Some of Cloverdale’s Ollie North Skate Shop team showed up at Surrey’s best skate park Chuck Bailey to ring in the New Year on January 1st, 2013 with a cold and nasty night session. The air was thick, the ground was slick, and the boys were layin’ down tricks.
Jordan Strong, Ryan Barron, Matt Cook, Shawn Beaupre, Mitch Salter and Shawn J – representin’!!
Protest Skateboards Filmer Jordan Strong put out this little teaser video strictly named “2012” portraying the chaotic times he had over this past summer going out with all his friends and gettin’ clips. There’s a lot more of the chaos displayed than the skating, but that’s okay, that’s the life he chose. Featuring all the Surrey Loc’s like Calvin Dignard, Dale Kind, Mitch Salter, Ryan Barron, Jay Mykyte, Andy Anderson, Brad “Fighter” Muscat, Jordan Strong and more. Check it out
With this weather going back and forth and being completely unpredictable we had to pick and choose where we were skating on Sunday. It was a toss up between Tsawwassen Skate Park or White Rock Res, so we chose the quieter one. Still a bit puddley when we first arrived but that was not issue for these Protest boys. It was Andy Anderson, Jordan Strong, Jaden Easton-Ellett and myself Hippie Mike just chillin’ at the Res. Andy and Jordan threw down a couple lines while Jaden and I stuck to what we do best and only rode the nasty obstacles.
Enjoy
It was the first closed in bowl with coping in Surrey, and when it was in the planning stage for the Guildford Park I was very adamant that we got a Bowl. There was too much of the same street stuff popping up everywhere and those parks get boring after a while. So Guildford Bowl was built, along with a tiny, somewhat pointless Street Section. Of course now you have to be thankful for the street section because that’s all that will be skateable for the next year and a half until the construction is complete. Once this Lap Pool is built then New Line will come back and build something fresh for us to ride in the remaining footage between the building and street section.
This Park helped to teach a lot of the young kids in Surrey how to hit coping. I remember when it was new and at my Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey Contests there the young kids would all avoid the Bowl and just ride the street stuff, and now almost everyone focuses completely on the Bowl at those events. It also created a group of friends that localized that place, Allen Handley, Myke Johnson and Randy. These guys all know how to shred this spot. It’s a shame that we’re losing it, but life goes on.
Here’s the Video by Protest Skateboards of our Final Film Session at Guildford Bowl. Lots of people showed up including Andy Anderson, Brad “Fighter” Muscat, Jordan Strong, Dale Kind, “Giver” Michael James, Riley Allen Clerihue, Adam Lewis, Josh Lewis, “Hasbrown” Mike Shulze, Dustin Locke, Derek Mayer, Stephan Burke, Matt Cook, Ryan Brynelson, Bachouch Michael, Myke Johnson, Randy, myself and Allen Handley who absolutely destroyed it all day. No one will miss that Bowl as much as this guy.
I’m not completely sure when the fence will go up and the Bowl will come down but it could happen at any given moment, so take your chances and get there for one last session
R.I.P.
A few of us Chuck Bailey Locs went to peep out the new Skate Park in Coquitlam, Mackin Park last Friday. Luckily there weren’t too many kids there because it’s tiny and you can see in the video how much they get in the way. I had my back brace on so I could skate, and everyone had a good time. I found a lot of the obstacles hard to get speed for, and others tough to go slow enough. I’m not the most excited about these small back and forth parks when they come out but I’m sure I will give it a shred every now and then. It was me, Cisco Gooding, Jordan Strong, Fighter and a few friends, Calvin killed it…
Finally a super sunny day in Cloverdale for a Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey. 3 years in a row it rained and then last year it was just cloudy and cold. But not this time, sunny, clear and hot…
The Mini started off the day with aggressive moves, Jon Schrack was flying into the bowl, Mark Melyukov was stomping flip tricks and even little Aiden threw himself off the big drop which is taller than he is. Those Mini’s are crazy, and if you haven’t seen them in action, make sure you come out to the next comp on September 15th.
The Beginners are even more nuts. Morgan Skinner and Kai Searle led the crowd with outstanding runs. Kai had a completely flawless run and was not trying easy tricks, and Morgan was busting huge gap tricks including fakie Ollie off the halfpipe drop and a big half cab into the bowl. 1 point separated their total scores, wow!! They demolished the rest of the competition but it was super close for 3rd place between Justin Fiorante and Zacc Laster, but Zacc managed to hold on for the prizes. That’s two 4th places in a row Justin, step it up buddy…
The Girls category was just Carrie Williams and Cali Martin but they both did their best and landed everything they tried, so it was all good.
The Intermediates got busy on the ledges and rails but were all dominated by ex-longhair William LeTourneau. This kid has been skating this Cloverdale Skate Park religiously since he started skateboarding and it shows. He’s got all the tranny lines in the nasty bowl and grew up to lock down a whole bunch of ledge and rail tricks. Won by a mile. Little Luke Thodus could be in the Mini category since he’s 10 years old, but entered the Intermediate where he belonged. This kid’s pushing 4’ tall and is completely fearless, and super skilled. 50-50’s down the kinked rail, lipslide on the rail down the stairs and whatever else he felt like going for. The best part of Intermediate was seeing Francois LeBlanc with his pants and socks hiked up as far as he could get them for his second run, just cruising around doing pointless old school for a laugh, but landing everything. Francois is heading back to the East Coast this week so that was the last contest we’ll see him in for a while…
Shawn Jafarnejad from Ollie North Skate Shop had a Best Trick Contest on the 3 stair rail before Advanced and gave away a Deck, a Shirt and a Pair of Shoes. Quick and serious.
The Advanced was stacked with rippers, a lot of them who had plenty of experience at the old Cloverdale Park, Mitch Salter, Jay Mykyte, Jordan Strong, Brendan Nielsen, Keegan Anderson, Andre Bissonnette…. But they were all trying their hardest not to lose to The Dominator, Dominic Devries. Nice try boys, maybe next time. Brendan came the closest. We finished off the contest with a chance to see if anyone could Ollie the old gap into the shallow end of the bowl and land on the hotdog. Jordan Strong, Allen Handley and Mitch Salter went for it and nasty as it was, Allen won it as the only one to ride away. Good job dude.
Well, this was most likely the last ever Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey Contest at the Old Cloverdale Skate Park since New Line Skate Parks is already trying to lock down the designs for the new one. The old park will be removed and the new one will be built around the corner beside the Cloverdale Recreation Centre – 6188 176st and should be done Spring 2013. I’ll be left with a ton of awesome memories of lots of kids that I raised as skateboarders in that park through skateboard lessons, camps, and tons of competitions.
RIP old Clovy, and Good Riddance…
Results
Mini: 1. Mark Melyukov; 2.Jon Schrack; 3. Parker Sherwin; 4. Joe Maillet & Isaiah Stroud; 6. Aiden Eastman; 7. Eli Paad; 8. Kaelen Faux
Beginner: 1. Kai Searle; 2. Morgan Skinner; 3. Zacc Lester; 4. Justin Fiorante; 5. Nick Bachmeier; 6. David Martin & Justin Gouthier; 8. Riley Allen & Weston Hutchinson; 10. Patrick Jonas; 11. Adam Lewis; 12. Riley Robertson; 13. Bachouch Michael; 14. Finn Schanlka; 15. Matthew Lalim
Girls: 1. Carrie Williams; 2. Cali Martin
Advanced: 1. Dominic Devries; 2. Brendan Nielsen; 3. Jay Mykyte; 4. Calvin Dignard; 5. Jordan Strong; 6. Mitch Salter; 7. Keegan Anderson; 8. Allen Handley; 9. Ryan Barron; 10. Alexander Savage; 11. Quinton Salter; 12. Andre Bissonnette; 13. Ben; 14. Robert Wylie
See you next time at this year’s Grand Finale
South Surrey – September 15th, 2012
Remember to prepare for a full day as I won’t announce any winners until the end that day. Top 3 in each category will receive plaques, the King of Surrey 2012 will be announced and the so will the winner of the Show Up Mike Contest…
What a clear day, you could see for miles and miles, except for when that truck burnt to the ground on the corner of 105 Ave and 152 st. right beside the park.
Not the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen at Guildford Bowl but still decent enough to make it count for a contest. The Minis and Beginners were definitely shredding, and the older dudes all showed up to win it. The competition was tight in all categories, but Advanced was a battle.
In Mini, Jon Schrack kept his flow going from the previous 2 contests this year and took home another gold. He was flying over the gaps and ripping up the tranny in the bowl. Joe Maillet showed off his skills all over the park and Aiden Eastman skated the bowl fearlessly, which is amazing since you can hardly see him in there he’s so tiny. Dax Searle entered for the first time and did his best, and then little Kaelen Faux barged in a run after the Mini category was over. Kaelen walked over and requested his helmet from me, picked up his skateboard and stated that he was entering the competition. A pretty bold statement from a 2 and a half year old, so I had to let him have a run. He spent most of his time holding on to his Mom’s hands and trying big ollies, but we did get a show of his pogos too. Great job Mini’s!!
The Beginners were insane like always. Kai Searle started first and set a high standard for the rest to follow. Everyone was going for it, Matthew Major boardslid the 6 stair rail, Adam Lewis blasted over the double set with ease, Riley was going huge out of the bowl and Justin Fiorante landed almost everything he tried. A tough decision for the judges to only have 3 winners.
The Intermediates forgot to show up to this contest so I blended them together with the Girls, tough break for the guys because the Ladies were ready to destroy this place. Jacob Drescher and his buddy John were the only dudes in the heat and Jacob had to work super hard to even place Top 3. It’s a good thing he laid down a kickflip over the 6 stair and a 3 flip over the 2 block to finish his run because the ladies were fiercely killing the bowl. Brianna Palmer and Carrie Williams both shredded around the entire bowl with speed and stability, Carrie laid down a bunch of tricks in the halfpipe, on the taco and outside the bowl on flat. Heloise Wathelet just hit the halfpipe section up for both of her runs but threw down some serious skill tricks including a stomped out kickflip rock and a popshovit rock in the second run. But still no one could catch Elizabeth Nenniger blasting speed lines down and up the bowl and showing no fear with 50-50’s and smith grinds both ways. She killed it!!
The Advanced is never easy, but Brad Muscat showed up with a mission, which gave everyone else a mission of their own – don’t let Brad win. He set the bar high after his first run with a lot of tough tricks that other people don’t do, and then finished his second run off with a nasty crooked grind down the double set rail which point straight at the corner of the building. Dominic Devries tore up the entire place in both runs, and actually probably should have won. He laid down skills in the halfpipe, frontside flipped the double set, and backside 5-0’d the hubba. It was a tough call between the 2, They both killed it… Zeebs was there, Lil’ G was there, DJ Dale was there, Jaden Easton-Ellet and Jordan Strong were there, but no one was gonna take 3rd place away from Giver. The man known now as Michael James finally showed up with a vengeance and actually Gave’r. Giver shredded the bowl hard, long grinds, stylish bodyjars and crail tricks and finished off his second run with a perfect Miller Flip in the shallow end. Who knows, maybe he should have won. It was so tough to judge between those 3 dudes, they all killed it. Solid Efforts Boys.
We finished off with a Best Trick anywhere in the park which I though Dominic was going to win for sure. Riley Allen got in there as the only Beginner competing against all the Advanced dudes and almost stuck a huge 360 Judo out of the bowl. Dale had the lead for a bit with a manual to nosebonk bigspin on the curvy ledge, and then Dominic hit a kickflip front board down the handrail, regular and to fakie. But Jordan Strong squeezed out a victory with a long manual over the curvy ledge down the drop onto the deck of the bowl, down another drop onto the middle of the 2block, around the s-turn corner and then kickflipped out. He took home a sweet Cooler Backpack and a sick funky shaped Folk Board. Sick…
Results:
Mini: 1. Jon Schrack; Joe Maillet; 3. Aiden Eastman; 4. Dax Searle & Kaelen Faux
Beginner: 1. Kai Searle; 2. Adam Lewis; 3. Matthew Major; 4. Justin Fiorante; 5. Riley Allen; 6. Patrick Jonas; 7. Austin; 8. Bachouch Michael; 9. Dylan Rossi; 10. Matthew Lalim
Intermediate/Ladies: 1. Beth Nenniger; 2. Heloise Wathelet; 3. Jacob Drescher; 4. Carrie Williams; 5. Brianna Palmer; 6. John Furquhar
Advanced: 1. Brad Muscat [Fighter]; 2. Dominic Devries; 3. Michael James [Giver]; 4. Jaden Easton-Ellett; 5. Jordan Strong; 6. Dale Kind; 7. Myke Johnson [Zeebs]; 8. Sean Cuddeford [Lil’ G]
Best Trick: Jordan Strong – Manual drop Manual drop Manual to kickflip out
See you next time at
Cloverdale – August 25th 2012
At the end of June, my awesome filmer/team rider Jordan Strong emailed a link to this online contest that Lucky Surf and Skate Shop was having where you film, edit and enter a video part up to 3 minutes long. I tortured Jordan by taking him to some of the nastiest street spots around every day when he got off work and getting him to film me, but that’s the way I skate. We worked hard together to make this part, and of course we filmed way more footage than we needed to. From bare foot skating to riding the yellow slide, and I even pulled out the 2×4 skateboard for the first time n years, it’s a must see for creativity.
Jordan and I also went out a few times with Andy Anderson and we got enough footage to put a part together for him too. This one really shows Andy’s ledge and rail skills.
We all worked hard and the parts were submitted the day before the deadline. Then we received word that only 4 people submitted videos to the contest, including the 2 of us, so they are hooking us up with $150 each to spend at the shop.
Thanks Guys!!
And thanks to Jordan for workin’ hard last month. At least we had fun making them.
Enjoy the videos
Hippie Mike
Andy Anderson
Another beautiful Saturday in the land of Skateboarding. We started the day off early with the contest beginning at 10am so that people could try to get to Hastings Park in time for the Tony Hawk Birdhouse Demo. Still lots of kids showed up for the contest, and of course they were all ready to rip it. The 3 block is the big obstacle at Fleetwood Skate Park and tons of tricks go down over it every contest. It got ollied in Mini, Kickflipped in Beginner, Benihana’d in Advanced, and Bigspin Heelflipped in the Best Trick. Kids are crazy.
The Mini’s were flying all over the park, launching out of the quarter pipe and up the step up, and Aiden represented the tranny skills with some sweet rock fakies.
The Beginners were also “Out For Justice” as they laid down trick after trick. Crooked Grinds on the ledges, Kickflips and Pop Shovits up the step and over the hip, and Big Airs out of the quarter launch. Rob Schrack stomped a kickflip over the 3 block to seal down his victory.
The Ladies Category was just Carrie and Heloise who both skate totally different. Carrie turned the tables from Kwantlen and displayed her skills and experience at Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey landing everything she tried and taking first place.
The Intermediates were also tight. The Hawthorne Brothers were pretty much battling each other for silver since Mathew McCauley showed up just as Intermediate was nearing the end of their runs, registers and walks up the 3 block to turn around and effortlessly kick flip over it perfectly. Matt laid down an amazing double length run hitting up all the ledges, rails and gaps to undoubtedly take home 1st.
Then came Advanced. Lots of tough names in this category, Andy Anderson, Jay Mykyte, Fighter, The Dominator, but the unstoppable one was Dallas Gauthier who came down from Vernon to toss out everything he had. This kid is insane and lands everything solid. Frontside Bigspin Heelflip over the pyramid one try in his run, along with some serious 3 block action. It was tight between him, Andy, Dominic and Brad, but Dallas deserved first place for the technical showcase he brought with him. He also finished the day off right by winning the Best Trick Contest over the 3 block – Frontside Bigspin Heelflip & Nollie Inward Heelflip.
Good job Dallas!!
Results:
Mini: 1. Jon Schrack; 2. Justin Fiorante; 3. Aiden Eastman; 4. Parker Sherwin; 5. Luca Braico
Beginner: 1.Rob Schrack; 2. Matthew Major; 3. David Martin; 4. JR Barron; 5. Riley Allen; 6. Nick Bachmeier; 7. Evan Way; 8. Buddy Cadman; 9. Ethan Seemann
Ladies: 1. Carrie Williams; 2. Heloise Wathelet
Intermediate: 1. Mathew McCauley; 2. Tanner Hawthorne; 3. Jackson Hawthorne; 4. Duncan Lee; 5. Kory Laan; 6. Jacob Drescher; 7. Zack; 8. Justin James
Advanced: 1. Dallas Gauthier; 2. Andy Anderson; 3. Dominic Devries; 4. Brad Muscat [Fighter]; 5. Derek Mayer; 6. Jordan Strong, Andre Bissonnette, Allen Handley; 9. Jigga Jay Mykyte
Best Trick: Dallas Gauthier
See you next time at
Guildford – August 11th
It’s the 9th year for this series of skateboard competitions and I love that I still see a bunch of the same faces as the first year. I kicked off the Tour for 2012 at Kwantlen Park. It’s a tough park for lines, but always a good park for contests. It seems like everybody lands so much in their runs at this park, maybe because the obstacles are basic and small, not sure why. But either way, it worked out great.
The sun was blazin’ hot and the humidity was definitely hanging around, but it was still bearable enough to skate. Surprisingly for the first time in many, many years, there were more Advanced riders that Beginners. I assume because it was Kwantlen. When I started seeing some of the faces showing up for the Advanced Category, I knew it was gonna be a good show, and a tough contest to judge. With Surrey Locals like Calvin Dignard, Jay Mykyte, Andy Anderson, Jordan Strong, Brad Muscat and Ryan Barron, they were all in the running. But they would have to beat the guys that travelled there, like Ryan Prasad, Lil’ G and of course, “The Dominator” – Dominic Devries.
It was anyone’s guess who was going to come through on this one, only time would tell.
Only 4 kids in Mini this time around, but I knew that JR Barron was pushing hard for this win, since it was his final Mini Contest ever. He turns 11 years old next Sunday, so time to move up buddy! He took advantage of his skills and tore up the park landing almost everything he tried, including the only kickflip in the Mini Category. Parker Sherwin was right on JR’s heels though with a huge bag of tricks of his own and tried really hard to not let JR win. It was a close call…
The Beginner Category was just as tough with Kai Searle on board. This kid has some serious talent for his young age and lands a lot of tough tricks, with style. There was actually a 3 way tie for 4th place, just to tell you how close this competition was. The surprise of the day though was Dante Gullickson who came out strong in his first run and then blew the crowd away with a flawless second run which was one long consistent line. Awesome!! That doesn’t happen often in Beginner. He almost won but Kai’s tricks were just too good and scored way bigger points. It was tight.
The Intermediates wasn’t so tight. Tyler Olson killed it all day during warm up, I can’t even think of a time a looked over at him when he didn’t land a trick, and was trying some pretty technical tricks. But sometimes when the helmet goes on for your run and the pressure of having the park to yourself happens, people choke. I think the rest of the category was happy Tyler had trouble, because I thought he was gonna win it for sure after watching him in warm-ups. But the prize went to 12 year old Mathew McCauley who landed a ton of rail tricks and gap tricks wherever he could squeeze them in. This kid knows how to skate hard, and takes it very seriously. He can bust tricks down huge gaps at any time, but also has a pocket full of tech tricks too. It was a blow-out win for him.
The ladies were hyped up too, Brianna Palmer is just starting out in the contest world so I’m sure she was nervous when she saw the competition that she was about to face. Carrie Williams is finally back in Contest Mode after a few years of missing out, so she brought out all her shovit and 180 skills and landed a ton of tricks. And then Heloise Wathelet showed up with Lil’ G, she’s visiting for the summer from Belgium. This chick’s got some serious talents and it looks like they might take her somewhere. Flip Tricks and Ledge Skills. Check out this video I found of her on Youtube.
[youtube id=”7oj6XHc2PSY” width=”620″ height=”360″]
It was close but Heloise took first. Hopefully we see her at a couple more of these events.
Then came Advanced. Like I said earlier, it was anyone’s contest to win. Really depended on who landed what. It was very close between the Top 5 except for how obvious it was that Dominic won. This kid has constant flow combined with super solid style and lots of hard tricks. I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it over and over, watch for him in the big leagues in the future. I’m gonna be hosting a segment of Glory Daze with Hippie Mike on Dominic soon.
My favorite tricks that went down in Advanced were Calvin Dignard’s nollie tailslide 270 on the flat ledge, Andy Anderson’s bluntslide fakie on the down rail of the pyramid, Ryan Barron’s feeble 180 up the same rail, Fighter’s Benny Hanna over the quarter pipe and of course anything that Ryan Prasad landed. There’s another name to watch for in the near future. Sick skater!! Cisco Gooding came out and had 2 solid runs too, but they weren’t of his usual “Flawless Run style” so he didn’t make Top 3, and the surprise of this category was that Jay Mykyte didn’t place at Kwantlen Park. I guess there is a first time for everything. Better luck next time Jigga…
We did have a Best Trick Contest on the big pyramid rail and it was a 3 way tie all going up the rail – Ryan Barron Feeble 180, Andy Anderson Bluntslide and Dominic Devries with a frontside tailslide fakie. Sick. Ryan was close to taking it all with a Boardslide to Feeble, but just couldn’t quite put it down. RBS…
Results:
Mini: 1. JR Barron; 2. Parker Sherwin; 3. Aiden Eastman; 4. Ry Forrester
Beginner: 1. Kai Searle; 2. Dante Gullickson; 3. Riley Allen; 4. Nick Bachmeier, Weston Huchkinson, Matthew Major; 7. Bishop Rosie; 8. Patrick Jonas; 9. Andrew Goodlet; 10. Ethan Tessier; 11. Ben Walsh; 12. Cameron Nelson
Intermediate: 1. Mathew McCauley; 2. Andre Bissonnette; 3. Eric Pedersson; 4. Malek Salem; 5. Tyler Olson
Girls: 1. Heloise Wathelet; 2. Carrie Williams; 3. Brianna Palmer
Advanced: 1. Dominic Devries; 2. Calvin Dignard; 3. Brad Muscat (Fighter); 4. Andy Anderson; 5. Cisco Gooding; 6. Jordan Strong; 7. Allen Handley; 8. Ryan Barron, Sean Cuddeford (Lil’ G); 10. Alexander Savage; 11. Jay Mykyte; 12. Shadd Trepp
Best Trick: 3 way tie – Ryan Barron, Andy Anderson, Dominic Devries
See you next time at
Fleetwood – July 28th 2012