Surrey’s First Covered Skatepark “Chuck Bailey Skatepark” Grand Opening

May 28,2011 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

A first for Canada – A skateboard/youth park which had a covered area built over a portion of it. This will be a revolutionary guideline for the parks of the future. We create these places for the children and youth of today to go out and be active, but the weather can definitely be a factor. Finally, a place we can go to skateboard, bike, blade or just hang out during the rainy season without having to leave Surrey. And for all those who don’t live in Surrey, it’s just a skytrain ride away.

Located right near Gateway Station beside the Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre, this new Youth Park will be busy forever.

The plan was cemented for this park to be constructed in February 2010. Some delays occurred, but construction did begin early 2011 and the Grand Opening date was chosen – May 28th. As time drew closer some people were worried that the park was not going to be ready by this time, but I always had faith in New Line to have it done. I would always just say,”It’ll be ready…”, and it was. The construction fence was taken down on the 27th, and literally within a couple hours, the place was jumping with 50-100 people who all had nothing but positive remarks. My opinion of the park – “The best outdoor skate/youth park in the Lower Mainland/Fraser Valley.” With the covered area, it will always be used, but the best part is how unique everything else in the park is. New Line went all out with their design team and created many obstacles that you will not find in any other skate park, including custom formed rocks built right out of the transition of the quarter pipes. There is something for everyone to keep them excited to venture to this facility for years to come.

The Grand Opening day was perfect, a little cloudy but no rain. I would have to say close to 500 people around, 300 being skateboarders, bikers, and rollerbladers. We had plenty of indoor events happening, and 3 different demonstrations – The Surrey BBoys break dancers, Bioulles BMX Demo, and the Kevin Harris Freestyle Skate Demo which wowed the entire crowd. Kevin brought Kai Dunkel, a 22 year old up-and-comer form Germany, and Ryan Brynelson, a 19 year old local from right here in North Delta, both extremely skilled at this rare style of skateboarding. But of course no one can touch the level of expertise the Kevin brings to the surface with 35 years of experience. He blew people’s minds, and taught them history on the microphone all at once. Check out the demo on You Tube.

Big thanks go out to all of our performers from the event. Even more thanks go out to New Line Skateparks Inc. for designing and constructing another amazing facility.

Councillor Mary Martin and Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts both made great speeches in regards to how awesome this park is. And one more amazing fact is that this is one of the first skate parks ever built where there was no real fundraising. Built completely by the City of Surrey, with 1/3 of the money funded by the Federal Government, it is yet another revolutionary step made by the City of Surrey for other cities to follow. Surrey is the City of Parks, and is always creating more and more places to try to get all people outside being active and enjoying their surroundings in positive ways. We are always looking towards the future, and in skateboarding, the City of Surrey is definitely a leader for all other cities to follow in our footsteps. With 8 skateboard/youth parks it is the highest number of parks per capita in Canada. Thanks Dianne!!

There were tons of kids enjoying the new park this day of the Grand Opening, and lots were competing in the “Best Trick Contests” and plenty of prizes were handed out. It’s a great park and I can’t wait to add it to my list of parks for competitions and special events.

Thanks to everyone that was involved in planning, sponsoring and working at this event. And thanks to all who came out.

Surrey Rules!

– Hippie Mike

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

Sep 10,2010 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

I know a lot of people are sceptical of skating Bear Creek, and some hate the fact that I always save it for last every year. But Bear Creek is such a unique place, and if you actually go there and practise, you can find a lot of funky lines to do. And every year, the contest runs are always amazing. It was a good day, a little lengthy, but not raining. We had our annual show from the band “The Pimpin’ Kings” which I thought was great. You can check out the Pimpin’ Kings in the latest edition of Ear Goggles at www.eargogglesdvd.com

We also had 2 Best Trick Contests, handed out the King of Surrey Trophy, and donated all proceeds for this year to the Surrey Food Bank – a Grand Total of $755.59 and 400 lbs of food, much appreciated.

It was an eventful day. Cisco Gooding took the King of Surrey Trophy along with the 1st place plaque and a bunch of prizes in Advanced and then another Deck for Best Trick down the 4 stair set up – Nollie Inward Heelflip Front Boardslide down the ledge. 6 contests in total this year for Cisco and he finished with five 1st places and one 4th. Not bad.

The Minis and Beginners all skated really hard, everyone killing it. Desmond Fisher finally took home Gold in the Mini. Skated his best all day and landed a ton of awesome and difficult tricks. 2 solid runs. Luke Thodus skated pretty good but missed a couple tricks taking 3rd and Tomas Pustovalov took a big 2nd place. Kai Searle just missed placing in this one, he skated really good, but Luke barely beat him. 4th is still something to be proud of though. Good job dudes. The Beginners were all pushing for Gold. It was a tough call between Niall Proctor and Riley Allen for 3rd, but it went to Riley. Lots of funky old school style tricks and tricks that you can tell he is inventing on his own. Jacob Drescher took 2nd, which was a surprise to me because he had 2 killer runs, practically flawless, but Cole Thodus is one tough kid to beat. He was doing grabs over the big gaps grind down the ledges and kickflips down the sets. 1st place again.

The ladies category was alright, Carrie and Ilesha, just like the old days. It was great to see Ilesha show up and still try her best to ride the park. She’s very tiny and just rides around and does her best while Carrie lands as many tricks as she can. Good times. The Intermediates put on quite a show for the crowd, all landing tons of tricks. Trevor Greig and Jaden exploded out of gates with fierce energy and you could tell it was going to be between them for 1st place. Jaden had more creative tricks, but Trevor went bigger and took gold. 3rd place went to the Old Schooler, Curtis Clements over Brendan Neilsen. Brendan just had a tough second run, but he did good all year so he couldn’t be too upset.

Best Trick on the quarter pipe went to Dominic DeVries with a kickflip frontside 50-50 to fakie and Allen Handley took a close second with kickflip back smith 270. And Russia had the trick of the day when he launched the quarterpipe pyramid to flat with a huge Mute Grab and broke Barry’s board. Still rode away, but broke Barry’s board. Onward to Advanced where everyone was on fire. Cisco had 2 pretty much flawless runs with lots of variety, ledges, rails, flip tricks, switch tricks and tranny, Adam Fontaine demo’d the rails regular and switch, and Fighter went huge over all the gaps and hit up some rails and quarter pipe, Dominic Devries had an amazing 2nd run landing a ton of difficult tech tricks, but Shameless was on all the tough obstacles and beat out Dominic and Fighter to hold onto 3rd place. It was a tight contest, everyone skated really good all day, and I’m glad that rain held off until it was over.

Thanks to everyone who came out to participate all summer, thanks to all the parents for transporting the kids all over Surrey, and thanks to all the sponsors. It was definitely an awesome series.

RESULTS

MINI: 1. Desmond Fisher; 2. Tomas Pustovalov; 3. Luke Thodus; 4. Kai Searle; 5. Justin Fiorante & Schuyler Jimmie; 6. Aiden Eastman & Rene Rosie 7. Kaelen Faux

BEGINNER: 1. Cole Thodus; 2. Jacob Drescher; 3. Riley Allen; 4. Niall Proctor; 5. Alex Pace; 6. Ryan Siemens; 7. Matthew Major; 8. Matt Phillips & Dante Gullickson; 9. Andrew Goddlet & Billy Shouting; 10. Corey Weis & Biyan

GIRLS: 1. Carrie Williams; 2. Ilesha Szerepi

INTERMEDIATE: 1. Trevor Greig; 2. Jaden Easton-Ellett; 3. Curtis Clements; 4. Brendan Neilsen; 5. Andre Bissonnette; 6. Cam Head; 7. Jonathan Kampen & Justin James; 8. Barry Blatter; 9. Robert Wylie & Ross Somerville

ADVANCED: 1. Cisco Gooding; 2. Adam Fontaine; 3. Shameless; 4. Dominic DeVries & Fighter; 5. Jay Mykyte & Allen Handley; 6. Dale Kind; 7. Keegan Anderson; 8. Jordash Bouchard

MOST IMPROVED SKATER: – Shayle Dahl

KING OF SURREY: – Cisco Gooding, who won 5 Advanced Contests!

See you all next year…

Hippie Mike’s Tour De Surrey: Guildford Bowl 2010 Contest Results

Sep 1,2010 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

I only have one word to describe this contest – Crazy!
There wasn’t the usual amount of people there, but it was the Long Weekend. The cool part was that majority of the people there were in Advanced which meant it was going to be a tough contest to judge, but an awesome event to hang out and watch. Only 3 kids in Mini, and Matthew McCauley owned it. Started off the entire contetst with a perfect kickflip over the 2 block, and it didn’t end there.

Just demo’d the whole park. This kid’s got some definite talent, especially for 10 years old.

The Beginners category was pretty close all around, but Matthew Major took it home for his first ever win. Matthew used the entire park and was the only beginner to roll into the bowl. Say no to tail drops. All the beginners showed off everything they had and they all did great.

The Intermediates were also on it. Everyone had a good first run and then the second runs told the story. Trveor Greig utilized all the big gaps, while Jaden Easton-Ellett toar up the bowl with creativity. Brendan Neilsen showed us how to skate ledge and rail and Sean LaFontaine joined him, and Jonathan and Rbert skated as much flatground as they could find. The funniest part is how much all the kids avoid the Bowl, except for Jaden. So when it was the Ladies’ turn, which Carrie Williams was the only lady there, all she skated was the bowl. She showed all those Intermediates how to rip it and even finished her run off with a fakie shovit on the crazy taco corner. Should’ve just entered Intermediate.

Everyone had a good first run and then the second runs told the story

We had 2 Best Trick Contests by this point, 1 down the 2 Block which Cisco Gooding won with a Switch Varial Flip, and then Ollie North put on their own down the 6 stair setup which Adam Fontaine easily won with a Switch Tailslide down the hubba ledge. Dominic DeVries came a close second in both. The Advanced guys were now all registered and ready to win. They all had talent and they all wanted the gold.
After the first runs, the judges were dreading their jobs. Everybody killed it. Dale Kind skated around with manuals and styley tricks everywhere, Jordan Strong ollied over everything, Justan Heddle skated as hard as he could in the bowl with a Josh Evins tribute song on, and Kyle and Dominic both ripped it too.

The names that were in contention though were Cisco Gooding, Adam Fontaine, Allen Handley, Brad Muscat (Fighter) and Andy Anderson – all landing everything. Brad crooked grinded down the rail of the double set which points directly into the corner of the building and rode out perfect to end his second run. It was tiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeet! Allen was tearing up the bowl but choked a bit in his second run. Too bad, because his first run was soooooo good. This kid’s got some hardcore tranny tricks, and he lands ’em. Cisco skated really good too but had a couple struggles this time. Adam Fontaine had a perfect first run just hitting tough tricks down the hubba and the handrail over the stairs, but also choked a bit in his second run. It left the door wide open for Andy Anderson to put on a show. This kid rips bowls, and loves the Guildford one. Andrew landed everything he tried, skated the bowl hard regular and switch stance, and finished the second run off with a sick gap to lipslide on the extension corner. Not bad for 14 years old. If you missed the contest, you can come and check out Andy’s skills at the Bowl at The Youthfest Demo on September 25th, 4:00pm. The annual Andy Anderson Guildford Bowl Destruction Demo.

After handing out the prizes we had one more Best Trick Contest on the Taco. It was close between Kyle and Allen and Justan. Allen landed a hurricane grind to fakie and a huge backside Judo Air. Kyle did a sick Frontside Feeble Grind over 2/3rds of the taco – tough trick. But Justan won it for Josh with a backside 360 indy, stomped.
Thanks to everyone that came out.

RESULTS

MINI: 1. Matthew McCauley; 2. Sam Stephans; 3. Nick Logan

BEGINNER: 1. Matthew Major; 2. Max Stephans; 3. Desmond Fisher; 4. Riley Allen & Matthew F.; 5. Jacob Drescher; 6. Matthew Zegar

INTERMEDIATE: 1. Trevor Greig; 2. Jaden Easton-Ellett; 3. Brendan Neilsen; 4. Sean LaFontaine; 5. Jonathan Kampen; 6. Robert Wylie

GIRLS: 1. Carrie Williams

ADVANCED: 1. Andy Anderson; 2. Fighter (Brad Muscat); 3. Adam Fontaine; 4. Cisco Gooding & Allen Handley; 5. Dominic DeVries; 6. Dale Kind, Jordan Strong & Kyle; 7. Justan Heddle; 8. Robin; 9. Ryan Barron

See you all at Bear Creek Park – September 11th! Be prepared to be ther all day.

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

Aug 30,2010 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Once again, the craziest tricks from everybody, the toughest place to be a judge, and the infamous 3 block – Fleetwood skate park. Halfway into the Mini category, your brain really starts wondering what is going to happen in Advanced. If the Mini’s are this good, what are the top skaters going to be like… It was a beautiful day, nice and warm and sunny, the heatwave finally disbursed, but it was still hot enough. When I was pulling up in the morning there was already 50 people there rippin it. While the staff was getting set up, I went and skated for about a half hour. It was chaotic trying to dodge through so many people in such a small park, but it seemed like everyone was managing. The young kids were all flying out of the quarter pipe in a 12 person train, little dudes were kickflipping the 2 block and blasting effortless ollies over the big 3, and everyone was having a great time together.

12:30, time to start. We had 12 kids in the Mini, and 16 in Beginner so I was sending them 2 at a time. This made it difficult with the talent that was present. It was so hard to pay attention to both kids, because every time you turned your head, someone was doing something amazing. Nick Logan must have done 3 or 4 tricks that he made up that were just crazy, Luke Thodos demo’d the whole park making all the normal sized ledges and rails look humungous, and just landing everything. Desmond Fisher was finally landing tricks in his runs. This kid’s got some serious talent and he goes for it. Unfortunately a lot of the time he skates really good all day and then has difficulty in his runs, but not today. Solid airs out of the quarter pipe, ollies over the 3 block and kickflipping the 2 block easily. I saw Matthew McCauley try to kickflip that 2 block a ton of times throughout the day but never saw him ride away, didn’t matter though because he finished off 2 really solid runs by kickflipping the 3 block first try as good as it gets. Blam! And this was Mini – 10 years old or younger.

The Beginner category was also insane. Kids busting effortless flip tricks over the hip to hip and up the step up, blasting grabs over the 3 block, 180’s and flips over the 2, and making use of every obstacle there. Keinan Joss was doing some awesome tricks on the quarter pipe, including blunt nosegrabs to fakie, Ciaran Wright was showing off all of his flip trick expertise, and everyone was just trying there hardest to place. The top 3 ended up being Ryan Siemens in 3rd. Ryan ripped up the whole park with lots of ledge tricks, 2nd place went to Max Stephans with his smooth style and tech tricks, and 1st place once again went to Cole Thodos – Melons over the 3 block, backside 5-0’s on the ledge over the pyramid, and some big boardslide action. Beginners are awesome!

So there was actually another girl there other than Carrie Williams for once. Caroline Paskevich showed up before the contest began, and waited patiently for her chance to show off her skills. Her and Carrie both landed lots of good tricks, shovits, 180’s, manuals, etc. It was good to see another girl there and hopefully she shows up for the next 2 contests.
The Intermediates were pretty fun to watch. Jaden started off his runs good and then they both fell apart on him. Still landed some tight tricks though. Big Bad Barry ripped up the park the best he could for 47 years old, powersliders, shovits and hi-jumps. Keegan Anderson had a rare choke day. Usually this kid lands everything he tries, but just couldn’t pull it together this day. Robert Wylie received the loudest cheers from the locals, but the top 3 names were Dakota Dahl, Brent Chreptyk and Brendan Nielsen. Dakota was solid all day all over the ledges and rails, just skating really good and landing his tricks. Brent skated really hard using the the more advanced ledges and rails, even smith grinded down the red rail over the big 6 stair. But neither of them were any match for Brendan. Brendan had 2 perfect runs filled with tough tricks, backside tailslides, lipslides, and crazy combo tricks. Glad to see Brendan finally landing tricks in his runs again. After last summer, I didn’t know if it would ever happen, but he has definitely been proving himself lately. Good job buddy.

Then we finally got to advanced. At the Haiti contest I hosted at Fleetwood in June, Brad Danyluk destroyed the whole park with 2 flawless runs filled with all hard tricks so I was expecting him to do it again, but he didn’t pull through. Still did all the toughest ledge tricks out of everyone there, but missed a couple – and at Fleetwood you can’t miss a trick in Advanced or your out. The Mayor of Fleetwood, Derrick Mayer had the same issue. 3 flip over the 3 block no problem, but then missing 180’s over the rail. Still skated awesome, but not good enough to place. Shameless and Dominic also had this issue. Like I said, you cannot miss a trick in Advanced if you want top 3 at Fleetwood. Cisco Gooding ripped up the park with creative flow and tech tricks making sure he rode away on everything, Jordan Strong had flawless runs filled with manuals, grinds and airs, but both of them put together still wouldn’t have been enough to stop Adam Fontaine this day. Adam is a very consistent skater from Langley who has a ton of ledge and rail tricks, regular and switch, and he lands them all with authority. When Adam is on it, he’s unstoppable. Even with popping his shoulder out of place earlier in the day on a bad wipe out, he still pulled out 2 amazing, and flawless runs taking the big prize.

Best tricks, we had one early in the day on the bump to rail which Ryan Barron won with a Boardlside to Feeble grind. Then we finished off the contest with one down the 3 block. Derrick started it off with a 1st try 3 flip, cancelled out by Dominic. Then Dominic frontside flipped it, cancelled out by Derrick. Fighter backside 180’s it off the wedge – huge, and Jordan strong backside 180 tailgrabbed it. Dominic kcikflip indy’d it, sort of, and backside flipped it. Derrick hardflipped it and nollie kickflipped it. The crowd voted Derrick the winner. Tough 12 minute contest.

RESULTS

MINI: 1. Matthew McCauley; 2. Luke Thodos; 3. Desmond Fisher; 4. Jaden Dahl; 5. Kai Searle; 6. Nick Logan; 7. Shayle Dahl; 8. Zacc Lester; 9. Matthew Zegar; 10. Alex; 11. Dante & Brandon

BEGINNER: 1. Cole Thodos; 2. Max Stephans; 3. Ryan Siemens; 4. Keina Joss & Ciaran Wright; 5. Riley Allen & Matthew Major; 6. Mick Bey; 7. Drew Linfoot; 8. Kory Laan; 9. Dominik P; 10. Royce Lucas & Spencer Nailin; 11. Alex; 12. Jayden Sandhu; 13. Sean Beatz

GIRLS: 1. Carrie Williams; 2. Caroline Paskevich

INTERMEDIATE: 1. Brendan Nielsen; 2. Brent Chreptyk; 3. Dakota Dahl; 4. Jaden Easton-Ellett; 5. Barry Blatter; 6. Sean LaFontaine; 7. Keegan Anderson; 8. Jonathan Kampen; 9. Robert Wylie; 10. Sebastien

ADVANCED: 1. Adam Fontaine; 2. Jordan Strong; 3. Cisco Gooding; 4. Fighter; 5. Dominic DeVries; 6. Shameless; 7. B-Rad Danyluk; 8. Derrick Mayer; 9. Rayn Barron & Nathan Lintunen

See you at Guildford – September 4th

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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.

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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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Category : Jeff Cole

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