The Whistler Skateboard Club, along with key sponsors Gibbons Whistler and Whistler Old School Initiative, will be hosting the first-ever skateboard competition at the Whistler Skate Park, Mayhem in the Mountains, on Saturday, Sept. 11.
The event will consist of four categories: men’s and women’s amateur and men’s and women’s professional. The two professional categories will have equal cash prizing with $1,500 for first place, $750 for second place and $375 for third place.
Competitors in the amateur categories will be competing for various product prizes.
There will also be a best-trick competition with a cash prize of $500.
The contest will take place primarily in the new section of the park and will consist of a qualifying round of two 45-second runs for each rider with their best score being used towards qualifying for the finals.
Time-permitting, the finals will consist of three 45-second runs for each finalist with the single best run taking home the top prize.
“So we’ll have a set course that the competitors will use and then it’s whatever they decide to show us in that 45 seconds,” said Harry Gray, owner of the Whistler Skateboard Club. “So this is where the variance of individual style of the way you like to skate will make it interesting, because there are so many different options for the one park. Someone might want to go fast and big and do a lot more transition and other people might go a little bit slower, be a little more technical and use some of the street features, but they basically have 45 seconds to show us what they can do and we judge what they can show us.”
The competition will have three judges including Gray, professional skater Alex Chalmers, and a third who is yet to be named.
Registration for the event will take place between 9 and 10 a.m. the day of, with competitions kicking off between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.
DJ Vinyl Ritchie will be on hand spinning tunes for the whole day and the sponsors will have booths set up with activities and giveaways for spectators to participate in.
The event is free to attend for anyone six years of age or older
