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Hippie Mike is a man of many talents, many skills and many creations. A master of construction, Mike loves to build and create unique and custom projects, but he also takes the same mind frame to everything else he does.

Hippie Mike’s Tour De Surrey: Cloverdale 2010 Contest Results

Aug 1,2010 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

It’s Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey – Rain or Shine. And unfortunately it seems to always be Rain every year in Cloverdale. I think this is the 4th year in a row where it rained there, maybe the 3rd, but either way it sucks. I used to always complain how it was always sooooo hot and desert-like and would beg for a day that was cool, now I would really like one of those hot days again. Hopefully next year I guess…
But Rain or Shine, the show must go on. So lots of little dudes showed up at the usual time and we got things rolling around 12:30 with the Minis and Beginners. It was definitely dangerous out there, and there had already been some horrific crashes just during warmup. Matthew McCauley definitely took “Bail of the Day” with a sack on the handrail and then full face plant. He was a little scraped up but fine. Then he skated really good in his runs. Since there wasn’t as many kids as usual and not many older guys, I gave all the competitors 2 2minute runs with the park to themselves. This also helped avoid any collisions since the park was dangerous. It was battle between Luke Thodos and Jaden Dahl, both amazing for their age. They both completely ran the show, landing everything they tried, gaps, boardslides, grinds, fliptricks, everything. Luke took it this time, but it was close. Third place was also close between Matthew and Justin, but I gues Justin landed more tricks and took the prizes.

The Beginner was good too. Cole Thodos, Luke’s older bro, toar the place up – unstoppable. Cole is really, really good. I think we’re gonna have the next Decenzo brothers in the near future with him and Luke. Second place went to Riley Allen who utilized all the obstacles, his creativity, and also the wet concrete. I like watching Riley skate because he doesn’t just do all the same stuff everyone else is doing, he does his own thing, makes stuff up, and most importantly – commits at all times. 3rd place was kind of a toss up, but it went to Niall Proctor. Some new faces at this event. Hope to see them at more.

It was still pouring rain so I threw out some stickers to the youngsters and encouraged them to find their wet parents. We were down to 6 competitors – 3 for Intermediate, 3 for Advanced. Carrie Williams skated in the Intermediate category since it was only fair. All competitors were guarenteed prizes anyway, but they all ripped it up. Jaden started things off like the King of Surrey should slashing through the puddles with tons of grinds and slide tricks – No Fear of the wet! Quinton Salter landed about a million tricks in his first run mainly using the legdes and rails and Carrie skated just like she always does, landng everything she trys. It was tough judging after the first run, but the second runs spelled it out for us.

Advanced was also good times. Dakota Dahl started it off well and did his best, but he had some super tough competition – Park Local Brendan Neilson, and The Unstoppable Cisco Gooding. Cisco is known for his Flawless runs in competition and he doesn’t try too many easy tricks. And Brendan is really solid on ledges and rails and is just very very consistent. They all skated good, but Cisco still won, I believe that’s 3 for 3 – didn’t show up to South Surrey. The favorite stunt of the day went to Cisco who ollied over the big pyramid and shot his board out because of the wet landing full side into the super deep puddle. Thanks for the laugh. He did get up and land it though.

RESULTS

MINI: 1 Luke Thodos; 2. Jaden Dahl; 3. Justin Fiorante; 4. Matthew McCauley; 5. Shayle Dahl; 6. Carter Nickel; 7. Cameron Nickel

BEGINNER: 1. Cole Thodos; 2. Riley Allen; 3. Niall Proctor; 4. Andrew Goodier, Alew Wilkinson; 5. Donte Gullickson

INTERMEDIATE: 1. Jaden Easton-Ellett; 2. Quinton Salter; 3. Carrie Williams

ADVANCED: 1. Cisco Gooding; 2. Brendan Nielsen; 3. Dakota Dahl

See you at Fleetwood – August 21st.

Andy Anderson Carrie Williams Cisco Gooding Contest Results Contests Hippie Mike Hippie Mike's Tour De Surrey Hippie Mike's Tour De Surrey 2010 Hippie Mike's Tour De Surrey 2011 Jaden Easton-Ellett Jay Mykyte Jeff Cole Jon Irvine Jordan Strong Nathan Lintunen Protest Skateboards Skateboarding Stu Benoit

Hippie Mike’s Tour De Surrey: Kwantlen 2010 Contest Results

Jul 30,2010 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Once, again, the only time you will see this many people at Kwantlen Park is Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey each year. I showed up at 11:00 and there was already about 80 people around. I like Kwantlen Park because there always seems to be random groups of people that come out and watch on their way to and from the pool and playground. The same group of girls was there for the 3rd year in a row checking out the scene and getting their collectable Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey Tshirts. I like to see people that don’t skateboard checking out the contests and enjoying themselves, it means that we must be doing something right.

Kwantlen Park is a tough park for the little dudes, because there aren’t too many obstacles there that you don’t have to ollie to use. And for a Mini kid or 50% of the Beginners, even the small ledges and rails are high. But the kids try their hardest and incorporate the skills that they have into making it work. The Mini category was interesting. It was a new page opening up for Shayle Dahl in the first runs. This kid always comes out, but never does all that well in his runs. But this day, something had changed. Shayle ripped around the park with confidence and consistency. He landed pretty much everything he tried too, and if it wasn’t for his brother Jaden busting out the heelflips everywhere, I think Shayle would have won it. Keep trying buddy. Jaden is just so hard to beat in this category, he does super hard tricks for a Mini and rarely messed up. Very impressive young skater. 3rd place was a tough call between Keinan and Desmond. Keinan utilized the quarter pipes with lots of creativity, but Desmond went bigger and was hitting ledge tricks. He even blasted a suitcase over the pyramid.

In the Beginners, there was lots of variety. Beatbox Sean was there reminiscing the old days when he used to skate there all the time. A lot of kids landed a lot of tricks, but most standouts were Austin Beattie, Kory Laan and Alexander. These kids all have very consistent tricks and all 3 seemed like they came out to win it. Everyone else skated good too, but it was tough to compete against these 3. They just seem like they have a little bit more confidence and experience. And when you land all your tricks, you have a good chance at winning.

Carrie actually had another female participant to skate with. Chelsey joined the contest and rode around the park to the best of her ability. She had fun and so did Carrie.

The Intermediate division was where it got tight. Tough to judge it when everbody is landing everything they try, and they all skate totally different. Trevor Greig started things of with a super good run utilizing all of the obstacles, rails ledges and quarter pipes. Curtis Clements ripped up the park with his old school specialties. Anthony watkins threw down some unique tricks on the big quarter pipe and Francois LeBlanc tortured us all by skating to brutal Girlish Dance Songs, but still managed to land quite a bit considering he was laughing his entire first run. Everybody skated well, but it came down to Trevor, Jonathan Kampen and Ryan Gillanders. Jonathan skated good landing lots of flip tricks and ledge tricks. I think it was the pop shovit grind nollie shovit that made him place though. And then there was Ryan. Ryan’s first run was untouchable. this kid’s got some real talent and obviously likes skating ledges and rails. His second run wasn’t as perfect, but the few tricks that pulled off were enough to keep him in the lead.

And then it was the Advanced. This is probably the toughest conetst to win in Advanced because everyone always land everything they try. And all the Advanced riders are really good. Fighter threw down some pretty cool quarter pipe tricks, but was missing on the ledges a bit, Calvin and Ryan both had really good first runs, but no so good second runs. Same with Brandon Baba. I mean, you miss a trick or two against these older guys at Kwantlen Park and you pretty much fall right down the pole in the standings. Jordan repin killed it like usual, Jigga Jay Mykyte rode the whole park like he still lived down the street, but no one could catch Cisco Gooding – pretty much Flawless. Ledge tricks, Rail Tricks, Flip tricks, Quarter Pipe tricks, Unique gaps, and Big Airs, and landed it all.

The Best Trick contest was on the big quarter pipe. Fighter started it off with a sick 3flip to fakie, and then continued to throw down trick after trick. Unfortunately, like I always say, it’s not a Most Trick competition, it’s a Best Trick. Allen took the lead right away with this crazy Madonna Rock to fakie. Never seen this one before and definitely don’t want to learn it. Nasty! But then Shameless came out of nowhere and stole the lead with a Double Kickflip Feeble stall. Tiiiiiiiiiight! It was by accident, he was going for rock and roll, but sometimes that stuff happens. You take what you get, and this time it was the top prize. The 3rd person to take a prize was Dominic DeVries with a Superspin Flip. Tough call between that and Fighter 3flip, but I had to go with the more technical trick.

RESULTS

MINI: 1. Jaden Dahl; 2. Shayle Dahl; 3. Desmond Risher; 4. Keinan Joss; 5. Aiden Eastman; 6. Sam Stephans; 7. Nick Logan, Kai Searle; 8. Brandon Bateman

BEGINNER: 1. Alexander; 2. Kory Laan; 3. Austin Beattie; 4. Parker, Trevor Coon, Ryan Siemans; 5. Max Stephans, Nathan Gladue; 6. Tyler Olson; 7. Cory Weis; 8. matthew Major; 9. Bryan Sauder, Jacob; 10. Beatbox Sean; 11. Riley Allen; 12. Michael Solberg

GIRLS: 1. Carrie Williams; 2. Chelsey Clements

INTERMEDIATE: 1. Ryan Gillanders; 2. Trevor Greig; 3. Jonathan Kampen; 4. Curtis Clements, Francois LeBlanc; 5. Darcy Roadnight; 6. Anthony Watkins; 7. Robert Wylie, Peter Kelly

ADVANCED: 1. Cisco Gooding; 2. Jay Mykyte; 3. Jordan Repin; 4. Ryan Prasad; 5. Fighter; 6.Calvin Dignard; 7. Cory Gibson, Kyle Johnston; 8. Dominic DeVries; 9. Brandon Baba; 10. Dylan Clark; 11. Allen Handley

See you at Cloverdale – August 7th.

Hippie Mike’s Tour De Surrey: South Surrey 2010 Contest Results

Jul 11,2010 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

A long painful week in the heatwave, so I was glad we were scheduled for South Surrey since it’s usually a little cooler down there. Most of the humidity was gone but it was still blazing out and close to 30 degrees. Lots of sunscreen and lots of fluids and the kids were good to go. Close to 50 competitors all together. We started out with the Minis and all eyes were really on Luke Thodos after his annihilation session at Fraser Heights last week. This kid set a new bar for the Minis for the entire year. His first run was untouchable, but he had trouble riding away in his second run – landed everything he tried, just couldn’t hold on. Nick Logan showed up but he hasn’t been skating as much as he used to so he was struggling a bit. He’ll shake it off. Still skated really good for a Mini. But the audiences focus was drawn to Jaden Dahl and a new kid named Kai. They were both ripping it up, but Jaden took home the gold with a whole lot of awesome flip tricks.

The Beginner category was packed as usual, all kids going for the win. Parker, who was at Fraser Heights skated really good and just missed placing. Riley Allen threw down tons of creative tech tricks on the little quarter pipes and finished third. Matthew F. skated with Andy Anderson style flow and took home second place. And Cole Thodos stole the show, tricks everywhere including a crazy hung kickflip over the pyramid and then finished off his runs by popping an ollie into the halfpipe top to bottom – you know, it’s only like an 8 foot drop…

The Intermediates were having a rough time but there was still lots of talent. Andre Bissonnette stared the category off by kickflipping over one of the quarterpipes and spraining his ankle really bad, good start. There were lots of awesome tricks that went down, notably Sasha’s kickflip noseslide down the long ledge, Fighter frontside 180 in to the halfpipe, and Darcy’s frontside 360 off the wedge. Masayuki skated really solid, same with Coddi, Darcy and Dakota, but the top 3 went to Brendan Neilsen, Jaden Easton-Ellett and Keegan Anderson. Interesting – all Cloverdale Locals growing up… Ther was no Girls category, but we did have a Carrie Williams Demo. Carrie is happy to skateboard again, and whether there is anyone to compete against or not doesn’t matter, she just goes out and tries to land as much as she can for the audience. Someone has to do it, and she does it well. Still, it would be nice to have a Girls Category.

For Advanced, it started out crazy. Brandon Baba is a young Up and Comer who has been a regular at these contests for as long as I can remember. He always had talent, and good drive. Now he has a sponsor and gets to compete against the big guns, but I think all it’s gonna take is one run where he lands all his tricks and he could win one of these events. The kid is definitely good. Fighter wasted most of his runs trying to 180 into the halfpipie which he sort of rode away at the end of his second run. Jordan Strong had 2 solid runs, but almost took himself out at the end of his first one slipping out over the downledge on a kickflip 5-0 attempt. How’s your ribs buddy? And speaking of soar ribs, Justin Heddle tried to break all of his out of the bowl. He was going super fast for a huge frontside 360 indy launch and just lost it completely on the take off flipping over twice and spinning about 900 degrees until he came down flat on his butt and side. If you weren’t there, find the old Flip Video where Alex Chalmers is riding the bowl there and gets worked on a 540 indy, it looked pretty much like that. Somehow Justin actually skated his second run, but didn’t land much. I think he was a little soar. D.J. Dale also skated pretty good with lots of creative tricks, but didn’t land enough of them to compete with the top 3, and then we had Wes and Matt who showed up just as Advanced started and both skated pretty good. Especailly Matt, really layed down some unique tricks around the park. My fave was the bluntslide to fakie on the spine, tight trick. But the big decision was between the 2 little dudes that both rip it completely opposite in style. Park Local Andy Anderson shredded the transition sections of the park like only he knows how. Slashing all the coping and then tearing up the Bowl. Andrew has skated this park for a long time and has awesome flow in the bowl. He’s probably the only 14 year old that can hit the Gravitron fast enough for me to follow him. But his skills didn’t quite take home the gold, because Dominic DeVries is so solid. Dominic can skate everything, but is exceptionally good at flip tricks and ledges. He’s young, but a definite threat in this category wherever we go. Took home the Gold!

After the contest we had a Best Trick on the Centre Section of the Park. Matt started it off with a Boardslide across up and across the kink rail to fakie. I called it the winner right there, but they all still had 12 minutes to try and beat it. Matt threw down back tail shovit out of the launch, Fighter crooked and 50-50’d the big rail, Dominic kickflipped off the ledge over the bank to flat, and Baba 3 flipped off the ledge into the wedge. All solid tricks, but none of them beat the first trick that went down. Good job Wes…

RESULTS

MINI: 1. Jaden Dahl; 2. Luke Thodos; 3. Kai Searle; 4. Nick Logan; 5. Shayle; 6. Lucas; 7. Justin

BEGINNER: 1. Cole Thodos; 2. Matthew F.; 3. Riley Allen; 4. Parker; 5. Jaeden Fitteren; 6. Alex, Matthew McCaulley; 7. Tyler, Kory Laan, Max W.; 8. Bryan; 9. A.C. & Matthew Major; 10. Tyler M, Alias

GIRLS: 1. Carrie Williams

INTERMEDIATE: 1. Brendan Neilsen; 2. Jaden Easton-Ellett; 3. Keegan Anderson; 4. Coddi Ryane; 5. Darcy Roadnight; 6. Sasha Shams; 7. Dakota Dahl; 8. Gavin Goodall; 9. Sebastien; 10. Robin Learmont; 11. Curtis Clements; 12. Francois & Jonathon Kampen; 13. Masayuki Hayashi; 14. Robert Wylie

ADVANCED: 1. Dominic DeVries; 2. Andy Anderson; 3. Jordan Strong; 4. Matt; 5. Brandon Baba; 6. Fighter; 7. Dale Kind; 8. Justin Heddle; 9. Wes

See you at Kwantlen – July 24th

Hippie Mike’s Tour De Surrey: Fraser Heights 2010 Contest Results

Jun 1,2010 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

2010 has been an insane year – with our son Kaelen born last November, my Cabinet Business being super busy, our house addition going on, and me trying to pull off 60-70 hour work weeks all year, I did not feel prepared for Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey to begin. But luckily, I am a very hard worker, and extremely dedicated to all of my jobs. I was ready…

Everyone showed up at Fraser Heights Park just before 11:30am. DJ Cuzo already had the party going, all the City Staff workers were set up and there was a ton of people there. I looked around and smiled – as much stress as I’m under, I love seeing so many appreciative faces. I started unloading the mass of boxes out of my truck, had the helpers put up all the banners and began to enjoy the day. It was a nice day, a little bit cloudy, the risk of rain at any moment, but still warm.

Everyone was feeling the positive vibe. I think that’s what keeps me going the most with these contests is how it is a competition, and yes, everybody is there to try and win, but at the same time, all the kids route each other on all day. There never seems to be arguements, or bitterness, or anything negative. It’s very rare in todays skateboard world to see and it warms my heart. That is probably the number one reason I keep doing this series of contests.

So we started out by hooking up all the people with their “7th Annual Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey” T-Shirts with Andy Anderson on the front blasting a huge melon out of the South Surrey Bowl over a whole whack of kids. And then the contest began. Only 8 kids in the Mini category – no NIck, no JR… but some serious kids rippin’ it. It started off normal, little guys doing little tricks. Then this kid Luke starts flying through the air like he’s Ryan Sheckler. I think Luke is about 3 feet tall and he’s hittin’ melon grabs down the 9 stair first try, huge ollies over the big double set clearing it by a mile, and boardslide both ways down the rails of the 4 and 5 stair. Everyone was blown away. And then Cole started doing the same stuff. I’m looking at people that are in Advanced goin’ “Man, you’re lucky you’re not in this category.” These 2 kids killed it, and I have a strange feeling that they are gonna be at all of the contests, going big every time. Their runs were so amazing, I don’t even remember what anyone else did. I do know that they both would have still placed 1st and 2nd in Beginner. Crazy!

So the Beginners had to follow this circus act, 18 kids going for Gold. Like I said, after the Mini category, it was hard for my brain to know what was happening. All I remember is that there was lots of skills, lots of creativity, and lots of kids. Kory Laan won it, Kolby got 2nd, and last second entry Jacob took 3rd. Everyone had fun though, and that’s all that matters.
Carrie Williams is finally back in action after last year’s super-long pregnancy. Her and Erin Beynon had there 2 minutes of fame and Carrie ripped up the flatbanks just like she used to. It was good to see her back skating, but sad to see that we still don’t have many females coming out to compete. Hey Ladies! Where you at?

A lot of kids were really rippin’ it in this category
The Intermediate division was pretty awesome – 17 kids. Brendan Neilsen finally landed stuff in his runs, Brandon Baba tried all hard tricks and landed a bunch of them. He also landed on the side of his helmet off the big hubba in his run – that’s what they’re for, protect your brains. A lot of kids were really rippin’ it in this category. I think it was a tough one to judge. Dylan and Ryan L. both had sick runs, but barely fell short of placing. Same with Jackson. All in all they all skated good, but Trevor G. skated better, taking 1st place.

Onward to Advanced. Only 9 people, but all super talented in different ways. Jordan Strong started it off with an almost flawless run filled with lots of manual tricks and big ollies, finishing it off with a sick backside shifty bonk over the block on the bank, Fighter did his usual rail killing, Jordan Repin destroyed, Shameless layed it all down, and Cisco ended it all in his first run – Flawless! and all creative and technical tricks that other people don’t want to try. Ryan Barron skated perfect all day warming up and then lost it completely for his run, while the other Ryan threw down some wicked heelflip grinds and manuals. And Andy Anderson skated around like the whole park was one big bowl. After the first runs, it was like a 5 way tie. Then the second run told the truth. Cisco finally missed a trick, but still took home the prize. Tough contest.

We had a best trick down the double set afterwards for a Protest Deck. Fighter started things off with a boardslide across and down the rail, Jordan Strong stole the lead near the end of time with a kickflip backside 50-50 down the hubba, and Ryan Barron won it at the last second with a noseslide kickflip out that he broke the tail off his board and still rode away. Good thing he won a deck.

Thanks to all who came out – It was fun! This is looking to be one awesome year for the Tour de Surrey.

RESULTS

MINI: 1. Luke; 2. Cole; 3. Keinan; 4. Sam; 5. Desmond & Dominic; 6. Alex & Aiden

BEGINNER: 1. Kory Laan; 2. Kolby; 3. Jacob; 4. Riley Allen; 5. Alex Ma & Matthew Major; 6. Alexander Savage; 7. Max Stephans; 8. Cody & Matthew Forcia; 9. Parker; 10. Adam G.; 11. Andrew Harden;
12. Travis, Tristan, Michael, Jaylen, Devon

GIRLS: 1. Carrie Williams; 2. Erin Beynon

INTERMEDIATE: 1. Trevor G.; 2. Brendan Neilsen; 3. Brandon Baba; 4. Ryan L; 5. Dylan L.; 6. Coddi R. ; 7. Jackson; 8. Quinton Salter & Andre Bissonnette; 9. Sebastien; 10. Joanthon Kampen; 11. Ayden, Jacob Martin, Robert Wylie, William Letourneau & Kevin

See you at South Surrey – July 10th

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