Canada's first-ever DC King
Of event took place at the Vancouver plaza on the weekend of August
22-23, which resulted in the smoothest running and most efficient skate contest
in recent memory. The invitational jam sessions replaced what would normally be the final
contest, typically held in Montreal, from the cross-Canada DC
Nationals series. The Top 5 skaters from each stop on the Nationals
tour were invited to the King Of
Vancouver event, and the first place winners from each stop were treated to
a plane ticket and accommodations at the Sandman Hotel on Georgia Street, which
was apparently also housing contestants from a bodybuilding event.
"There were a few injured skaters who couldn't make it, and a
few who couldn't afford to make it out, but 28 of the 35 Top 5 pre-qualified
skaters from the DC Nationals showed up," explains Trevn
Sharp, the team manager for DC Canada and organizer of the Nationals.
"The vacancies were filled with ‘wildcards' we invited to skate the contest – there were about 40 skaters overall."
Crowning an "unsponsored skater" as the King Of Vancouver was the intention, but a bit of a grey area due
to the multi-tiered flow hook-up structure that exists in Canada.
"There are a lot of distributor sponsored kids in Canada, and
the whole thing with this contest is to have shop sponsored and flow kids who
don't really have a signed deal," Trevn adds.
Every skater on the contest roster got a crack at the $10,000
purse – a $1000 winner for each day, and $5000 for the KOV crown from 2 days of overall solid skating. The King of ‘Couver
also gets a SHAZAM! interview in a
future issue of Color
magazine, and a spot on an exclusive DC team.
John Hanlon, nollie crooks.
"Being a part of the DC Kings
team is being a part of this elite group who's won a King Of event, and they get sponsorship for a year. You get your
foot more in the door at DC, so it's a great opportunity," says Jeff Pang, DC skateboarding's brand manager and emcee at KOV. He also helped develop the whole King Of concept for DC with King Of New York in 2006. "Usually contest skaters aren't put in the light that they're ‘true street
skaters' or whatever, but this contest is a little bit different. It's not
about runs, or training and being a robot."
Brian Schaefer, Ryan Clements, and Rob Meronek from Florida's SPoTlight
Productions were hired by DC to bring their extensive experience to
this Vancouver event. They organize and run the famed Tampa Am and Tampa Pro
events, the Damn
Am, and 2008's DC King
Of LA.
"There was like 40 dudes, and we broke them down into 4
heats-per-day, 10 guys-per-heat," explains Schaefer, the primary emcee at DC's King Of Vancouver. "It's easier for the
guys to skate for 20 minutes rather than being in the spotlight, like: ‘Next in, Brian Schaefer...You have one minute
to shine [laughs].' And nobody's bummed that the contest took 8 hours; it
ran from 1:00 until 3:30 each day. It's good for the skaters and the
spectators."
"There's no elimination and everyone skates both days," guest judge Paul
Machnau adds. "It's a community thing where everybody gets together and just
shreds hard, and it's gonna be obvious in the end who should win. I don't know
half of these kids, so it's a good way to keep up on all the kids who're coming
up."
Day 1 - Saturday
After some uneasy morning weather, the sun was sort of shining
on the Vancouver
plaza (it's housed beneath the Georgia/Dunsmuir viaducts), and the
sectioned-off area for the day was dubbed the "Tech Section": the wheelchair
ramp out-bar and ledge, the slappy wall, the long 3-set, and the 4-set/rail.
On Day 1, Mike "Hashbrown" Schultze really elevated the game – despite having a broken wrist set in a cast – with consistency, solid style and
an ample trick selection. "Everything
this kid does is on point," Jeff Pang reassuringly amplified over the mic to the plaza crowd.
Other standouts included plaza local Desmond Hoostie, who just
came off a $3500 win at the ‘09 Lord Of The Lines final; Windsor, Ontario's Dallas Ives; Montreal's Will Cristofaro and JS Lapierre; Surrey,
BC's John Hanlon, and Winnipeg's Kyle "Baby Malto" Nickoshie. Notably, Regina's
Sarah Molder was the only girl who qualified in the DC Nationals and showed up to skate the KOV weekend.
Desmond Hoostie, backside tailslide bigspin out.
"There's mad homies here – that's the best part about
contests," says John
Hanlon. "There's a few dudes that I don't recognize, but everyone's
killin' it."
Day 1 Results
1: JS Lapierre (QC) $1000
2: Dallas Ives (ON) $500
3: Desmond Hoostie ‘Wildcard'
(BC) $400
4: John Hanlon ‘Wildcard'
(BC) $300
5: Neil Blackwood (NFLD): $200
6: Will Cristofaro (QC) $100
Day 2 - Sunday
Things got even hotter on Day 2, since the fenced-off focus
for the 4 heats was the "Hammer Section" at the plaza: the 7-set/rail, long
4-block, granite hubba, and wheelchair ramp out-bar.
JS Lapierre – who won the 2008's
DC Nationals final – showed up sans-hangover and in even finer form by
absolutely dismantling the 7-stair rail with tricks like his impressive bigspin
flip frontboard to fakie. Hashbrown lost steam on Day 2, but Dallas Ives
gathered even more momentum with his array of first-try solids, like switch
lipslides and switch tailslides down the rail, among many other moves.
JS Lapierre, kickflip 5-0.
"I just heard about him, he's sick," Sascha
Daley says about Lapierre. "Dude, I wouldn't even stand a chance in
this contest [laughs]."
Day 2 Results
1: JS Lapierre $1000 [First overall]
2: John Hanlon - ‘Wildcard'
$500 [Third overall]
3: Dallas Ives $400 [Second overall]
4: Adam Fontaine - ‘Wildcard'
(BC) $300
5: Dustin Locke - ‘Wildcard'
(BC): $200
6: Neil Blackwood: $100
King Of Vancouver: JS Lapierre $5000 (7Gs total)
"I'm pretty hyped," Lapierre said surprisingly calmly for
holding 3 giant cheques, which signified heavy shralping both afternoons
resulting in Canada's first DC King.
"I'm gonna pay my rent, maybe got to California, and just party..."
DC's Josh Kalis, Marquise Henry, Matt Miller, Lindsey Robertson,
and Wes Kremer were on hand to present cheques to the big
winners, and to help present a $10,000 cheque to Vancouver Park Board
Commissioner Sarah
Blythe on behalf of DC.
"That money will go towards maintenance and repairs at the
plaza because it's been skated so hard since it opened in 2004," explains DC's
Trevn Sharp. "I'm really stoked we were able to give back to skateboarding in
Vancouver."
Click
here for more photo coverage and
info on DC's "King Of" site, and here
for some photographic evidence and a video from Day 2 on SBC Skateboard's site.
All photos: Brian Caissie
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Related:
DC Nationals Qualifier Wrap-Up
Talkin' TM with Trevn Sharp
JS Lapierre Takes It (2008 DC Nationals)