I was quite a party scene in the back of the skatepark while the contest was going on. Check out that Euro cut. Looks like that dude has a piece of cheesecake on his head
Those pants and a jean jacket? Welcome to Copenhagen
Shots/mixers of some kind of sketchy alcohol were being served up all day. See how stingy they are with the ice? It's like gold here. I think ice is now worth more than the US dollar
Am I still at a skateboard contest? Someone hired these dancers to hang out after the Contest
Rob G, Schaefer, and DJ Wade. It's a Tuborg tornado
DJ Wade can consume twice the alcohol and smokes through his second face
Here's the Euro text message of the week. Anyone know what that says?
Here's a wide view of one end of the course. That's Danny Cerezini nosegrinding off the drop off ledge
Matt Beach, Brad Staba with emo eyes, and Eric Koston
You can tell this dude totally busted me snapping a photo of his wacky Euro gear
Terry Kennedy - switch frontside nosegrind for the masses
Adam Taylor just missed the cut by one
That's Anthony Furlong during the Qualifiers before he got hammered
Thomas Kring - frontside nosegrind
Renton has a great frontside ollie
As usual, we are drinking with children out here. They're very loose with that and there doesn't appear to be any problems with it
Rune Glifberg - indy nosebone
Rune Glifberg - wow, that's a frontside air tucked tight
Furlong didn't think he made the cut so went straight to the booze after his Qualifier run. By the time the Finals came, he was too hammered to skate and just gave up and kept drinking. Heal Hendrix is happy to be bumped up a place
Renton - kickflip tailgrab
Renton got first. Rune got second. It was another amazing Vert Contest here
Furlong gets the Take a Poop in the Finals for this bailed frontside nosegrind with beer in tow
Two more cups of coffee at two different places and they both come in a glass with no handle. Next time I get one, I'm going to ask for an oven mit so I can drink it
This is Adam Taylor's camera. He was walking home from last night and randomly found Renton Millar asleep on the streets of Copenhagen. I guess the celebrated a little too hard last night
Street Qualifiers
Since this was a pro-only deal, there wasn’t an abundance of entrants. A lot of these Euro contests that you may have seen or heard about in the past have permitted pretty much anyone to enter, so that’s how they get nearly 100 participants. If you keep it only “legit pro,” then that lowers the number of skaters significantly. But we’re talking quality over quantity here…and that’s exactly what we got.
So with just over 30 competitors, we split the dudes into four-man heats. The got one, one-minute intro run and then skated in an eight-minute jam. This change of format from Tampa Pro really makes for a more interesting Contest. We then took the top 12 overall and bumped them into the Finals on Sunday.
You don’t need to see who qualified because you can see that when the Finals are posted, but here are some dudes that didn’t make the cut that I was stoked on:
Terry Kennedy – it’s been a few years since I’ve seen Terry in real life, but even though he done growed up into a grown-ass man, he’s still as nice as ever
Paul Shier – he didn’t land a single trick last year, but Mr. Shier made up for it this time around. Next year he’s judging
Brad Staba – I just like his style and he’s got a great sense of humor…fun dude to be around
If you got over the skating at any point, there was some damn good food in the courtyard. The judging staff and I opted for the homemade chili. And since it was easier to get your hands on a beer than a soda, I washed it down with a cold Tuborg…because you can sure bet that the bar was open for business. Right after the Qualifiers we made our way over to the Vert.
Vert Contest
Come on, Rob…you’ve got to admit that the Vert Contest was killer. Really. I want you to admit it right now. Stop making fun of vert skating and give these dudes some respect. They killed it and you know it. They even did flip tricks for you.
Honestly, the Vert was definitely a highlight of the weekend. Not only was the skating stellar, but the layout of Copenhagen Skatepark allows for some amazing viewing from different levels, so there are literally spectators everywhere, from the floor to ceiling. Add in 2000 free beers and you’ve got pretty much the best crowd that anyone could ask for.
We broke the 13 competitors into three heats where they got one, 45-second run and then skated in a free-for-all, 10-minute jam. The top five from that went into a Finals with again a 45-second run, but this time they got a 15-minute jam. It went off! Here’s the breakdown:
13th – $200 - Juergen Horrwarth – if it was a style-only Contest, Juergen would have taken 1st. But the ripper from Berlin had a tough time staying on his board, so it didn’t work out. Hopefully we’re doing a Contest in Berlin next year…let’s make it happen!
12th – $200 - Nathan Beck – from what I recall, this was Renton’s boy from Oz and he had a nice fs invert
11th – $200 - Thomas Kring – local ripper who we’ve been friends with for a very long time. Basically because of Thomas we are here in CPH. Thanks, Man
10th – $500 – Christiano Mateus – one of the many Brazilian vert rippers that I haven’t seen around in a while
9th – $600 – Thomas Madsen – another local from Denmark that REALLY had the crowd pulling for him. I’m sure Thomas has to work a real job and all that, but he’s still got some skills on the vert
8th – $700 – Alex Perelson – he doesn’t talk too much, but he made a damn nice showing on his first international trip without his folks. He’s going to Prague from here with host Neal Hendrix. Note: Best trick of the entire Contest was done by Alex…the illest fs flip lien melon ever
7th – $800 – Nicky Guerrero – I’m going to say that Nicky is pushing mid-40’s, but who cares when you’re still doing inverts over the channel, sad plants, and 7’ alley-oop airs? I’m a fan
6th – $900 – Adam Taylor – Adam is going over 8’ on his airs and he’s still got little-kid-legs. When he beefs up a bit this kid is going to be unstoppable. He’s got class and kept his mouth shut, but I know that he wanted to be in the Finals
5th – $1000 – Anthony Furlong – too many cervezas before the Finals put Furly out of commission, so he just hung out on the deck with a Budweiser in hand, heckling his fellow finalists
4th – $1500 – Marcelo Kosake – I’ve neven seen this dude before, but apparently he’s from Brazil and let me tell you, he gives it 100% and gets hyped on a loud crowd
3rd – $2000 – Neal Hendrix – he said to me on this trip, “You know I love a good excuse to travel.” Neal excels in a jam because he’s so damn consistent and he’s one of the guys out there that truly knows how to have fun with skateboarding
2nd – $3000 – Rune Glifberg – as his wife, Queen of the Vikings, watched the Contest from the highest perch in the building, Rune gave it his all, ending with an 11’ fs air to ring the bell, but there was no stopping Renton
1st – $500 – Renton Millar – coming all the way from Australia, he wanted to get the most out of this trip…and he sure did. I can’t believe that he can do 360 flips and kickflip 5-0’s so consistently on vert. Add in huge bs ollies and Madonna’s with some nosegrab 540’s and you have a winner
By the time we got out of the Park it was after 10pm. Add up the time that it took to get back to the hotel and then some dinner, and it was nearly 2am when I hit the sack…very late for me, but most hardcore partiers stayed out ‘til sunrise.
Photos from the last few days in Berlin, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam...
Skaters in This Article
What's Up at SPoT: Random Posts From Over the Years
I've been posting random ramblings to this What's Up blog on the SPoT site since 1999. Here's a random list of some of my favorite posts over the years...Rob.
The SPoT crew did a demo at a hockey game yesterday. It turned out to be a pretty good time with some ripping skating. Check it out: Red Bull Demo at Ice Palace.
How to Crash Corporate Christmas Parties and Weddings (Dec 2006)
Posted by Rob on
Sun,
Dec
17,
2006
Here's a nice formula for some holiday fun. Get your crew together, get some suits, add a hot chick so you look legit, then head downtown to all the fancy hotels. There's a party with free food and free drinks going on in every ballroom. Find one and post up. See examples here: How to Crash Corporate Christmas Parties and Weddings.
If you have a skateboard company "out the trunk", that's cool and good luck. But, if you meet any of these criteria, just go ahead and
give it up and flip burgers so you have more time to actually skate:
1. It's named with a "clever" way to spell a stupid word.
2. You have your website on any of your graphics.
3. You have myspace links on every email you send.
4. Your hometown hero is your pro.
Schaefer and I were supposed to go home yesterday. We never got on that flight. There's an event in Rotterdam this weekend so we're staying for that. Not only are we staying, we've also kidnapped DMFP who will also be spending the week here. Here's some random flicks: Onward to Rotterdam.
Last week, our local newspaper, The Times, did
an article about the history of SPoT. This place has changed a lot but at the same time remained the same over the last 14 years.
