Griffin Bowl Series 2012

Aug 14,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another classic Bowl Series contest, it was a wonder if we were going to get to have one at Griffin this year as it had already been rained out twice, but the weather was definitely allowing it today.

Griffin is usually the quietest location of the Series, it’s pretty unique and tough to skate and not as fun for speed lines as the other 3 parks, Seylynn, Whistler and White Rock, but as the crowd that showed up today proved, it can still be shredded. Even Alex Chalmers was ripping it up in the competition which is always great to watch. There was a wooden spine on the course and a manual table which was leaned up on an angle against the spine like a wallride and a couple yellow curbs were pulled out of the parking lot and added to the top of the bathtub ditch. It changed the whole scene at Griffin and everyone had a blast. People to watch were Adam Hopkins, Andy Anderson, Eve Feaver, Danny Hagge, Alex Chalmers, Simon Pigeon, and Tony and Giet from China Creek. They were all killing the park anyway but during the finals someone pulled the spine over to the side of the bathtub and it turned into a whole new competition. Nosegrinds, smiths, 360’s and back lips, this thing got demo’d.

Not much to say about the contest except, if you weren’t there, you missed out…

Sick competition!!

1^{st –}Adam Hopkins

2^{nd –}Danny Hagge

3^{rd –}Giet Rolan

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Tsawwassen Sun Festival Contest Results 2012

Aug 7,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another gorgeous day in “The Land of the Sun”, Tsawwassen. August 5, 2012 was the date of the Tsawwassen Sun Festival and included in the promotions was the annual Skateboard Contest presented by Michael Ray and MC’d by Shadd Trepp. A lot of familiar faces who have localized the Tsawwassen Skate Park over the years – myself Hippie Mike, Cisco Gooding, Justin James, Graeme Betts, Andrew Classon, Cole Thodus, Luke Thodus, and many more…

All categories were filled with lots of talent including Beginner. Chuck Bailey local Adam Lewis took the cake in Beginner with a close Parker Sherwin in 2^nd. Both these kids have fat bags of tricks, so you know it was tight for the judges.

The Intermediate Category was pretty sick. Team Protest showed up during first runs in Intermediate and it was awesome how people were asking if this was Advanced. That’s how crazy the talent level is in Tsawwassen. You know little 10 year old Luke Thodus was trying his hardest to win 2 years in a row, and I’m sure his big brother Cole Thodus did not want to let that happen. These 2 can really battle for their ages, and they both probably would have done well in Advanced too. Luke came through with another victory!!

Advanced was packed with competitors of all ages, including myself as the oldest at 33 years of age. Gilbert Turenne was first to go laying down some sick ledge tricks and 3flipping over the 3 block like butter. Fighter was hot, and hitting some nasty tricks down the biggies, crooks and smiths on the red rail, and even a benihana over the 3 block in his second run. Cisco did his usual switch, nollie and combination tricks all over the park, staying low but keeping it tech, and even Jaden competed grinding all the ledges and flying over the cans. Protest always represents wherever we go but this was a tough one to win, Andrew Classon came out in his first run with complete control and determination to win. I’ve hung out with this kid since he was about 8 years old and he’s always been super creative and super solid. He actually rode for Protest Skateboards when he was 10-11 years old. I love the way Andrew gets annoyed about how long the runs are too. He usually lands enough tricks in the first 30 seconds to win, so why should he continue?? Mick Bey was another young dude I was super proud of out there. I met Mick when he was 10 years old working an afterschool drop in program at his school. He was a super talented sporty kid that had a lot of confidence. He moved out to Tsawwassen a few years ago and grew about a foot and a half taller which really helped him with learning all these ledge and rail tricks he has on lock. It’s sick to watch these kids grow up from so young, and then actually compete against them. Mick was close to Top 3 but didn’t quite make it, but the other really tall dude from Tsawwassen did, Aleka Lang. And John Purcell was definitely representing his skills. This kid likes the rails and has a lot of switch skills. Visiting from Nova Scotia he has taken the opportunity to get his name out there since he’s been here, placing in Top 3 in a few contests and winning the Element Make it Count Qualifier at Chuck Bailey a few weeks ago. Good luck on the next stage of that one buddy, hope you do well. And I hope we hear more about this up-and-comer in the future.

So many people to congratulate and compliment from this contest, but I have to throw mad props out to Shadd Trepp on the mic for being the most enthusiastic MC off all time. Such a fun guy to be around. Shadd gets just as excited about a powerslide as he does about a 3flip lipslide. So awesome buddy!!

And best I saw all day was Graeme Betts nosebluntslide and switch lipslide a table out of the smallest bank in the park, both like butter. Graeme didn’t compete, but he doesn’t need to. True Blood Park Local forever brother.

That was Tsawwassen for this year, here’s the results

Beginner:

Adam Lewis
Parker Sherwin
Luke Zhanez

Intermediate:

Luke Thodus
Sam Gror
Cole Thodus

Advanced:

Andrew Classon
Aleka Lang
John Purcell

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Talk About “Lucky”

Aug 2,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

At the end of June, my awesome filmer/team rider Jordan Strong emailed a link to this online contest that Lucky Surf and Skate Shop was having where you film, edit and enter a video part up to 3 minutes long. I tortured Jordan by taking him to some of the nastiest street spots around every day when he got off work and getting him to film me, but that’s the way I skate. We worked hard together to make this part, and of course we filmed way more footage than we needed to. From bare foot skating to riding the yellow slide, and I even pulled out the 2×4 skateboard for the first time n years, it’s a must see for creativity.

Jordan and I also went out a few times with Andy Anderson and we got enough footage to put a part together for him too. This one really shows Andy’s ledge and rail skills.

We all worked hard and the parts were submitted the day before the deadline. Then we received word that only 4 people submitted videos to the contest, including the 2 of us, so they are hooking us up with $150 each to spend at the shop.

Thanks Guys!!

And thanks to Jordan for workin’ hard last month. At least we had fun making them.

Enjoy the videos

Hippie Mike

Andy Anderson

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White Rock Bowl Series 2012

Jul 31,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

So far, we’ve only had 2 competitions this year for Bowl Series, even though White Rock is always the 3^rd stop. Griffin got rained out twice already and will be happening on August 12^th. So we all showed up to Sunny White Rock, which is actually called South Surrey Skate Park – even the skate park has the syndrome where everyone says they live in White Rock but it still says Surrey on their mail. It’s Surrey people – love it!!

July 29^th, 2012, a beautiful sunny day. I love this stop on the Series because every year it’s a whole different crowd of people hangin’ out and competing. Usually at Seylynn, Griffin and Whistler, you know who will be there, but you never know about White Rock till the day of. I remember one year when Ryan and Scott Decenzo, John Hanlon and Magnus Hansen all showed up. We had to teach them how to hit the speed line which I thought was hilarious, but within a few rips around it Ryan Decenzo was already busting kickflip melons over the tit. Some years you get the old White Rock Crew like Spike Jones, Brad Sheppard, Alien and Swell, and other years you get all the NV Loc longboarders. You never know till the day of. But one thing you can count on is that me and Andy Anderson will be there killin’ it.

All the kids had a blast in the Beginner and Intermediate categories, and Carrie and Lea owned the bowl for 5 minutes or so for the ladies comp, but it was all about Advanced. Adam Hopkins showed up, hung over of course after hanging out with the infamous Tony Hawk the past couple of days, and started dropping in and out of the bowl. I could tell Adam hadn’t been there before and showed him a couple quick lines to get him in the right places to bust huge airs. Adam had the bowl figured out in a few minutes and we all knew he would be a challenge to beat. He even ollied a gap that I’ve only ever seen done once – off the side of the tit over the flatbottom to the ditch wall while going up the bowl. Sick!

Giver was on the mic, and I was giving him a tough time all day. He put us all into Teams for our heats and said that the winning team would take all, but when it came time to announce the winners he forgot to mention that Team Protest won and just gave out prizes to the Top 4 competitors. We know how it is, and we know that Surrey represented hard, like always.

Team Protest consisted of myself “Hippie Mike”, Andy Anderson, Brad Muscat [Fighter], Jordan Strong and a recruited Damon Kerr. Damon’s wheel fell off, Brad ollied into the bowl, I landed as much as I could, and Andy shredded like Andy knows how finishing the heat off by blasting a massive melon grab over my head out of the deep end.

We all know that Team Protest won, but I guess Team Misfit and Team China Creek threatened Giver behind the scenes…

As soon as the Video from Rolling Bones Podcast is out, we’ll let it speak for itself

1^st place – Adam Hopkins

2^nd – Giet Rolan

3^rd – Andy Anderson

4^th – Eve Feaver

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Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey 2012 Stop 2 – Fleetwood

Jul 31,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Another beautiful Saturday in the land of Skateboarding. We started the day off early with the contest beginning at 10am so that people could try to get to Hastings Park in time for the Tony Hawk Birdhouse Demo. Still lots of kids showed up for the contest, and of course they were all ready to rip it. The 3 block is the big obstacle at Fleetwood Skate Park and tons of tricks go down over it every contest. It got ollied in Mini, Kickflipped in Beginner, Benihana’d in Advanced, and Bigspin Heelflipped in the Best Trick. Kids are crazy.

The Mini’s were flying all over the park, launching out of the quarter pipe and up the step up, and Aiden represented the tranny skills with some sweet rock fakies.

The Beginners were also “Out For Justice” as they laid down trick after trick. Crooked Grinds on the ledges, Kickflips and Pop Shovits up the step and over the hip, and Big Airs out of the quarter launch. Rob Schrack stomped a kickflip over the 3 block to seal down his victory.

The Ladies Category was just Carrie and Heloise who both skate totally different. Carrie turned the tables from Kwantlen and displayed her skills and experience at Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey landing everything she tried and taking first place.

The Intermediates were also tight. The Hawthorne Brothers were pretty much battling each other for silver since Mathew McCauley showed up just as Intermediate was nearing the end of their runs, registers and walks up the 3 block to turn around and effortlessly kick flip over it perfectly. Matt laid down an amazing double length run hitting up all the ledges, rails and gaps to undoubtedly take home 1^st.

Then came Advanced. Lots of tough names in this category, Andy Anderson, Jay Mykyte, Fighter, The Dominator, but the unstoppable one was Dallas Gauthier who came down from Vernon to toss out everything he had. This kid is insane and lands everything solid. Frontside Bigspin Heelflip over the pyramid one try in his run, along with some serious 3 block action. It was tight between him, Andy, Dominic and Brad, but Dallas deserved first place for the technical showcase he brought with him. He also finished the day off right by winning the Best Trick Contest over the 3 block – Frontside Bigspin Heelflip & Nollie Inward Heelflip.

Good job Dallas!!

Results:

Mini: 1. Jon Schrack; 2. Justin Fiorante; 3. Aiden Eastman; 4. Parker Sherwin; 5. Luca Braico

Beginner: 1.Rob Schrack; 2. Matthew Major; 3. David Martin; 4. JR Barron; 5. Riley Allen; 6. Nick Bachmeier; 7. Evan Way; 8. Buddy Cadman; 9. Ethan Seemann

Ladies: 1. Carrie Williams; 2. Heloise Wathelet

Intermediate: 1. Mathew McCauley; 2. Tanner Hawthorne; 3. Jackson Hawthorne; 4. Duncan Lee; 5. Kory Laan; 6. Jacob Drescher; 7. Zack; 8. Justin James

Advanced: 1. Dallas Gauthier; 2. Andy Anderson; 3. Dominic Devries; 4. Brad Muscat [Fighter]; 5. Derek Mayer; 6. Jordan Strong, Andre Bissonnette, Allen Handley; 9. Jigga Jay Mykyte

Best Trick: Dallas Gauthier

See you next time at

Guildford – August 11^th

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Vans Underworld BBQ At Chuck Bailey

Jul 28,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Jorden Murray approached me in June about having a BBQ and Sk8 Hockey Tournament at Chuck Bailey Skate Park. I was all for it, and it was set up for July 14^th. Unfortunately, no one had any hockey sticks, but they all had their skateboards. Food got eaten, tricks went down and prizes were tossed. A good night.

Here’s a video recapping the event from “116^th productions” and www.bcskateparks.com.

Watch for my main man, Andy Anderson clogging up the screen

[youtube id=”gmK3HEVyuQk” width=”620″ height=”360″]

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Protest Team Rider – Andy Anderson gets 2nd at Kensington!!

Jul 22,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Most skateboarders around the Lower Mainland know Andy Anderson by now, especially if they’re into Bowl Skating or from anywhere in Surrey. Andy’s one of those really young kids that is way too full of energy and has a bag of tricks bigger than Santa’s sack. He won the titles of King of the Bowls & King of Surrey last year at age 15. He shreds any transition, and loves that Kensington Pool. Making up for missing the session with Mike McGill there last Saturday Andy showed up at Kensington Skate Park today for the make-up contest put on by BLVD Skate Shop and Vans Off The Wall and got 2^nd place, winning $250!!

Way to go Andy – Protest Represent!

Adam Hopkins
Andy Anderson
Ace

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HIPPIE MIKE’S TOUR DE SURREY 2012 Stop 1 – Kwantlen Park

Jul 15,2012 / By Hippie Mike / 1 Comment

It’s the 9^th year for this series of skateboard competitions and I love that I still see a bunch of the same faces as the first year. I kicked off the Tour for 2012 at Kwantlen Park. It’s a tough park for lines, but always a good park for contests. It seems like everybody lands so much in their runs at this park, maybe because the obstacles are basic and small, not sure why. But either way, it worked out great.

The sun was blazin’ hot and the humidity was definitely hanging around, but it was still bearable enough to skate. Surprisingly for the first time in many, many years, there were more Advanced riders that Beginners. I assume because it was Kwantlen. When I started seeing some of the faces showing up for the Advanced Category, I knew it was gonna be a good show, and a tough contest to judge. With Surrey Locals like Calvin Dignard, Jay Mykyte, Andy Anderson, Jordan Strong, Brad Muscat and Ryan Barron, they were all in the running. But they would have to beat the guys that travelled there, like Ryan Prasad, Lil’ G and of course, “The Dominator” – Dominic Devries.

It was anyone’s guess who was going to come through on this one, only time would tell.

Only 4 kids in Mini this time around, but I knew that JR Barron was pushing hard for this win, since it was his final Mini Contest ever. He turns 11 years old next Sunday, so time to move up buddy! He took advantage of his skills and tore up the park landing almost everything he tried, including the only kickflip in the Mini Category. Parker Sherwin was right on JR’s heels though with a huge bag of tricks of his own and tried really hard to not let JR win. It was a close call…

The Beginner Category was just as tough with Kai Searle on board. This kid has some serious talent for his young age and lands a lot of tough tricks, with style. There was actually a 3 way tie for 4^th place, just to tell you how close this competition was. The surprise of the day though was Dante Gullickson who came out strong in his first run and then blew the crowd away with a flawless second run which was one long consistent line. Awesome!! That doesn’t happen often in Beginner. He almost won but Kai’s tricks were just too good and scored way bigger points. It was tight.

The Intermediates wasn’t so tight. Tyler Olson killed it all day during warm up, I can’t even think of a time a looked over at him when he didn’t land a trick, and was trying some pretty technical tricks. But sometimes when the helmet goes on for your run and the pressure of having the park to yourself happens, people choke. I think the rest of the category was happy Tyler had trouble, because I thought he was gonna win it for sure after watching him in warm-ups. But the prize went to 12 year old Mathew McCauley who landed a ton of rail tricks and gap tricks wherever he could squeeze them in. This kid knows how to skate hard, and takes it very seriously. He can bust tricks down huge gaps at any time, but also has a pocket full of tech tricks too. It was a blow-out win for him.

The ladies were hyped up too, Brianna Palmer is just starting out in the contest world so I’m sure she was nervous when she saw the competition that she was about to face. Carrie Williams is finally back in Contest Mode after a few years of missing out, so she brought out all her shovit and 180 skills and landed a ton of tricks. And then Heloise Wathelet showed up with Lil’ G, she’s visiting for the summer from Belgium. This chick’s got some serious talents and it looks like they might take her somewhere. Flip Tricks and Ledge Skills. Check out this video I found of her on Youtube.

[youtube id=”7oj6XHc2PSY” width=”620″ height=”360″]

It was close but Heloise took first. Hopefully we see her at a couple more of these events.

Then came Advanced. Like I said earlier, it was anyone’s contest to win. Really depended on who landed what. It was very close between the Top 5 except for how obvious it was that Dominic won. This kid has constant flow combined with super solid style and lots of hard tricks. I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it over and over, watch for him in the big leagues in the future. I’m gonna be hosting a segment of Glory Daze with Hippie Mike on Dominic soon.

My favorite tricks that went down in Advanced were Calvin Dignard’s nollie tailslide 270 on the flat ledge, Andy Anderson’s bluntslide fakie on the down rail of the pyramid, Ryan Barron’s feeble 180 up the same rail, Fighter’s Benny Hanna over the quarter pipe and of course anything that Ryan Prasad landed. There’s another name to watch for in the near future. Sick skater!! Cisco Gooding came out and had 2 solid runs too, but they weren’t of his usual “Flawless Run style” so he didn’t make Top 3, and the surprise of this category was that Jay Mykyte didn’t place at Kwantlen Park. I guess there is a first time for everything. Better luck next time Jigga…

We did have a Best Trick Contest on the big pyramid rail and it was a 3 way tie all going up the rail – Ryan Barron Feeble 180, Andy Anderson Bluntslide and Dominic Devries with a frontside tailslide fakie. Sick. Ryan was close to taking it all with a Boardslide to Feeble, but just couldn’t quite put it down. RBS…

Results:

Mini: 1. JR Barron; 2. Parker Sherwin; 3. Aiden Eastman; 4. Ry Forrester

Beginner: 1. Kai Searle; 2. Dante Gullickson; 3. Riley Allen; 4. Nick Bachmeier, Weston Huchkinson, Matthew Major; 7. Bishop Rosie; 8. Patrick Jonas; 9. Andrew Goodlet; 10. Ethan Tessier; 11. Ben Walsh; 12. Cameron Nelson

Intermediate: 1. Mathew McCauley; 2. Andre Bissonnette; 3. Eric Pedersson; 4. Malek Salem; 5. Tyler Olson

Girls: 1. Heloise Wathelet; 2. Carrie Williams; 3. Brianna Palmer

Advanced: 1. Dominic Devries; 2. Calvin Dignard; 3. Brad Muscat (Fighter); 4. Andy Anderson; 5. Cisco Gooding; 6. Jordan Strong; 7. Allen Handley; 8. Ryan Barron, Sean Cuddeford (Lil’ G); 10. Alexander Savage; 11. Jay Mykyte; 12. Shadd Trepp

Best Trick: 3 way tie – Ryan Barron, Andy Anderson, Dominic Devries

See you next time at

Fleetwood – July 28^th 2012

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Canada Day Bowl Series 2012 – Seylynn Bowl

Jul 3,2012 / By Hippie Mike / 1 Comment

I speak of it as my Christmas – July 1^st. Every year we go to Seylynn Bowl and hang out with the massive family of skateboarders we have grown up with in this Lower Mainland over the 14 years we have lived here. It used to be the biggest party of the year, but has mellowed down a bit. There’s still a large group of people hanging out and having a good time, but not nearly as many as the past used to see. I remember 350 person Canada Days… I would say about 100-120 this year. The weather could have been a factor on that note since it looked like it was going to pour rain at any given moment for the first couple hours of the day, and it had rained that morning, but I think a lot of people stopped coming out after the incident with Don Hartley in the bowl in 2009. A large part of the crowd seemed to have dies along with Don, and although his spirit lives on every year at on Canada Day, the atmosphere that he helped to create over the years will never be the same.

It was a great day for the event. Tons of people of all ages skating and having a blast together. If you’ve never been to Seylynn you need to go check it out, it is not the easiest place to skate, unless of course you frequently go there. Some of the best skateboarders in the world would just sit there if they showed up to avoid having to learn the lines in front of so many people. This was the first year I can remember in a long time where there was a large group of Beginners in the contest. I think that’s cool. After 18 years for a series you want to see new young faces showing interest. That way it shows initiative that the Bowl Series will continue on and on. It was also the first year in a long time that there was a Long Board Division. And we actually got to have a Beer Relay for once.

A great day, filled with lots of smiles, positive attitudes and tasty drinks. With the likes of Dave Boyce, Andy Anderson, Adam Hopkins, Steve Lange, Jamie Sherratt, Stevie Denham, Dave Priest, Eve Feaver, Hippo, myself, and many more all ripping the bowl all day it just makes for great memories. I’ll add those memories into the bank in my brain containing all the Canada Days of the past.

For those that want to know:

Adam Hopkins 1^st place

Steve Denham 2^nd Place

Andy Anderson 3^rd Place

See you at the next stages of the Bowl Series 2012

Griffin July 15^th

White Rock July 29^th

Squamish August 18^th

Whistler August 19^th

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Bow Down To Your Kings!!

Jun 14,2012 / By Hippie Mike / No Comment

Finally, I hooked up with Andy Anderson to hand over the King of the Bowls Trophy. This trophy is a historic piece of art which was just constructed this past year to display all the winner’s names from the past 17 years. It took a lot of custom work by Eve Feaver, Don “Bushman” Wilson, and Kate McTavish (Pixie) to create, and this trophy will be passed on gracefully from King to King each year from now on. Andy Anderson, the youngest of all the Kings at the age of 15 when he won the title, was totally stoked. Finally he gets his trophy, but only gets to hold on to it for a couple months, as the next King will be announced on August 19^th at Whistler.

Bow down to all your past Kings…

Bowl Series Kings:

John Railmondo 1995

Ben Couves 1996

Alex Chalmers 1997

Gary Harris 1998

Jeff Logan 1999

Dave Priest 2000

Steve Lange 2001

Steve Denham 2002

Johnny “B” Byers 2003

Eve Feaver 2004

Dave Boyce 2005

Danny Hagge 2006

Dave “57” Krystof 2007

Don “Bushman” Wilson 2008

Don “Carver” Hartley 2009

Rob Rickaby 2010

Andy Anderson 2011

Who will be the 2012 Champion?

Will Andy be the first to claim the crown twice?

Or is that even allowed?

Only 1 way to find out…. Go to the events.

Seylynn Bowl – July 1^st

Griffin Bowl – July 15^th

White Rock Bowl – July 29^th

Squamish – August 18^th

Whistler Bowl – August 19^th

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Category : Andy Anderson