This Saturday, September 22, 2012 Olio, Color Magazine, Cons and Coastal Riders bring you the Ledge ‘N’ Dairy competition at Chuck Bailey Skate Park in Surrey. Starting at 1pm with $1000 in prizes to win, you don’t want to miss it
ell it was another successful year for Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey and it’s finally over. 9 years strong for this Series and sometimes it wears me out a bit, but I enjoy every minute while I’m there.
We mixed things up a bit and ended the year off at South Surrey Park which basically meant we would be ending the year off with an Andy Anderson Demo, since he was born and raised there and hasn’t placed less than 1st place at that park in one of my contests in years. We started off with the Mini’s and they were all giving it there all. Jon Schrack was on a mission to win, but so were Parker Sherwin and Marc Melyukov. All 3 of these kids were stretching the limits of what could be done by kids 10 years old and younger, and they went even crazier in the Finals.
There were 17 Beginners waiting patiently to go for gold and 6 of them made it into the Finals. Top names of the day would be Kai Searle, Adam Lewis, Rob Schrack, Riley Allen, Cody Laing & Connor, followed closely by Zacc Lester and Justin Fiorante. All 8 of these guys dominated the Beginner Category with flip tricks, huge airs and big gaps, but only 1 could be King.
The Intermediates were kind of disappointing this time around. There were only 6 guys and not much got landed except by Mike Groves and little Luke Thodus. Mike tore up the quarter pipes and flat banks with some serious White Rock Loc styles and Lukey threw down some wicked ledge grinds and rail slides. Luke is only 10 and about 4 feet tall, so when he grinds the big hubba ledges no problem , it looks amazing. He also gapped out to 50-50 to the flat section of the triple kink ledge in his run and stuck it. He won.
The Ladies Category consisted of Carrie Williams and 2 girls I requested to participate, Sasha Clerihue and Deena Z. They both know how to skate around, just not really trick masters. Either way, we had a Ladies Category and no one got hurt. Better than nothing.
Then we got to Advanced. It was Dominic Devries‘s mission to beat Andy Anderson at his home park, but it’s always Andy’s mission to never lose, so it was definitely gonna be a battle. They both destroyed everything that no one else skates, the big rail, the kinked rail, the channel gap, spine and barricades. Both were unstoppable, but it was Andy’s game the whole time. Weston Granger also killed it and ended in 3rd after the Finals. This guy blows me away every time I see him skate, so unique. He nosegrinded down the long hubba, did some airwalk late hand hardflip, and finished the Finals with an ollie up to gap tailslide ledge to ledge in the flat section. 4th and 5th were Giver and Jigga Jay, both skated awesome, both couldn’t keep up with the Top 3 during the Finals Jam.
Marilyn Herrmann showed up from the Surrey Food Bank to accept the donations and give a little appreciation speech. It was a slower year than most, but with all the kids going away on vacations and having to decide between 3 competitions to go to every Saturday we still did pretty good. In total for this year, we raised $280 and 300lbs of food. Great job guys!!
I announced all the winners and gave out plaques to the Top 3 in each Category. I announced the Most Improved Skater of the Year which was Aiden Eastman from the Mini’s, and handed over the King of Surrey Trophy to the Dominator himself Dominic Devries. He won 3 out of 5, placing 2nd in both the others. Dominic is one of my favourite kids to skate with and to watch progress. He kills it wherever he goes and can skate everything, which is awesome for someone who’s only 15 years old, plus he’s super humble and appreciative. Can’t wait to see you in X Games some day buddy….
Results:
Mini: 1. Jon Schrack; 2. Parker Sherwin; 3. Mark Melyukov; 4. Aiden Eastman; 5. Lukas; 6. Bryce
Beginner: 1. Kai Searle; 2. Adam Lewis; 3. Connor; 4. Cody Laing; 5. Rob Schrack; 6. Riley Allen; 7. Zacc Lester; 8. Justin Fiorante; 9. JR Barron; 10. Khalid; 11. Josh Lewis; 12. Desmond Fisher; 13. Chandler; 14. Jake; 15. Bachouch Michael; 16. Alex & Matthew Lalim
Intermediate: 1. Luke Thodus; 2. Mike Groves; 3. David; 4. Mathew McCauley; 5. Yubo; 6. Jackson Hawthorne
Girls: 1. Carrie Williams; 2. Sasha Clerihue; 3. Deena Z
Advanced: 1. Andy Anderson; 2. Dominic Devries; 3. Weston Granger; 4. Michael James (Giver); 5. Jay Mykyte; 6. Allen Handley & Travis; 7. Brad (Fighter) Muscat & Cole Thodus
Most Improved – Aiden Eastman
King of Surrey – Dominc (The Dominator) Devries
So that’s it for the 9th Annual Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey. Thanks for everyone who showed up at any or all of the events, and thanks to all the sponsors that make these fun times possible:
Protest Skateboards
Coastal Riders
Amix Recycling
Vans
Our beach Studio
Folk Skateboards
Royalty Shop
West 49
Have 2 Skate
New Line Skate Parks
Surrey Food Bank
BLVD
Anti Social
Monke
The Dry Spot
Ollie North
Ultimate Dist
Centre Dist
Time Bomb Trading
S&J
Faceshots
Supra Dist
Dc Shoes
One Love
Mosaic Skateboards
Chance Skateboards
Element Skateboards
Thunder Trucks
Independent Trucks
DGK
Analog
Autobahn
Sour Skateboards
Chocolate Skateboards
Gravis
Hard Times
Hubba Wheels
Bones Wheels
Girl Skateboards
Spitfire Wheels
RDS
Fallen
Axion
Circa
Almost Skateboards
Kutwax Klothing
DVS
Axs Gear
Kitsch Skateboards
ATM Skateboards
Lakai
Matix
LRG
Meridian Golf Par 3
MCW Custom Woodworking
Woodsmith Custom Cabinets
Ear Goggles
and The City of Surrey
For those that notice there are no photos in this story, my camera went missing after the contest. If anyone has information please contact me through the site.
Thanks
3 solid months the Show Up Mike contest ran for, and there was definitely times where a lot of people were on the site to vote. September 11th, ironically, was Judgement Day and the man with the most votes at 305, was Sean Lowe.
Sean only entered the one video filmed at Kensington Skate Park, but it was all he needed. With some super technical talents he wowed the voters into checking out his vid and pushing the Thumb’s Up button. I met up with Sean on a busy street corner to hand over the prize money and get his opinion of how the contest went and what winning the $500 felt like.
Hippie Mike: First off Sean, congratulations! How does it feel to finally win the Grand Prize after all this time of wondering?
Sean Lowe: Feels good, have to have a little celebration tonight.
HM: What did you think about the Show Up Mike Contest overall?
Sean: I thought it was cool, I liked the concept of it. I don’t know, it’s a fun way to have a competition where it’s not like Head to Head but it’s more people voting on it. I thought it was cool like that, I liked that concept.
HM: How did you hear about the contest and what made you enter?
Sean: Well I saw you at Centre Distribution when I was picking some stuff up there, and I don’t know, who doesn’t like money, really? So that’s pretty much how it went down.
HM: If there was another version next year, would you enter it again?
Sean: Yeah I’d be down for sure, yeah it was fun. I enjoyed it, got to hang out for a day and skate, that’s always fun. And yeah for sure I think I’d do it again.
HM: Well thanks for entering this year Sean and Congratulations again and have fun with that 500 bucks
Sean: Oh you can believe I will (laughs)….
Hippie Mike’s Re-Sheet the Ramp Fundraiser
It was just like old times, the way we used to party in our yard, except there was a full on Ramp Contest happening. The weather was a little shafty so all the people that said they were coming who had never been to my house before must have thought it would be cancelled, when in reality, the whole point of the contest was to raise money for new masonite and another new tarp to keep us dry all winter. The beauty of my ramp is we float the tarps like a false roof and skate hard when it rains out here. So as soon as the drizzle started the tarp went up for the rest of the day.
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There was only about 50-60 people that showed up to party, some of the usuals, and some that even I hadn’t seen in a long time – Russia, LegenBarry, Homer and the Pimpin’ Kings to name a few, so I already knew it was gonna rock. We started warm up around noon, and threw the best trick early because that obstacle wasn’t covered from the potential rain. It was a normal Hippie Mike obstacle, just a straight up nasty tombstone built out of a fridge and a monster truck tire, no big deal…
This thing was tough to skate, maybe the toughest obstacle built in the yard so far. I tried filming on it on Friday and only hit 2 tricks, and they would be considered basic on anything else. Eve struggled for rock & rolls the whole time, Jigga Jay stuck down a couple for him. Cisco did a frontside rock but had to grab it in and Andy landed the most but still couldn’t get on top with trucks. Russia went hard at it the first attempt and actually shot himself over the whole fridge into the tree roots, but he came right back and kept givin’er. He was the only one who was getting’ trucks on this thing. Russia battled it out hard and finally won with a feeble stall. That’s how god damn hard this thing was to skate. Good efforts form everyone there, Russia took home a complete new outfit donated by legendary Moses Itkonen – DVS Shirt, Fallen Pants, Shoes and RDS Hat. Not bad for a guy that hadn’t stepped on a skateboard for about a year and a half.
We let the dudes warm it back up on the fresh masonite mini while the Pimpin’ Kings rocked out hard for almost an hour on my roof. I’ve had these guys play at so many of my contests and I always say the same thing afterward – “Best Small-Man Band I’ve heard”. And I’m not saying their midgets, they just only have 2 band members, Chris Burnstad on Drums and Chad Whittingham on Guitar, but they threw in a sick Bass player named Mike Currie to bring extra power and sounded awesome. Every time someone drove down my street they would stop and stick their head out of the window to get a good taste of the tunes. Sick set boys, glad I could reunite you for a banger show, everyone loved it.
The keg was getting emptier and the burgers were getting scarce so it was time to start the Ramp Contest. Only 9 entries, but they were all destroyers. I split it into 2 heats and each heat got 3 minute rounds for the guys to throw down as much as possible and try to make it into the finals. It made good cause for lots of snaking and barging from everybody to try and get more time in the ramp, especially in Round 3. There were a few times where I saw 3 people on one piece of coping at once, no mercy. 49 year old Barry Blatter was the Barge Master for sure never losing a battle that he dropped in for and even smashing his face fully off the flatbottom at one point and just getting up, licking off the blood dripping from his nose and dropping right in again for more. Andy Anderson was crowd favorite of course completely annihilating the entire ramp like he knows how with a zillion tricks. Jeff Cole was another one who throws down the tricks you’ve heard of before but never seen, and he was showing them to ya, Fighter did every Judo Blunt combination imaginable, Eve Feaver put his 40 year old bones on line with handplants, nosepicks and huge airs over the hip, and Giver even Gaver, hitting up the whole ramp fast and frontside and even bonelessing in off the side rails. It was insanity.
The judges, Jay White and Brad Milburn did not want to be judges anymore, but I fed them more 311 Lager and we went over by the wood shed to discuss who was making finals.
Cisco Gooding did a lot of switch and techy tricks but didn’t pull through to Finals. Allen Handley threw down a bunch of dirty manoeuvres that others do not understand, but didn’t make the Finals. And Fighter did not make the Finals…
That left the infamous 5 – Andy Anderson, Jay Mykyte, Eve Feaver, Jeff Cole and Giver (Michael James), plus Barry who got the buy in for being the most hardcore without a doubt. It was a 20 minute, straight up, Battle – for $200. Shit went down, chaos everywhere. Jeff, Giver and Eve were all missionning hard throwing every trick they knew how with pure old school styles and skills, and Andy was in his usual “I can land anything I try” mode, but the eyes were on the Jigga, Jay Mykyte. Big Flip tricks, fast grinds and solid tech tricks left right and centre. Every one of them was touch every square inch of the ramp, the hip, the inner kink the decks, the rails, everything. And the more time that ran down the more snaking that went on. Finally right near the end of time, Jay climbed up onto the top railing behind the platform and tried to Tail Ollie over the deck into the ramp. Like true skaters, everyone kept skating but giving him the opportunity to try again and he stuck it down 4th try. Contest over. Jigga wins the cash!!
It was an insane event, and it wasn’t over yet. Nothing ends retardedness like a Barefoot Best Trick Contest. Only Cisco, Fighter, Allen and Ryan Barron wanted in. Cisco had it right from the start with a frontside 50-50 around the inner kink to nollie 270 in, only to have it stolen from him by Allen at during the final minute with a tailstall fingerflip disaster. Took home a pair of Fallen Shoes, some funky Shorts, and a Protest Deck. If we had known Cisco had already drank 12 beers at that point we might have let him have that win, damn.
Thanks to all that came out, we raised lots of funds and had a great time. Thanks to my Chef Bogdan, my Bartender Deena Z, to everyone that came out and supported, and of course DJ Cuzo. Until next year, that’s the Jam…
Results:
- Jay Mykyte – $200
- Eve Feaver – $40
- Andy Anderson – $20
Don’t forget about the Grand Finale of the 9th Annual Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey happening this Saturday, September 15th at South Surrey Skate Park 14601 20 ave.
As always it will be an awesome event with tons of kids, families, and hardcore skaters that want to win prizes. Every year the competitions get crazier and crazier and the kids get better and better. This will be the first time we ever close down the Tour de Surrey in South Surrey. Be prepared to stay the entire day, as Mike will announce how much food and money we raised for the Surrey Food Bank, and will wait right till the end to hand out the prizes at the Grand Finale, and all the rippers that place Top 3 will receive plaques, The Most Improved Skater will be announced, and so will this year’s King of Surrey. I wonder who they are.
Only one to find out – be there…..
The Show Up Mike Contest is finally coming to a close. You had all summer to present the world with your 5 trick videos at any of the 49 local parks in this insane land of skateboarding that we call home. Fighter took the lead early with his Chuck Bailey submission, but ran out of friends too fast. Ryan Brynelson crushed the competition with over 120 votes the first day his video went up and raised the bar even higher sitting on top for close to a month. The only person man enough to take him off the podium was Sean Lowe and after quite a back and forth battle is still living the high life with over 300 votes. Today, September 11th 2012, is the day that decides everything. Will Sean hold on for the $500 or do some of these guys have reserves hiding somewhere just waiting to vote at 11:30pm or something. Who knows?
You have until midnight tonight to vote…
The winner will be announced at Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey 2012’s Grand Finale this Saturday September 15th at approximately 4:00pm.
(All 18 runner’s up will be receiving a Custom Show Up Mike T-Shirt for participating)
Click here to go to the Leaderboard for voting
Alright, last but not least, The Protest Skateboards version of the Battle at Hastings 3 is finally released. Filmed by Jordan Strong and Hippie Mike, it has the same dudes in it as everyone else’s video – Chris Steggles, Adam Hopkins, Mason Merlino, James Clarke, Stu Benoit, and many more. It was an amazing day of skating, and there were so many people filming it was awesome. But there’s actually some tricks that weren’t in the other vids so you should give it a watch.
And here’s a sequence of Chris Steggle’s 360 over the fence – Tiiiiight!
A Day on the Island with Protest Skateboards
Back in August we a few of us from the Team packed into the truck and headed over to the Island to skate the Victoria Parks with the Posse from Tsawwassen. Jaden Easton-Ellett, Cisco Gooding, Andy Anderson, myself and Fighter (Brad Muscat) loaded up early and got to the Ferry just in time to miss it. A little skating went down at the Terminal while we waited and of course, Brad rolled his ankle 180ing some gap. Good start to the day, right? We got across an hour later than the other boys and drove right past them as they were shredding the Sydney Skate Park, hooking up at Gordon Head Skate Park. This park is lots of fun, especially if you were around during the era that it was considered to be amazing. Lots of sick tricks went down there, tons of kids were stoked, and of course some random lady from the local paper showed up and was bugging Mike for photos, I don’t mind, it’s always a Hippie Mike Show. We hooked up every kid there with a free Protest T-shirt, held a Best Trick Contest for a Protest Deck, and then headed over to Esquimalt – Vic West Skate Park.
Andy just started annihilating the place, while the rest of us just basically skated the one hip. The place was packed and all people there were having fun, lots of dudes commenting on Andy’s styles. We got shut down early because of this insane thunderstorm that swept over us and poured so hard that the raindrops were bouncing knee high off the ground. Posse out, we went back to the place where the Tsawwassen Crew were staying, had a quick BBQ and headed back to the Ferry for the 9:00 Boat. A good day. Shadd Trepp, Graeme Betts, Michael Ray, Andrew Classon, Tyler Burke and some other rippers all hung out for the rest of the week hitting up some sweet Island Skate Parks. Wish we could’ve stayed, next time, we’ll try to stay longer.
Check both vids
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You down with BCP? Yeah you know meeee!!
If you don’t know what BCP stands for then you definitely were not there during the eras of destruction at Surrey’s own Bear Creek Park. Back in the day, even before my time there, some serious tricks used to go down. Back when Clint Proulx used to be skinny and knew how to fly, blasting Benihana’s over the big volcano – everybody would go huge there. People always say that Bear Creek was a bike park, that’s ‘cause they don’t understand how to ride those obstacles properly. Clint Proulx, Chris Bone, Scotty MacIntosh, Ben Wheeler and others all created what that place was about in the ‘90’s. Then came the era when people stopped airing so much and tricks were getting more tech, Jay Mykyte, Stu Benoit, Drew Boyle, Joel Chamberlayne and myself set the standard for the young bucks in the new millenium. And then kids like Scotty Tyson just learned everything. BCP was an amazing park to be a local at, and still today lives on as one of the most unique skate parks I’ve ever skated. So many tricks I can think of that I need to go to Bear Creek to do, because that obstacle doesn’t exist anywhere else. That’s awesome.
Just to reminisce the old days, Jordan Strong and I hit up one of my fav parks so I could toss down some memories…
BCP!
Here’s the first Battle at Hastings 3 video I’ve caught so far. Brought to you by Arnica Productions it shows off a lot of the chaos that went down that day. Adam Hopkins, Mason Merlino, Chris Steggles and many more. Not much to say except push play…