– Seylynn
I think you get the point. Starts at noon…
Just over 5 weeks ago on the long weekend of May, the best of the best Freestyle Skateboarders came from all over the world to the Cloverdale Fairgrounds in Surrey BC to compete in the 2nd Annual World Round Up Freestyle Championships. 9 countries were represented by close to 40 competitors in total and the crowd was loving it.
Bringing back the amazing style of Expo ’86, 2 legends came together once again to bring this competition to life last year in 2012. And the 2nd year was even more successful. Kevin Harris and Monty Little put in a whole lot of effort to connect with the most experienced Freestylers around the globe and invite them out to this event. The treatment they show to these competitors is the same that the Queen of England would get if she was invited over to our country, they get picked up at the airport, deals on accommodations (some get free stays at people’s houses) & meals, etc.. But that is what family does for each other, and covering the entire event over 4 days that is what I came to recognize most of all about this group of individuals is how close they are to one another, and how much they feel like they are a family. I personally filmed and interviewed every competitor over the weekend and every time I asked the question “What will you remember most of all about this experience?”, the answer was the same – it was great to see everyone together, the way people cheer each other on and show love for one another, it is a world wide family… Beautiful and touching words, and fully believable. Zero Percent of disrespect at this event. It’s crazy when you are in a room where there are so many different languages being spoken but everyone shares the same culture – that is a rarity. Skateboarding is a culture, but Freestyle Skateboarding is a tight-knit community. There are only a few real freestyle skateboarders in the entire world and many of them make a living doing demos and shows, and they strive to be in front of an audience. What I loved the most about this competition was how the crowd was ever changing, people just coming in for the big moments and then going back outside to enjoy the fair and rodeo. But everyone that came in sat down if there was still empty seats and stayed a while. The difference between park skaters and freestyle skaters is that freestyle skaters are used to performing for crowds of people that know nothing about skateboarding, and they always leave the crowd wanting more.
The 2013 World Round Up Championships was more about the demo than the contest itself. Sure, everyone wants to win deep down inside, but I believe that the true satisfaction for these guys comes from the cheers of the crowd that drown out the music in the stadium. You need money to survive, and another trophy for your wall is never a bad thing, but it seemed like that was all in the back of everyone’s minds. They were there for the show, for the experience, and to see their friends whom they consider family.
Freestyle Skateboarding is the roots of all skateboarding we do today, don’t ever forget that…
Here is the Full Video Recap of the event:
[youtube id=”LgIvYaaKyCM” width=”620″ height=”360″]
An amazing demo from 3 generations of legends – Kevin Harris, AJ Kohn & Kilian Martin:
[youtube id=”gwxzqUqe8hc” width=”620″ height=”360″]
And a bunch of personal interviews and close up skating with the competitors:
Stefan “Lillis” Akesson – Sweden – http://youtu.be/-ArPWRjphxI
Rene Shigueto – Brazil – http://youtu.be/JqIkdXpsaUo
Russ Howell – http://youtu.be/jj938rlcMUA
Lynn Cooper – USA – http://youtu.be/lc2xeJUmAMY
Andy Anderson – Canada – http://youtu.be/rdkTkqndCV4
Stefan Albert – Germany – http://youtu.be/7Q1hQzW-p8Y
Alejandro C Finy – Costa Rica – http://youtu.be/DigSAfG3QDk
Lucio Flavio Simas de Lima – Brazil – http://youtu.be/wDNcJ8KDgAM
Seya Nakano – Japan – http://youtu.be/kVCPzkwxStY
Takashi Suzuki – Japan – http://youtu.be/l4DoJw1jwLE
Christian Heise – Germany – http://youtu.be/HqbO09cZG0A
Mike Osterman – USA – http://youtu.be/5FEh1yXW3UA
Per Canguru – Brazil – http://youtu.be/Ujvqfi5H24s
Tai Tai – Brazil – http://youtu.be/Hp3uHPVghuM
Kilian Martin – http://youtu.be/vc2BSzdTpPo
Albert Kuncz – Hungary/Slovakia – http://youtu.be/wfRugEvoTFU
Bert Mathieson – USA – http://youtu.be/UqL0Qijsu3Q
Masahiro Fujii – Japan – http://youtu.be/NLTqX0MJmPg
Ricky Rodriguez – USA – http://youtu.be/hM4VwSGq6Gw
Jesse Whalen – USA – http://youtu.be/NlseCs-dwT8
Daniel Trujillo – USA – http://youtu.be/bkQqaBhHvcY
Dan Garb – USA – http://youtu.be/e4YVy3hT6ME
Darryl Grogan – USA – http://youtu.be/khbBnmfdbKQ
AJ Kohn – USA – http://youtu.be/TDAKQAfaYJI
Ryan Brynelson – Canada – http://youtu.be/t9Z3Qd0eKw8
Guenter Mokulys – Germany – http://youtu.be/lZMjlXTlcIE
Yuta Miyatake – Japan/Canada – Interview to come…
Jacob Whitt – USA – Interview still to come…
Adam Flood – Canada – Interview still to come…
Kaue Araujo – Brazil – Interview still to come…
Toshiaki Fujii – Japan – Interview still to come…
Mic Murayama – Japan – Interview still to come…
Thomas Nascimento – Brazil – Interview still to come…
Tomo Koyano – Japan – Interview still to come…
Sam McKinlay – Canada – no interview…
World Round Up 2013 Results
Amateur
Professional
Do it yourself has always been common terminology in the world of skateboarding, we have always built stuff to skate. Back in the day before skate parks you just found a spot that was abandoned and put up some wood ramps until they either got taken away, broken, or some asshole would burn them for no reason. Now a days, the craze of DIY Concrete spots is going hard, people are building obstacles all over the place wherever they live, and all you can do when you make something good is hope that it doesn’t get destroyed. It’s always sweet when you find a barrier that would work perfectly if it had some concrete at the bottom or something like that, but that stuff is minor compared to what is going on out there right now. Look at Burnside as an example from the past. That place was all man-made by the locals and it’s humungous. Leeside is another great spot that was wood for many years and now, thanks to all the gravel the city of Vancouver donated unintentionally, it is one of the sickest DIY concrete skate spots around. The White Rock Res, which is actually in Surrey, is also constantly growing with more and more additions of street obstacles and barrier type quarters. There are a few other DIY spots around the lower mainland that are more secretive, and now there is another that has just popped up in a “secret location” on this side of the river. It’s awesome how in a world of so many skate parks, we still feel the need to build our own – something that is not going to be busy with little dudes in the way, something that is free to go to and just hang with your budds, something that is nasty, rough and sweet all at the same time.
Here’s a video from Dallas Lang at the newest DIY spot
The Now Newspaper featured an article about the upcoming Canada Day Jam being held at ND Skate Park put on by Street Dreamz Board Shop. Shop owner Chris Somerville talks about last years event and how this year will be even better. Plus he gets some props in for the shop!
Good Job Chris
http://www.thenownewspaper.com/sports/Skateboarding+bigger+better+second+year/8574586/story.html
It is almost time people – the 10th Annual Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey starts on July 6th at Cloverdale Skate Park on 64th ave. This series of events is a huge part of my life, and the lives of many kids in Surrey, Delta, Langley and wherever else they travel from for the comps. It melts my heart to recognize the joy that I have brought to so many individuals over these last 10 years by running this series. It all began in 2004 with me asking the question to someone in Parks and Rec “What do I need to do insurance wise to be approved to run a series of skateboard competitions in Surrey?” This began a conversation throughout the Youth Functional Table and came back to me with an answer of “Why don’t we partner with you and make it a City run Event…” I said sure, and look where we’re at – 10 years later…
This year we’re hittin’ all the original parks on the map and finishing at Bear Creek just like we did the first 7 years. The reason I started Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey in the first place was because at that time we had 5 skate parks, which was more than any other municipality, yet we had no big competitions happening. Coastal Riders and Substance Sk8 Shop were having the occasional event, and Kevin Kelly had tossed a couple contests at Bear Creek Park. Other than that it was Board Kennel utilizing the South Surrey/White Rock Park for contests but not necessarily advertising them to everyone. We needed something consistent, not just for the kids to have, but for the skateboard community to recognize and a series that hit every park we had in one city was how to do it. So I made it happen.
With the help of so many others sponsoring the contests, kids were showing up in flocks. There are a ton of local skateboarders that I can think of right now who I may never have met if it weren’t for these competitions, but instead built a family style relationship with. I still remember JR Barron and his cousin Nick Logan coming out to Cloverdale contest 7 years ago. It was JR’s 5th birthday that day and him and Nick were so tiny and they were just bouncing around on there skateboards together trying whatever they could even though neither of them knew what they were doing at all, and I can still remember the noise from the crowd being a roar of mixture of laughs and cheers. It made the day so awesome, and it made me realize how young some kids were that were coming to my events – I had to create a special Mini Category just for kids 10 & under. And now JR is turning 12 years old and kick flipping big gaps and hitting rails and stuff, and me and him are still great friends, he’s a Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey die hard who comes to every event. And there’s all the Langley crew that I watched grow up into the amazing skaters they are today – Dustin Locke, Hashbrown, Jordan Repin, Zaz & all that crew. And Magnus, the Decenzo’s, John Hanlon the Man Child, all these guys used to hang at these contests too back in the day, and Drew and Stu and Jay Mykyte – Cisco Goding, Jeff Cole and Jon Irvine, Andy Anderson, Jaden Easton-Ellett, Brad Muscat, so many friends… They were a great place to learn how to compete and to have a great time with friends, and that feel is still there. The generations change each year a little bit, but the majority of regulars still come to every single stop on the tour. It brings tears to my eyes every time I think about the milestone we are reaching this year. 10 years!! If anyone had tried to tell me 10 years ago that the world of skateboarding would be accepted in the way it is today by now, I wouldn’t have believed them. And in fairness, I think that this series has had a lot to do with that acceptance that has become reality in and around the Lower Mainland with competitions and skate parks in general. I work hard every year to make this happen and I thank everyone who has been and will be a part of Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey. We have taught safety, we have taught freedom, we have taught style of competition, but most of all we have built a family of skateboarders who love to have fun together…
See you at Cloverdale Skate Park
July 6th, 2013
Noon
For a recap of last year’s Tour de Surrey 2012 check out the link below
With Summer finally arriving I wanted to show my appreciation to the dudes that rep Protest Skateboards for me so we had a big ol’ BBQ and Ramp Jam at the ranch. It was a combination of generations of people who have been in my life and helped out with everything I do behind the scenes and on the front lines. I was most stoked to see my old pal Homer walk into the yard. Me and him went through a lot together over the years and it meant a lot to me for him to show up. He took over the Carnivore Barbeque for me which helped also since I don’t really know how to cook meat. But of course having Homer there pretty much confirmed that his son Randy was showing up, 8 beers in and with plenty more to go. Majority of the deck team showed up – Andy Anderson, Carrie Williams, Cisco Gooding, Bushman, Jeff Cole, Fighter, Jordan Strong, Kaelen Faux, Jaden Easton-Ellett and of course myself Hippie Mike. We were missing Ryan Brynelson, Eve Feaver and Surrey Stu but we made it through without them. Jay Mykyte and Allen Handley were shredding the ramp the whole time with Dylan Dombroski, and everyone was having a great time together. Carrie learned Fakie Crooks, Brad learned Rocket Blunts and Randy kept leaping off the cliff from the ramp like a maniac. He’s lucky he didn’t get hurt. Drew Boyle made an appearance and Justin James rolled his ankle on the ramp like 5 times. Bushman was checking out my yard and spotted a car jammed vertically in the ravine that I’ve never noticed in the 7 1/2 years we’ve owned this house. So then of course everyone was climbing down to check it out. Turns out to be a Simca which was one of the most popular car manufacturers in France until it was bought out by Chrysler in the 1970’s. Gotta love Google, but even better, gotta love the fact of how many people have pissed off the cliff right beside this thing and no one’s ever noticed it there. Bocce, Burgers, Hot Dogs, Pool, Skateboarding, Loud Music, Drunk idiots and great friends.
It was an awesome time. Thanks to everyone who came out, and of course I bought waaaaaaaay to much food so I guess we’ll be meeting up again real soon.
Protest Forever!
Calvin Dignard – one of the roughest and toughest Surrey Loc, and also one of the most solid skaters you will meet. He always has a stern look on his face, and he’s always determined to land his tricks. Fakie, Switch Stance, Regular & Nollie tricks, Ledges, Flat Bars, Hubbas & Down Rails, Big Gaps, Small Gaps, Pole Jams & Launchers – this guy is fearless in the streets. I’ve been watching Calvin skate for years and he is always impressive. He wins a lot of free gear at all the local events and contests and you can depend on him to throw down on camera anytime if you wanna film. He’s got skills, tech tricks, determination & consistency. The only thing Calvin doesn’t have is someone with a camera to take him out and get shit done. He is sponsorless right now and that needs to change. I just gave him a set of Protest Wheels on Go Sk8 Day for him to test out. If he likes them, maybe he will be reppin’ ’em on the team. Who else is ready to help this dude blow up?
Check out Calvin Dignard’s Raw Street Footage video and remember that he barely ever has a filmer around.
This year was large and in charge in Vancouver. There were hundreds of people at the plaza for the Vans Waffle Breakfast and then they went venturing through the streets together in a huge mob. It was craziness! Cyrus led everyone around downtown from street spot to street spot with handfuls of cash that he diligently handed out when worthy tricks went down. Andy Anderson walked away with a handful, Fighter 50-50’d the kink rail at Victory Square and Cory Lakeman back lipped it, Mikey Ray switch heelflipped over the rail at New Spot while Paul Trepp laid down a couple lines down the sets there, Trevor Greig stripped down to his boxers and jumped in a fountain, and a mob of kids took over the downtown streets between spots. This part of the day was crazy.
The group made it’s way across the Georgia Viaduct like always and headed over the Strathcona Park for a BBQ and a mini ramp jam on a mini-mini ramp that Kevin Kelly provided. That was fun too.
Then off to Hastings bowl we went. This was way more mellow with The Vans BBQ and a bunch of bowl shredders of all ages drinkin’ beer and chillin’ out. Andy displayed some fresh lines that he’s got going on, and Frontside Kid James Clarke showed how fast he could go and how big he could stalefish in the deep end of the bowl. Chris Macallum, Chris Timmers, Surrey Stu, Sheldon Barr, Baxter, Adam Richter, Jeff Muirhead & Jonny B along with many others were going hard in the bowl, but the highlight of the night came when Chris Steggles pulled his skateboard out of his trunk to shred. Steggles said he hadn’t skated yet this year, but it didn’t show once he rolled in – long grinds, vertical handplants and he even aired over the fence out of the 4 foot a few times. Steggles is the man, and he made the day awesome…
Happy Go Sk8 Day 2013! Hope you enjoyed it.
I moved to BC in 1998 with my wife Carrie and was welcomed into the skateboard community here right away with open arms. I met a lot of amazing people right away just through skateboarding in Burnaby, and some of those people are still some of my closest friends, what I consider to be family. But the day that changed my life forever was the first year I went to a Seylynn Bowl Series Contest. I had heard about them for a few years but never made it out, and then when I started riding for Substance Sk8 Shop, Mike McManus took us the Bowl Series contests in White Rock and New West and I saw all these guys that I knew from the Burnaby Park and they were shredding the bowls super hard. I learned the lines quickly and had a great time, I’m pretty sure I even placed 2nd at New West that year. I now knew what The Bowl Series was and understood that I needed to be part of it just for the fun factor. The next year we made it out to Seylynn for the kickoff which is always on Canada Day and there were hundreds of people there. I was stoked!!
Since then, we have never missed a year at Seylynn, and have hardly missed any of the Bowl Series contests at all. Seylynn, Griffin, White Rock, Squamish & Whistler (and New West used to be in there, even Bonsor had it’s times a couple years), these are the original parks that made people like Colin McKay, Alex Chalmers, Dave and Rob Boyce who they are today. And Eve Feaver and Bushman have been repping at these parks forever as well, that’s how I met them, and now they are on the Protest Team. It became a lot more than a series of skateboard contests every year, it became a family reunion, especially Seylynn. Canada Day is the day I think about most of the year, just for that reason. You know the people you’re going to see there, you know the positive vibe that will fill the air, and you know that there’s gonna be some serious talent to watch skate too.
To all the legends of Seylynn Bowl Series – Seb, Cuz, Carver Don, Dave Priest, Stevie D, Johnny B, Hippo, Langer, Jamie Sherrat, Jay Balmer, Mike Strato, Surrey Clint, Clinkhammer, Mitchy, Big Jay, The Faulkner Twins, Bushman, Eve, Stu & Drew, Andy Anderson, Giver, Adam Tagg, Dave Boyce, Alex Chalmers, Rosie and Trevor, McCallum, Pidgeon, Adam Hopkins and so many more. Legends from every era all coming together every year to kick off this event and make it what it is.
This is where I belong, and these are the memories that we make as a family to remember forever. Bowl Series – Year #19 starts July 1st, 2013 at Seylynn Bowl. Who will show up? Who will win? Who will end up this year’s King of the Bowls at the end of the series? Only one way to find out…..
Here’s some footage from last year’s kickoff put together by Dennis Regan from Rollingbonespodcast
Hi Everyone – our new line of 2013 products are now for sale online. You can check out our store to see what you like and make a purchase through paypal.
We have 2 new designs for our standard decks – The Protest Peace/Rasta Team Deck and The Hippie Mike-Uncle Sam Deck which both come in 5 sizes 7.5”, 7.75”, 8”, 8.25” & 8.5”. The 2 bigger sizes are made with a longer wheelbase to properly match the widths!
Then if you love to cruise, you can grab one of the Old School Cruiser Decks specially constructed by Folk Skateboards for Andy Anderson. They have the new Protest Crest Design and every single one has different colour patterns in the crest. They measure up 33” long and are 9.25” at the front truck and 8.5” at the back truck with custom wide tail. These boards are amazing!
Protest Skateboards has now started manufacturing wheels as well. There’s only 1 design but 4 different sizes to choose from 50mm, 52mm, 54mm & 56mm. The price is good and they are built to last.
We have 3 standard T-shirt designs – The Protest Peace, The Protest Fist, and The Protest Peace Sign on Tie-Dye shirts. And there’s also the option to customize your own T-shirt or hoody with some of our other special designs.
And lastly, we of course have stickers. Rectangle vinyls, and 2 types of Dye-Cuts. Have you seen The Statue of Hipperty before?? You gotta check that one out.
Click here for the store
http://www.protestskateboards.com/protest-skateboards-online-store/
Anyway, we love all of you whether you buy stuff or not. Protest Skateboards is a company that exists for the love of skateboarding and just wants to promote the positive benefits of living life as a skateboarder.
Peace!
