The Fifth Annual San Diego Competition (SD5) was definitely a huge success. I’ll give you guys a quick breakdown: PACKED pro division, TONS of companies coming out to support, HUGE tricks, and a plethora of prizes to top the day off. Never before has our sport seen an event such as this. Riders came from literally all over the world, culminating into what was definitely the biggest competition our sport has ever seen.
My first experience with the Clairemont YMCA skatepark was back in early 2009 for the SD3 competition. I was under the impression I had a pretty good handle on how competitions were run and what to expect at them. I was wrong. Among other things, the overwhelming local scene that is present in southern California sets these competitions apart from the rest. At that SD3 competition I remember feeling a lot more like a new guy in the sport, even though I had been around quite awhile. Seeing tons of new faces and getting my first interactions with Australian riders was amazing, to say the least. Specifically I remember best trick, Anthony (Twan) Bustos and Tanner Markley doing a dual-trick. Tanner was attempting flip to fakie while Twan was doing a gigantic flair over him. They didn’t end up getting the trick but it was insanity for sure. The amount of talent that was present at that competition made me certain that no event could surpass it.
Well, I was wrong again: SD4. I was unable to attend this event, but know that is was legendary. With an even bigger turnout than SD3 and even more companies supporting, the ingredients were set in place to set the bar for competitions in the sport. Again, riders from all over the world came out to support the biggest (at that time) competition in the sport. This is when Madd Gear Australia stepped things up in the sport. They sent their entire AUS team out to compete, as well as an entire filming team to document the trip. That DVD from the trip makes its way into the boxes of MGP scooters, similarly to the way that the RVM series is released from Razor. After hearing of Ryan Williams landing the first ever fakie frontflip in a contest, I was again positive no event could outdo the last.
This brings us to the year 2011, where last weekend the SD5 competition took place. This park has a few things that are unique for sure. First of all, it is an outdoor park with no lights. If there is one disappointment that I could find coming from this competition would be the constant feeling of being pressed for time. As would become evident later in the day, there just was not time for everything to happen. The SD5 competition was the first of the San Diego events to not include best trick. Another unique part of this park is the fact that the obstacles are generally free-standing and therefore are able to be moved to create new setups relatively easily. Every year professionals and amateurs alike come back to ramps that may have been changed, added, or removed. This periodical change helps to keep everything fresh – for the riders and the viewers.
For this trip to southern California, I stayed with Anthony (Twan) Bustos and the rest of the Madd Gear USA team. As 6am rolls around the day of the competition, Twan begins hounding all of us to wake up. The thought “this is earlier than I have to get up for class” definitely crossed my mind, but in the end myself and all of the other riders began to wake up and prepare themselves for competition. I knew that one more judge was needed for the event and upon learning that the pro entry fee was $50, I decided that my place for the day was probably going to be behind a clipboard. Starting in San Clemente, we worked our way down Interstate 5 south towards San Diego. If you guys have never been in the area, I can’t stress how amazing the sights and sounds of southern California are. Of course you’re probably already aware that this area seemingly has a skatepark every few miles, tons of famous street spots, and the weather to support these activities year-round. But, even if you never step foot on a scooter while visiting, this area has it all. Beautiful sunsets over the Pacific Ocean are only a few hours’ drive away from mountains suitable for snowboarding. These factors help make the San Diego competition truly unique. Who else, domestically, can support a large-scale outdoor competition in the middle of winter?
Welcome to San Diego. As we pulled into the parking lot I noticed the sky looked pretty overcast, threatening rain. Luckily we didn’t have to worry about using the rain day this year; it held off the entire day and ended up just being an amazing day. The morning is definitely my favorite part of any competition – getting to meet up with friends that live in different parts of the country or different parts of the world, and just hang out. Registration began at 9am and it was clear that the turnout for this competition was going to be big. During this time I was given a Nikon D50 camera, and began to explore the different companies that had come out.
An overwhelming show of support came from seven companies, who were all official sponsors of the event. These companies were Lucky Scooters, Phoenix Pro Scooters, Blunt Scooters, District, PROTO Scooters, The Scooter Zone, and MADD Gear. Each sponsor was able to set up a booth at the park and promote their products and their company. With this benefit came a cost, each was required to pay $500 cash. This, on top of the entry fees, made $5000 up for grabs to the top five contestants in the pro division. With this kind of incentive, it was very possible to foresee the gnarliness that would be sure to unfold in all of the divisions.
The beginner division opened my eyes to the amount of headaches we were going to be dealing with as judges. Alex Steadman, Jake Hershey, and I were standing near the microphone with Brian Murphy announcing. Even though I felt everyone behind the scenes at the event did everything possible to keep things running smoothly, there were simply too many competitors. Beginner riders were organized into a jam format in the smaller section of the park. The jams consisted of seven riders riding alongside one another for five minutes. As you may imagine from the numbers I just shared, it was literally impossible to watch all of the riders at once. With three pairs of eyes, however, I know we did the best job possible. When a good trick was landed or a hard fall commenced, us judged audibly shared this information so we could keep as on top of everything as possible.
My first experience with the Clairemont YMCA skatepark was back in early 2009 for the SD3 competition. I was under the impression I had a pretty good handle on how competitions were run and what to expect at them. I was wrong. Among other things, the overwhelming local scene that is present in southern California sets these competitions apart from the rest. At that SD3 competition I remember feeling a lot more like a new guy in the sport, even though I had been around quite awhile. Seeing tons of new faces and getting my first interactions with Australian riders was amazing, to say the least. Specifically I remember best trick, Anthony (Twan) Bustos and Tanner Markley doing a dual-trick. Tanner was attempting flip to fakie while Twan was doing a gigantic flair over him. They didn’t end up getting the trick but it was insanity for sure. The amount of talent that was present at that competition made me certain that no event could surpass it.
Well, I was wrong again: SD4. I was unable to attend this event, but know that is was legendary. With an even bigger turnout than SD3 and even more companies supporting, the ingredients were set in place to set the bar for competitions in the sport. Again, riders from all over the world came out to support the biggest (at that time) competition in the sport. This is when Madd Gear Australia stepped things up in the sport. They sent their entire AUS team out to compete, as well as an entire filming team to document the trip. That DVD from the trip makes its way into the boxes of MGP scooters, similarly to the way that the RVM series is released from Razor. After hearing of Ryan Williams landing the first ever fakie frontflip in a contest, I was again positive no event could outdo the last.
This brings us to the year 2011, where last weekend the SD5 competition took place. This park has a few things that are unique for sure. First of all, it is an outdoor park with no lights. If there is one disappointment that I could find coming from this competition would be the constant feeling of being pressed for time. As would become evident later in the day, there just was not time for everything to happen. The SD5 competition was the first of the San Diego events to not include best trick. Another unique part of this park is the fact that the obstacles are generally free-standing and therefore are able to be moved to create new setups relatively easily. Every year professionals and amateurs alike come back to ramps that may have been changed, added, or removed. This periodical change helps to keep everything fresh – for the riders and the viewers.
For this trip to southern California, I stayed with Anthony (Twan) Bustos and the rest of the Madd Gear USA team. As 6am rolls around the day of the competition, Twan begins hounding all of us to wake up. The thought “this is earlier than I have to get up for class” definitely crossed my mind, but in the end myself and all of the other riders began to wake up and prepare themselves for competition. I knew that one more judge was needed for the event and upon learning that the pro entry fee was $50, I decided that my place for the day was probably going to be behind a clipboard. Starting in San Clemente, we worked our way down Interstate 5 south towards San Diego. If you guys have never been in the area, I can’t stress how amazing the sights and sounds of southern California are. Of course you’re probably already aware that this area seemingly has a skatepark every few miles, tons of famous street spots, and the weather to support these activities year-round. But, even if you never step foot on a scooter while visiting, this area has it all. Beautiful sunsets over the Pacific Ocean are only a few hours’ drive away from mountains suitable for snowboarding. These factors help make the San Diego competition truly unique. Who else, domestically, can support a large-scale outdoor competition in the middle of winter?
Welcome to San Diego. As we pulled into the parking lot I noticed the sky looked pretty overcast, threatening rain. Luckily we didn’t have to worry about using the rain day this year; it held off the entire day and ended up just being an amazing day. The morning is definitely my favorite part of any competition – getting to meet up with friends that live in different parts of the country or different parts of the world, and just hang out. Registration began at 9am and it was clear that the turnout for this competition was going to be big. During this time I was given a Nikon D50 camera, and began to explore the different companies that had come out.
An overwhelming show of support came from seven companies, who were all official sponsors of the event. These companies were Lucky Scooters, Phoenix Pro Scooters, Blunt Scooters, District, PROTO Scooters, The Scooter Zone, and MADD Gear. Each sponsor was able to set up a booth at the park and promote their products and their company. With this benefit came a cost, each was required to pay $500 cash. This, on top of the entry fees, made $5000 up for grabs to the top five contestants in the pro division. With this kind of incentive, it was very possible to foresee the gnarliness that would be sure to unfold in all of the divisions.
The beginner division opened my eyes to the amount of headaches we were going to be dealing with as judges. Alex Steadman, Jake Hershey, and I were standing near the microphone with Brian Murphy announcing. Even though I felt everyone behind the scenes at the event did everything possible to keep things running smoothly, there were simply too many competitors. Beginner riders were organized into a jam format in the smaller section of the park. The jams consisted of seven riders riding alongside one another for five minutes. As you may imagine from the numbers I just shared, it was literally impossible to watch all of the riders at once. With three pairs of eyes, however, I know we did the best job possible. When a good trick was landed or a hard fall commenced, us judged audibly shared this information so we could keep as on top of everything as possible.
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