Hello there, ladies and gents! Welcome to our coverage from the first ever Ridin' 4 Riches contest, held last Saturday at the Markham, Ontario, skatepark. Since it was our first attempt at putting on a big contest, anxiety and adrenaline was running very high the night before. Thanks to a shaky weather forecast, Brad Hainschwang and I were sending and receiving e-mails to everyone we knew, letting them know this thing was going on regardless of the weather. Someone was going to win this contest whether or not they had to skate; if it came down to it, we'd roll dice or play poker: whatever we had to do to make this contest work, we were willing to do! We didn't have a back-up rain day, so it was an all-or-nothing kind of deal. And with a trip to Vancouver to compete in the Billabong Damn Am, plus $250 for best trick, up for grabs, it had to happen!

Saturday morning was pretty hectic as far a setting up is concerned; Brad was at the park before the sun rose, just trying to will the weather into co-operating. By the time I had got there, the main hub of the contest was already set up, with the Billabong registration tent and sound system up and running, plus friends and sponsors like the Market Garden, the Bait Shop, Freedom Fighter, Munky Bizness, and Zoo York. Holding it down in the registration both was the lovely Vanessa Luciano, plus the ever-vibrant Erynn O'Neill, with clipboards and pens in hand. Our trusty DJ Daniel Langille, a.k.a. "Shwa Poppa", got his turntable and iPod set up, and we were all set to get this show on the road.

Judges judging...

The park was a little wet at this stage, so we had to push back our start time in order to let things dry out. We pulled out every old t-shirt and rag we had in our cars and went to work mopping up as much of the water as we could; it reminded me of a pack of locusts devouring a cornfield, because within minutes the park was free of puddles.

Hainschwang on the mic: master entertainer and TLG spokesperson.

For all of you who don't know Brad Hainschwang, he's one of the best contest MC's I've ever heard. Not only is he good at just telling you what's happening out there on the course, he can get a crowd laughing and cheering like no other man on God's green Earth. To tackle the daunting task of judging this epic event, we brought in one of the best judges I've ever had the pleasure of calling my friend and brother, Sir Mark Bernal. This dude can call a contest like no one else I know, and to round out the judging was Scott Bingley, Brad Tuffery, Adam Coons and I. We posted up next to media row, which consisted of Matt Forsythe of Push.ca, Will Johnson of Mustache Media and Brad "Homer' Holmes of Skaters Inc.com, as well as some freelance homies from around the way.

14 to 17 winner Griffin Kirby, mega fly-out on the QP during Best Trick.

Now I don't have the time, space or words to tell you all the mayhem that went down during the day; you'll have to wait and see the video footage. But I will let you in on some of the fun things that happened during the breaks in the action. The boys at the Bait Shop where having a super fun time making a bunch of kids improve their fitness on by making them compete in push-up contests in order to win t-shirts; they even gave away two decks at the end of the day! It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen; these kids where beat by the end of the day from all the exercise. Well done, boys.

Jay Brown in the finals.

Another moment that Brad might not like me sharing (and wasn't funny at the time) occurred when it was time to pay out the best trick money to the winner, Mitch Donovan. Brad thought he had the cash safely stashed in his pocket, but when he went to retrieve it, it was mysteriously gone. Needless to say, he snapped! After calming down, he remembered throwing some paper from his pocket into the garbage earlier in the day. Since the cash was in an envelope, he must've thrown it our by mistake. After emptying out several garbage cans in a mad panic, he found the envelope and the money was recovered... and thankfully Brad's chest pains ended.

Mitch in the finals: no rain!

Well, that's how the whole day played out from our point of view. After all the planning and running around, the day went off more or less without a hitch. Jay Brown took first place, winning a flight to Vancouver and pre-entry into the Billabong Damn Am (where he'll compete for a spot in the Tampa Am), while Griffin Kirby won the 14 to 17 category, and young Rafael Khalil took 13 and under. And lastly, I'd like to point out that without the assistance of all of our friends, brothers and sisters, none of this would have happened, so The Lovely Gentlemen would like to tip our hats to all our sponsors and everyone that helped out.

Story by: Robert J. Fowler.

You can't end a contest without a product toss.

Results:

13 & Under
1) Rafael Khalil
2) Josh Wilkinson
3) John Navarroli

14 to 17
1) Griffin Kirby
2) Cole Hacker
3) Alex Bailey

Men's Open
1) Jay Brown
2) Ryan Bonnell
3) Jon Cosentino

Best Trick 13 and under: Brock Allen

Best Trick Open for $250.00: Mitch Donovan

Sequences by Shane Hutton:

Ben Patterson, nollie nose blunt.

Dillon Moore, tre flip.

Ryan Bonell, kickflip 5-0.

Jay Brown, nollie 180 switch manual.

Thanks to: Push.ca, Billabong, Shred Central, Munky Bizness, Market Garden, Zoo York, Hammer, Blue Tile Lounge, Skthrd, Kingshit Magazine, Switch, Skatersinc.com, Freedom Fighter, Classic & Park, and Mustache Media.

For more:

Ridin' 4 Riches Results

Who are the TLG?

The Billabong Damn Am

Brad de Schwang's Blog