’ve known Ryan Brynelson for quite a few years and he has always been a pure 100% Freestyle Skateboarder. He learned most of what he knows from the Canadian Legend Kevin Harris and took those skills as a base to improve upon. We put Ryan on the Protest Skateboards Team in 2012 in respect that he was starting to enter word-wide competitions for freestyle and I respected his talent, his passion and his consistency on his board. Whether you respect Freestyle Skateboarding or not it is difficult to diss guys that can do handstands while rolling on 2 boards and then kickflip one out under their feet…

There are less than 300 people in the world that refer to themselves as Freestyle Skaters and Ryan is proud to be one of them. Last year at The World Round Up Freestyle Championships in Surrey, BC, Ryan won the Amateur Division and the year before he had gotten 2^nd place. So for year #3 of this event we felt it was time for Ryan to move up to the Professional Division and what better way to do it than to introduce his new Pro-Model Deck at the event. Ryan had to fly back to Canada from Japan for this event and he was stoked, but knowing the freestyle world well, he knew the guys he would have to go up against, the world’s best Freestylers who have been dropping the same routines for as long as he’s been alive. It was a great event and Ryan did really well, he came out strong the first day in Prelims, and moved up in position after the Semi-Finals being placed in 6^th, and after crazy runs from everyone on the Sunday, Ryan Brynelson finished in 10^th at the Finals – not bad for his first ever Pro Contest.

We were stoked on Ryan’s performance and the rest of the Freestyle World is super happy for his success in moving up to Professional. Check out his Welcome to Pro Part we filmed the day after this 4-day event, and keep your eyes open for his Japanese Model Pro Deck available in select stores or email the contact at www.protestskateboards.com if you want to special order.

Osterman and Isamu take the Titles!

May 20,2014 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another amazing day at the World Round Up 2014 as the best of the best Freestyle Skateboarders in the world competed for the top places in the Finals of this 3 day event. The atmosphere was positive and everyone was having fun, but you could feel the want of the win in the air. Being the 3^rd year for this event it is beginning to become more important to try to win but all in all it is still about having fun and showing off skateboarding in a positive way to crowds of people that might not know much about skateboarding in general, and they were all loving it all day long. Every competitor was on their game today and there was a ton of flawless runs in both the Amateur and Professional divisions. Talk of the event was around 11 year old Isamu Yamamoto in the Am category and whether or not he could maintain top position and take 1^st place at his first ever world event. Kaue Araujo and Andy Anderson were battling hard to try to take that opportunity away from the little dude but just couldn’t quite do it. Isamu held on with amazing skills and won his first international Gold Medal!! Way to go dude!

In the Pros it was insanity all the way from 15^th right to top qualifying positions but the top 5 owned it and stayed the top 5 at the end. All 5 had at least one flawless run each and it must have been super hard to judge. Rene Shigueto, Per Cangaru, Mike Osterman, Jesse Whalen and Guenter Mokulys laid it down for the audience and blew away the other competitors. It came down to 1 point separating the 1^st place, 2^nd place and 3^rd place spots and ended in a great way with Mike Osterman from the USA taking Gold over Guenter, and leaving Jesse with the Bronze. What a way for Mike to celebrate his 21^st birthday!! Tears were shed, hugs were happening and everyone was stoked. This was another great example of how tight the freestyle world is and how much these guys love eachother. Mike Osterman took home $3,000 for placing on top but he was more excited about the fact that he skated his best and somehow beat the machine.

With demos all day, presentations by Constable Troy Derrick, and plenty of awesome contest runs, the crowd of spectators was constant and all went home with a story to tell. This event is growing and it is great to be a part of it. Keep watch on the site for a recap video coming soon, and check out http://www.theworldroundup.com for all the results…

Author Archives: Hippie Mike