Wednesday, May 9

Slam Blam

By Dave Finger

That's right, it's Slam City Jam in Vancouver B.C., and baby, you've come a long way since 1994. The event began as a crossover music festival that had more bands than skaters, but has since blossomed into the biggest and longest running skateboarding-only contest on the West Coast. I'm stoked to see the action.

Arriving at the contest, I'm reminded that it's really all about the kids. Hordes of little people are hanging over the guardrails, yelling at their favorite pros while tossing down shirts, hats and magazines for them to sign. I see Daewon getting mobbed by a swarm of gear from the stands as he walks by. Fighting his way out from under this mountain of logos, every single item gets signed and thrown back with a smile and "what's up" head nod. The kids love Daewon.

Walking into the media area, I see the usual group of pros and industry-types milling around and rockin' their individual styles. The whole "Yo" vibe is going on with the City Stars team rollin' their ice and headbands under Yankees ball caps. Bruce Martin is keepin' it real with his shirtless, old-school, hand-planting style. And much props go out to the SoCal rock vibe that Tony Trujillo (Antihero) and others from the Big Brother crew are heshin' out to.

Of course, there is the obligatory posse of cute young girls that are hangin' with all the pros -- good job, boys, for using your status to reel in some hotties. The mean-looking, styled-out rock chicks are without a doubt my favorite -- you can't go wrong with the tight-jeans, studded-belt, little-belly-and-tank-top combo. Slam City Jam's Associate Producer Jay Balmer puts it best, "Really, SCJ is a celebration of skateboarding, and this year more than ever it's a party." His company, New Line Skateparks, designs and builds the course each year, so he is the one behind the "Vancouver Stairs," a staple of the street course; the 17-foot off-the-ground roll into a 10-foot table, "Natural Koncept Booter"; and the all-important, Martha Stewart wrought iron handrail.

The contest is set up for vert and street semifinals on Saturday and the finals in the same order on Sunday. So I grab a seat and soak up the vert semis. The action is tight and the standout competitor who didn't make it into the finals would have to be Lincoln Ueda. This kid from Brazil just explodes out of the ramp on every trick, keeps his momentum and speed like no other. He is so exciting to watch, so be on the lookout. Unfortunately, his runs this year are plagued by falls and he can't move on to the finals to show off his nose-bleed amplitude.

Another standout from the vert semis would have to be local boy Rob "Sluggo" Boyce busting out an indy-grab backflip to fakie while the crowd roars in approval. The street semis have some of the hottest contest action I've yet to see. You don't get to watch Koston and McCrank skating back to back too often, but these two put together some sick lines in the 45 seconds they have to work with. Highlights include Koston's backside smith down the Vans rail and McCrank's crooks down the Shorty's rail. These two are definitely on their game and are poised to compete in tomorrow's final. Other highlights from Saturday would have to be Omar Hassan's enormous transfer from the vert ramp to the roll in on the NK Booter and the plentitude of girls coming out and showing off their stuff on the street course.

Here it is: Sunday. The big moment arrives and the day's events are laced up with talent. The girls begin with a display of their amazing progression; it's a strong showing from Vanessa Tores and Stephanie Thomas, as they navigate the street course smoothly, hitting the rails and pulling some nice tricks over the hip. Loren Perkins also went for it by ollie-ing off the street deck onto the floor and capturing the Ryan Sheckler Award.

Moving on to the men's vert finals, I am lucky enough to see the near-perfect 99 that Bob Burnquist scores en route to winning the vert title. "A 99?" you ask? Yep, that's right, and the reason he got it was that he pulled down some amazing no handed kickflips, nollie flips, and 540s galore. What a treat! Andy Mac threw out some sick action with five 540 variations and varialling every second trick, while Rune showed off his style and power by throwin' down some solid cab kickflips along with kickflip backside lips. The kid's got mad Danish style.

The street course drew the kids, the cameras and the cheers as the competition between McCrank and Koston was thrown into overdrive. But wait! Colt Cannon comes out with kickflip frontside boards and kickflip manuals, raising the stakes for Aussie Chad Bartie, who is seen tailsliding the huge wooden banister and clearing the gap to the Martha Stewart rail. Koston fights back with backside smiths on the Shorty's rail and a kickflip 50-50 on the ledge, looking good and beating out everyone including local hero Rick McCrank who was a little off today despite nailing a backside lipslide on the Shorty's rail.

After the street competition, an all-out session broke out for the three different best trick awards, one over the Shorty's ledge, the other over the Natural Koncept booter and the last over the Shorty's rail. But I can't forget to mention the ams that stole the show, with Chris Cole 360-flipping the super long gap over the Vancouver Stairs and Josh Evin dropping five feet from a two-by-four into the NK booter. He was 21 feet off the ground -- pretty scary.

The ledge saw Malclom Watson 360-flipping to frontside noseslide to revert and taking the ledge award. The NK booter was taken by Alex Chalmers with a kickflip indy backside 360 over the 10-foot gap. Alex was ripping the Hastings park across the street the whole weekend (showing where his heart lies) and only came out to take the best trick. Talking about his weekend free skating the park and showing up last minute to win best trick, he said, "That's the biggest I've ever gone." Way to go Alex!

The best trick on the rail was pulled down by Australian Chad Bartie, who nollie frontside lipslided the Martha Stewart to take home the glory. Can't pass up, however, the little big man Ryan Sheckler, who kickflip indy'd the booter in only three tries.

The day ended with seats in the Globe hospitality suite, thanks to my man Doug and his fine shoes. I was stoked out thinking back on the weekend while watching Daewon session the slider bar -- trying an insanely tech switch nollie heelflip to backside revert for the cameras -- and listening to the sweet sounds of Jurassic 5 movin' the crowd. With sponsors like Ford Ranger, Mountain Dew, Right Guard Extreme (maybe we'll see Tom Green!) and NBC covering it, the Slam City Jam is moving into the big leagues and the talent is there to show it. Check out all the full results here.