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Rain no match for SkateSpace

Although four days of intermittent rains through the schedule into chaos, SkateSpace organizers worked through the long weekend weather to squeeze every single scheduled skateboard, inline skating and BMX event in the sunny breaks that came their way

Although four days of intermittent rains through the schedule into chaos, SkateSpace organizers worked through the long weekend weather to squeeze every single scheduled skateboard, inline skating and BMX event in the sunny breaks that came their way.

"It rained a lot, but the last day made up for it," says SkateSpace originator and organizer Chris Fowler. "All the riders were incredibly patient and great sports about it, and the staff worked hard to get everything done that we needed to."

The Skatepark dried quickly and hosted most of the events, bolstered by a set of park features worth $30,000 that were donated by SkateSpace. The sunshine on Aug. 6 allowed the organizers to finally take the tarps off the vert ramp, and run skateboard and inline skating competitions.

"To be honest, the rain is part of the game. We made allowances, and were flexible enough to move things around and get the events off in the time we had to work with," says Fowler.

The rain did affect attendance at most of the SkateSpace concerts, but there were hundreds of spectators at most events and a crowd of up to 600 on the final day for the band Swollen Members and the pro skateboard park and vert competitions.

This was the second year SkateSpace has come to Whistler, and rain aside, Fowler said he will definitely consider bringing it back this way next year.

The pro skateboard finals, after events in Montreal and Toronto, had a prize purse of $20,000, and thousands more in cash and prizes was up for grabs in the other events.

Some of the highlights of the event included Sluggo’s 90 degree rolls and backflips on the vert ramp, Josh Evin’s winning run in the skatepark, Richie Eisler and Sean Slobodan going inverted over the box on inlines, and Squamish BMX rider Jordan Cook winning the intermediate contest then going on to win as an expert with his mid-air stunts over the box and smooth grinds.

Skateboarding

Regional Results

Street Intermediate, Under 13

1. Kye Petersen

2. Brian Tancredi

3. Adam Ruddell

Street Intermediate, Over 13

1. Free Quinn

2. Peter Jenney

3. Brett Rowen

Street Women

1. Laura Sliva

2. Star of Peace Quinn

3. Alison Amos

Street Experts

1. Joey Williams

2. Christian Baribeau

3. Andre Doucet

Vert Intermediates

1. Laura Sliva

2. Star of Peace Quinn

3. Andrew Doucet

National Results

Street

1. Christian Baribeau

2. Eugene voykin

3. Jonny Byers

Vert

1. Gunther Viveiros

2. Adam Midgley

3. Allan Aube

Pro Skateboard Competition

Street

1. Josh Evin

2. John Baker

3. Jeff Logan

Vert

1. Rob "Sluggo" Boyce

.2 James Kennedy

3. Barry Walsh

Inline Skating

Regional Results

Street Intermediate

1. Justin Pang

2. Kiel Russ

3. Ian Charleson

Street Expert

1. Richie Eisler

2. Josh Silver

3. Sean Slobodan

Vert

1. Kyle Jones

2. Dustin Lee

3. Sean Slobodan

National Results

Street

1. Leon Basin

2. Richie Eisler

3. Mike Lukewich

Vert

1. Colin Parrish

2. Sean Slobodan

3. Justin Pang

BMX

Regional Results

Street Intermediate

1. Jordan Cook

2. Rim Prigione

3. James Hammeren

Street Expert

1. Jordan Cook

2. Justin Kimble

3. Greg Parsons

National Results

Street

1. Robby Compartino

2. Jon Pratt

3. Patrick Denis