What a perfect day for a contest, the sun was blazing, the weather was hot and tons of kids were ready to put their lives on the line for prizes and plaques. Railside Skate Park in Poco has always been a big contest/demo park but it was the first time Hippie Mike had run an event there, and the response was solid. With about 80 people competing and around 150 in total at the park everyone knew that this contest was gonna be awesome to watch and right from the start it totally was. The Mini’s went out there full force and tore up the place, little 4 year old Kaelen Faux ollied out of every bank there, Austin MacBeth and Django Caseley shredded the big bowl, Trent Johnson showed off his handstand freestyle skills and little Lola Palver body varialled around the whole park. But none of them could beat The A-Man Aidan Eastman. This kid has been coming to Hippie Mike comps for 3 or 4 years and is still a Mini (10yrs old or younger) and when he stepped up and ollied the 9 stair the whole crowd knew who won that category… BOOM!

Beginners were just as crazy but I think the atmosphere got even more insane after Aidan’s Ollie because all of the 17 kids were going nuts. It’s awesome to see beginners riding handrails, olliing the big sets and gaps, and shredding the trannys. Top 6 made it into the finals and they were all awesome to watch – Liam Hansen was super consistent all day long hitting all street obstacles, Jake Dubinsky, Brody Van de Bon and Colby Hale-Stewart shredded all the hips and flat bars, Theo Caseley showed off the fact that he knows how to street skate and actually avoided the bowl in the finals, and Emmannuel Uwitonze just outright destroyed it hitting up only the biggest obstacles with huge ollies, 180’s and railsliders. Emmannuel should actually be in the Mini category but stepped up to Beginner cause he knows he can compete. Watch out Intermediates, you might be next on his list of people to beat!

The ladies category was pretty good, 7 girls all together ranging in age from mid-teens to mid-30’s. There were kickflips, shovits, 180’s, 360’s and a whole bunch of shredding going down and it was great to see all the ladies having fun together. Mai Tanaka stepped up for all women and beat Carrie Williams, way to go Mai!

In the Intermediate category chaos was going down the entire time. So many rippers trying to win prizes. The best runs in the qualifiers belonged to JR Barron, Justin Fiorante and Chadd Sinclair and all 3 of them made it into finals along with Shyeem Ambrose, Levi Wihnon, Tate Roulette and Connor Jollymore. All 7 went into finals wanting to be in the top 3 and it was hectic out there. Flip tricks, bigspins, rails and ledges, and of course that legendary 9 stair. Justin Fiorante ruled the pack with flawless tech tricks and took the gold!

Advanced was pretty awesome but really tough to judge since every person skating was super amazing. 26 dudes and 8 of them made it to finals – Jacob Drescher, Mathew McCauley, Travis Davie, Noah Eastwood, Gabe DiNorscio, Kyler Hale, Dominic Devries & Dave Jonnson. Jacob smashed himself into the flatbank halfway through the finals when his axle broke in half, Kyler Hale took a major head bang on a frontside feeble and both kept skating through the 9 minute battle. Dave Jonnson definitely laid down the most technical tricks in the finals but didn’t quite land enough of them to make top 3. These 3 guys were stomping tricks non stop on all the big banger obstacles and kept the flow going for the whole 9 minutes. It was too bad too because he was owning it in qualifiers. Travis Davie stole 3^rd place from Dave with a ton of solid ledge, rail and flip tricks; Matt McCauley squeezed his way into second by annihilating the 9 stair set and rail and Dominic Devries dominated the entire park landing every trick he tried. It was a no doubter that he took 1^st place, way to go to all who made finals, you all ripped it!!

All the winners got plaques to cherish and they were all stoked. Then the first ever Super King was named. Jacob Drescher took the prestige title by being the most consistent skater of the series lacing in the finals at all 3 events and winning at Bonsor.

Great job to all who came out to the 1^st year of Hippie Mike’s Super Tour, next year we will be hitting 4 different parks so be ready, go out and practice, and remember to have fun – that is what skateboarding is really all about….

Results

Mini: 1.  Aidan Eastman; 2. Lola Palver; 3. Django Caseley; 4. Kaelen Faux, Austin MacBeth, Trent Johnson

Beginner: 1. Emmannuel Uwitonze; 2. Theo Caseley; 3. Liam Hansen; 4. Colby Halesteweart; 5. Jake Dubinsky; 6. Brody Van de Bon; other competitors – Dylan Reinheimer, Marcus Lee, Brayven Methot, Jose Juarez, Parker Sherwin, Devin Petry, Jordan Forsyth, Ken McLean, Trever LaFrance, Argento Lahue, Daniel Yule

Intermediate: 1. Justin Fiorante; 2. JR Barron; 3. Tate Roullette; 4. Connor Jollymore; 5. Shyeem Ambrose; 6. Levi Wihnon; 7. Chadd Sinclair; other competitors – Justin Karbowiak, Ethan Sacco, Sekoya Baker, Brandon Maxwell, Justin Gauthier, Damon Morgan, Austin Doquitan, Jayden Ristich, Rory Whyte, Brandon Dabul-Sanchez, Jake Taranov, Mark Melyukov, Kory Laan, Nathan Gladue

Ladies: 1. Mai Tanaka; 2. Carrie Williams; 3. Nana Kunugi; other competitors – Jess Goldstein, Jessie Smith-Manchia, Sarah Moore, Kristi Fodorova

Advanced: 1. Dominic Devries; 2. Mathew McCauley; 3. Travis Davie; 4. Dave Jonnson; 5. Gabe DiNorscio; 6. Jacob Drescher; 7. Noah Eastwood; 8. Kyler Hale; other competitors – Brad Muscat, Doogie Lester, Jacob Beauregard, DGK Trevor Greig, Hugo Bidard, Sam Cook, Andreas Tsougrianis, Travis Emerson, Riley Allen, Darian Vincent, Eli MacBeth, Calvin Dignard, Allen Handley, Michael “Giver” James, Jack Villa, Jordan Strong, Dennis

Super King Award: Jacob Drescher

Another successful event in the new series Hippie Mike’s Super Tour took place at Bonsor Skate Park in Burnaby, BC this past Saturday and even though we were competing against a big money contest in Abbotsford there was still over 80 competitors and a total number of over 100 people in the park having a blast. Reps from DC Shoes and Centre Distribution were on site enjoying what they saw and all the participants were stoked to have a contest at Bonsor, it’s a sick park that all styles and skill levels can enjoy together.

We started out with Minis and Beginners and they were all ripping, kids were popping ollies and 180s over the 2block and 3block in Mini, and they were kickflipping those obstacles in Beginner. The ones that stood out in both categories were Aidan Eastman, Marcel H. and Quennel in the Minis and Damon Morgan, Emmannuel Uwitonze & Brody in the Beginners. All of the young bucks skated great and it’s always tough to pick a winner but these kids made sure they stood out.

After a long delay for a medical emergency and a highest sticker slap in the full pipe put on by Wee Wong from Auto Repairs R Wee, we got on with the Intermediates and Ladies. The ladies kept it pretty mellow but Nana Kunugi managed to stomp out a kickflip for the crowd. It was still no match for Carrie Williams and all of her shovits and 180s throughout the park. The Intermediates went hard really stepping up the game to an almost advanced level hitting big flip tricks up the step up gap and over the 3 block along with a ton of ledge and rail tricks. Kory Laan blew up the crowd with a solid nollie bigspin down the 3block, Jayden Ristich and Dyson Matthews were on fire all over the park and hit up all the big parts, JR Barron threw down what he knew how and a few more things he didn’t know he could while Tate Roulette and Josh Lewis stayed as close to the top places as possible. All the Intermediates killed it.

When we got to Advanced it was late in the day and these guys were more than warmed up. The finals was an 8 minute jam with 8 guys in it absolutely shredding. Mark Holland made sure the crowd learned his name with a huge array of rail tricks, Brad Muscat reminded everyone that he can rip it street style, Jordan Strong manualed his life away, Doogie Lester inward heelflipped everything in sight while Colin Gallagher and Matt Cook hit all the gaps and rails, but no one could beat the 2 Bonsor Locs Noah Eastwood and Jacob Drescher. Both of these guys were super consistent all day and blew it up in the finals – double flips, sal flips, back lips and so much more. If you missed the comp than you definitely missed the show, hopefully there will be video footage out soon. Congratulations to Jacob Drescher for taking the gold! He definitely worked for it.

Be ready for the finale of Hippie Mike’s Super Tour coming up on September 6^th at Railside park in Poco.

See you there.

Bonsor Results:

Mini: 1. Marcel Haczewski; 2. Quennel Q.; 3. Austin MacBeth; 4. Aidan Eastman; 5. Taeban H.; 6. Dave McGough; 7. Kaelen Faux & Braedon Nerpio

Beginner: 1. Damon Morgan; 2. Emmannuel Uwitonze; 3. Brody Van de Bon; 4. Yoshe Dursten; 5. Parker Sherwin – other competitors: Jack Blain, Braydon Burgess, Carter Williams, Frasier Williams, Dreyden Vibe, James Graham, Devin Petry, Dylan Reinheimer, Cory

Intermediate: 1. Jayden Ristich; 2. Kory Laan; 3. Dyson Mathews; 4. Josh Lewis; 5. Tate Roullette; 6. JR Barron – other competitors: Theo Best, Adrian Romero, Andreas Romero, John Meakin, Kyle Ensor, Irvin Cruz, Austin Dagurator, Justin Gautier, Jonah, John, Bryan B, Rory, Nathan Gladue

Ladies: 1. Carrie Williams; 2. Jacky DeJo; 3. Nana Kunugi; 4. Keiko Sakata; 5. Kristi Fodorova; 6. Rebeka

Advanced: 1. Jacob Drescher; 2. Noah Eastwood; 3. Mark Holland; 4. Colin Gallagher; 5. Brad Muscat; 6. Matt Cook; 7. Doogie Lester; 8. Jordan Strong – other competitors: Kai Searle, Jake Johnson, Riley Allen, Michael Kitasaka, Brendan Neilson, Ryan Barron, Allen Handley, Justin, Jesse Moretti, Ken Li, Riku Mochizuki, Francois LeBlanc

One of the most anticipated contests this summer and tons of rippers showed up to Tsawwassen Skate Park for what would have been an amazing display of talent filled runs. Instead it turned into a Tricks for Cash Jam and lots of people were hungry for money. Jorden Murray rocked the mic with a fistful of cash and a bunch of product and just kept the party alive by picking obstacles to skate and hosting towards both categories – young and old. There were definitely a ton of tricks that went down throughout the day but the most memorable were near the end on the hubba by the blue rail when Andy Anderson stuck a Darkslide down it and the Mike Schulze stomped on a nollie heelflip noseslide bigspin, Pow! Lots of big name locals were in the house and all in all the event was a success. Next year hopefully we get back to full runs though.

Here are some shots of the final spot.

Another beautiful BC Day and another stellar Bowl Series Contest! The White Rock Bowl is extremely unique in comparison to all the other old bowl s that were built in the 70’s, 80’s and very early 90’s, it doesn’t have a snake pattern at all, and the shallow end is still 5-6 feet deep. With a ditch, a halfpipe and a round bowl there are always tons of tricks but there is also the potential for major speedlines if you’re brave enough.

The beginners probably skated harder than the intermediates and they were ripping, ollies and bonelesses on the tranny, mad carves around the deepend and some even tried to make the launch out. The intermediates had more skill but seemed to show their fears and were being more cautious. Still there were some triple airwalks and Dave Brown showed off his China Creek mentality with old school flow throughout. The ladies had some lines too and filled a couple songs with fun times and cheers from the crowd.

Then came Advanced, always insane, but this time worth $$$$!! Everyone was on point, there was even a 720 that went down out of the deepend. It was about making it to the finals, then it was the real contest. Eve Feaver played the bowl with experience under his belt and managed to come in 3^rd which meant it was between Adam Hopkins and Andy Anderson for the top prize. This is Andy’s home park so he has an advantage but both guys were doing gaps that no one else would try along with wicked speed lines and a whole whack of tricks in and out of the bowl. Andy managed to pull through on this one and take $200 – the home crowd loved it.

1^st Andy Anderson – $200

2^nd Adam Hopkins – $150

3^rd Eve Feaver – $100

Great job to all, see you in 3 weeks Squamish August 16^th, Whistler August 17th

I couldn’t have been more of a “Proud Dad” than I was at this event. Helping kids to learn and grow is something that I have passion for and I love to see natural progress, but when it’s your own kid it’s almost tearjerking sometimes. Kaelen Faux loves skateboarding, he is definitely my kid, but we definitely do not force it on him to be good at, skateboarding is supposed to be fun. But living at a house full of skateboards and mini ramps and always having so many people over skating he tends to learn a lot. This contest was awesome to see Kaelen come out at 4 ½ years old with full confidence to try new tricks at a place he’s never really skated and show off the tricks he knows in new places, but when he rolled in the deepend of Griffen and popped an Ollie ¾’s of the way up the wall it blew me away, and to see the smile on his face when he ended up in 2^nd place was pure to the heart….

Griffen is always a great event, one of the coolest places around and the crowd was in it to have a good time this day. It was the day after the Van Doren Invitational and Emmanuel Guzman, Barry Walsh, Raj Mehra and a few other dudes were hanging out. The beginners were awesome and Django took first place by shredding hard in the whole bowl like only he knows how. Intermediates were lead by the East Van locals and there was actually a good turnout for the ladies section, but the show was all in Advanced. Andy Anderson dominated the bowl with pure style, creativity and big blasters. No one can get the crowd cheering like this kid throwing casper stalls, 1620 kickturns, bluntslides and 360 airs up and down the entire bowl. Shane Hunter, Eve Feaver, Bushman, and a few others were hitting mad lines and showcasing their years of experience at the Griffen Bowl but no one could catch Andy this day. Rene Rene tossed him a hundred bucks before the Finals even started for one of the most mindblowing lines ever done there.

This is year #20 for Bowl Series and honestly if you don’t know what it’s about yet then you are missing out hugely. This is true skateboarding at its best. It isn’t about  being the best, it isn’t about being the coolest, it isn’t about who wins, it’s about hanging out with friends and having fun all day together and I couldn’t be more proud to have something like this around for my own child to be a part of….

Next stop – White Rock July 27^th

Check out little Kaelen’s big run!

The start of a new era began exactly how the last one ended, it was a great day in Cloverdale and the New Cloverdale Skate Park was jumpin’ with a crew of awesome dudes of all ages. Hippie Mike on the mic, DJ Cuz-O on the mixing tables, and the DC Rep Kristen hangin’ out all day helping out with registration and hooking kids up with gear left right and centre. We kicked it off with the Mini Category and all 5 kids were going hardcore, little Aidan Eastman went down hard on his wrist down the 5 stair rail and had to rush out for X-rays, but he was okay in the end. Emmanuel killed it hard in the division utilizing all obstacles and even ollied the big 7 stair, lil’ Kaelen Faux shredded like no 4 year old should know how to and came in 2^nd place, followed closely by Carson Ziegler. The Beginners came out just as hard, except there was 20 of them. It’s always a big eye-opener when everyone in the park has astonished looks on their faces while watching beginners, you know right then that the contest is gonna get hectic. Masson Solski squeezed his way into the finals and then turned it up about 4 knotches to take home 1^st Place. All the beginners skated really solid putting together runs and landing lots of tricks but the ones that stood out the most were Damon Morgan, Devin Petry, Layne Nyirfa, Yoshe Durston and Kyle Neill. All 6 of these guys killed it in the finals.

The ladies category was small like usual but they all had a good time, Katie and Tienna ripped around the park carving up lines while Carrie Williams popped all her usual tricks on the flatbanks. Intermediate category was large and in charge, and owned hard by Zacc “Doogie” Lester. This kid was shredding so hard and barely missed a trick all day hitting tons of flip tricks, rail tricks and ledge tricks. After taking 1^st Place in the category he was offered a spot on the Authentic Board Supply Shop Team and accepted it, that means it’s time to step up even more and start competing against the big boys. The rest of Intermediate was super tight, kids were kickflipping the biggest gaps, Justin Fiorante and JR Barron were putting solid lines together using all obstacles, and Kory Laan reminded the crowd how technical and solid he is, even after not skateboarding for over a year. Intermediates killed it, and got the Advanced guys stoked.

Advanced was full of some heavy hitters with lots of talent like Gabe DiNorscio, Hugo Bedard, Cory Gibson, Sam Cook and Fighter, but the finals consisted of Mathew McCauley, Andy Anderson, Jacob Drescher, Dominic Devries, Andy Anderson, Michael Ray and Ryan Le Pore. The finals was a 10 minute Jam session where all 7 guys skated together, it ended up looking like a best trick contest on the 7 stair setup where all these guys were killing the rails, the hubba and the set. Top trick had to be Ryan Le Pore sacking himself hard and then getting back up and landing nollie flip boardslide down the 7 stair rail. He won the contest! First winner at the New Cloverdale Skate Park! Hopefully he comes out to all 3 events.

The Best Trick happened down the 7 stair set up and lots of prizes were earned. It was a great day all around, the vibe was positive, the weather turned out nice, and everyone had a blast. Thanks for coming out!

Next Stop – Bonsor August 23^rd

Results:

Mini: 1. Emmanuel; 2. Kaelen Faux; 3. Carson Ziegler; 4. Aidan Eastman; 5. Noah Atkins

Beginner: 1. Masson Solski; 2. Devin Petry; 3. Layne Nyirfa; 4. Damon Morgan; 5. Yoshe Durston; 6. Kyle Neill; 7. Lukas Zhanel; 8. Elliot; 9. Blake Storie; 10. Anthony Villareal; 11. Josh Russell; 12. Parker Sherwin; 13. Dominick McWilliams, Braedyn Ryan, Austin Blackwell, Jake, Ken McLean

Intermediate: 1. Zacc “Doogie” Lester; 2. JR Barron; 3. Justin Fiorante; 4. Kory Laan; 5. Jayden Ristich; 6. Mark Melykov; 7. Riley Allen; 8. Chadd Sinclair; 9. Justin Gauthier; 10. Dallas Lang; 11. Nathan Gladue; 12. Bradley Dodd, Josh Lewis; 13. Liam Pitts, Elijah Chutskoff, Robert Wylie, Nick Bachmeier

Girls: 1. Carrie Williams; 2. Tienna Rivard; 3. Katie Wotjun

Advanced: 1. Ryan Le Pore; 2. Mikey Ray; 3. Dominic Devries; 4. Andy Anderson; 5. Jacob Drescher; 6. Weston Ganger; 7. Matt McCauley; 8. Noah Eastwood; 9. Brad “Fighter” Muscat; 10. Cory Gibson; 11. Reed Timmonds; 12. Hugo Bedard; 13. William LeTourneau; 14. Allen Handley; 15. Sam Cook; 16. Gabe Di Norscio; 17.  Calvin Dignard; 18. Barrett Lediard

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…