The aim of the United Kingdom Skateboard Slalom Association is to actively promote slalom in
the UK and Europe. It organises and helps other organisations to run events in short and
longboard slalom and to promote events where skaters of other disciplines and the public are
introduced to the sport.
Saturday 21st June saw the debut of a new slalom venue in North London: Finsbury Park. Racers competed in TS H2H and single lane hybrid in an event with full council and park backing.
Bad weather at the start of the day pushed us down to a drier part of the hill by the tennis courts, where the H2H took place.
Ramps and timing were quickly set up, then Martin Drayton set out a tight, challenging, approx 40 cone course (big shame he had to leave before the actual racing).
Competitors saw some fast racing with Paul Price eventually taking the day, with Louis Selby 2nd.
This race finished at 5pm and a few people had to leave but by then the top of the hill was dry so we decamped there for a 50 hybrid course-set earlier in the week by Chris Linford.
This was a jam format; some great times were laid down-Mike Stride clocking the best one, with Louis again in 2nd place.
It was a good vibe all-around-almost everyone seemed to help out but especial thanks must go to Mike Stride of Octane Sports for supplying his great ramps and timing equipment.
This was the first of many such events at Finsbury Park and the council are already inviting us to put on another one before the end of summer!
RESULTS:
OPEN TIGHT SLALOM:
1. Paul Price
2. Louis Slipa
3. Mike Stride
4. Chris Linford
5. Sam Gordon 12.86
6. Chris Caralambous 12.89
7. Pat Holden 12.90
8. Bish 13.30
9. Gabe 13.94
10. Rob A 14.64
11. Ian Stone 14.75
12. Rich 15.02
JUNIORS RACE:
1. Chloe Linford 22.80
2. Milo 27.43
OPEN HYBRID SLALOM:
1. Michael 16.05
2. Louis 16.15
3. Sam 16.70
4. Chris C 17.09
5. Pat 17.12
6. Gabe 17.13
7. Rich 18.83
8. Artoor 20.11
Race report by Pat Holden
June 2008, NASS Festival - Love Monkey British Open Slalom Championships
By Rob
This was the first year that Slalom had been showcased at The NASS Festival.
After a few initial teething problems - the main one being the relocation of the slalom course from the one that Paul went to check out - twice. As it turned out we were relocated closer to the main hub of the event and adjacent to a very nice beer tent!
All competitors where issued with a wristband that gave access to the competitor campsite, complete with toilet and shower block. The wrist bands also gave us entry to the Relentless athlete lounge were you could escape the mayhem of the festival and relax with the freebies on offer, cans of Relentless, fruit, free beer - after 6pm (all of which was consumed on Friday night!) and if you were lucky enough to be there before the BMXr's and street skaters when it was being served up Nandos chicken!
Saturday saw some 24 skaters take part in the hybrid slalom. The course was set by Clingfilm and challenged most skaters with some wide offsets.
The latest addition to our number Simon was given the unenviable task of being "Mr PA" and race commentator, a task he carried out exceptionally well - talk about on the job training!!
Louis was blazing nearly as much as the sun and showed that all that practice really does pay dividends, although he was just nudged out of the top four by an on form Sam. The finals saw some very close racing with Paul and Michael battling for the top spot while Chris Linford and Sam slugged it out for 3rd and 4th.
Mick ably assisted by Bish set a good tight course for Sundays racing and this again produced some exciting close finishes for the spectators. A short rain interlude meant we had to stop racing for half an hour or so but the sun soon broke through again allowing the finals to go ahead. The 1st place showdown was a repeat of the previous days final with Paul again just gaining the upper hand over Michael while the 3rd and 4th spot was contested between Sam and Louis. This time youth triumphed over experience and Sam had to make do with 4th.
I would like to thank everyone who took part and helped the UKSSA get a "foot in the door" at this event. Now we have seen what NASS is all about we can work towards the next NASS Festival and get a share of the prize purse, which this year was $80,000, to make next year's event even bigger and better and attract the Europeans over.
Lastly a special big thanks goes to Paul Nash and his team at Glastonbury Ales for sponsoring the two days racing and supplying us with copious amounts of "Love Monkey" ale. We all definitely look forward to seeing you folks again - and soon!
Saturday - Hybrid
1st Paul Price
2nd Michael Stride
3rd Chris Linford
4th Sam Gordon
Sunday - Tight
1st Paul Price
2nd Michael Stride
3rd Louis Selby
4th Sam Gordon
May 2008, Paris World Cup
Slipa was the most impressive Brit of the weekend, consistently qualifying high in the Ams and continued to practise the course until the cone layout was etched into his DNA. This was reflected by his strong performance and many clean runs.
Bish was also hugely competitive, qualifying well in both the straight and tight before retail yang requested a balance to his skating ying.
Rob gave Chris Hart a run for his money on the injury front, however unlike the Swiss Airflow star, the Englishman stoically continued despite the bangs and abrasions and bravely staved off the pain twinges with regular injections of 1664.
The Pros Paul and Michael gave ther 'fit young things' a good show for their money, especially as Team Sweden seem to be in training overdrive so as to be well refelected at the Gothenburg Worlds. Nevertheless, Kowalski, Ramon and Janis still seems to be the indomitable force when it comes to TS.
A blistering Parisien weekend!
April 2008, G.O.G. "Do or Die" race, Dusseldorf, Germany.
The gargantuan ramp planned for the Sunday race... thank god it rained!
Report by Paul Price:
While Sam Louis, Mick, Rob and Ella flew to Germany,
I raced them Top Gear stylee by driving to Dover in
the Z, taking the ferry and bombing down the Autobahn,
and I got to the bar in Oberkassel first (by leaving
earlier!). Driving pedal to metal on the autobahn is
quite a white knuckle experience, and good practice
for the slalom race to come.
The event was to be over two days, Dusseldorf and
Cologne. First day was special and tight in
Dusseldorf, on a nice hill winding down to the Rhine,
the weather was sunny and the race was on. Usual
format, 2 qualifying runs then head to head racing.
First day was special slalom and tight slalom,
different courses for pro and am. The pro courses were
fast and it was easy to clip cones.
The straight was 2m for the ams and 1.8 m for the
pros. with the start ramp and hill the racing was fast
and furious!
Lack of hill practice showed with falls from Louis and
Ella, but they went on to race harder than ever. Sam,
Mick and Rob were looking good in the sunshine.
The tight was super fast (60+ cones in 12 seconds -
over 5 cones a second!) , at that speed the racing was
a blur and it was tough to keep clean.
I had the only clean run of the day on my Roadster,
helping me to a 2nd overall on the day. Quality! It
was that fast that at 0.1 a second penalty meant Vince
hit seven cones and still got a faster time than me
knocking me into 3rd.
Heres some footage from Mick of the hill and some fast
racing here.
Results:
Pro Special
1 Dominik Kowalski
2 Christoph Baumann
3 Paul Price
4 Steve Hinzen
Pro Straight 1.8m
1 Dominik Kowalski
2 Vincent Berruchon
3 Paul Price
4 Heiko Schoeller
I don't have all the results but in the Amateurs Louis
Selby did well coming 8th in the 2 metre straight and in
the Am special slalom Mick Reiss raced hard to a
well deserved 4th place.
Sam Gordon was a threat as ever, and Rob Ashby was in
his first major race in many years! Ella Roggero raced
well after her fall in the special and was the fastest woman
in the straight.
That night we all went to the pool party and bbq at
the Pavel bowl, great venue, great wurst and a 3m
start ramp ready for Sunday which gave some a
sleepless night.
The Sunday was meant to be super G off the 3m ramp but
heavy rain woke us so an indoor race was set up in a
sports hall. Nice to have a plan B.
This was a short 7 second course done in open format,
best of two runs. Again the English team did well.
Thanks to Don and the Pavel crew for setting up the
race.
March 2008, Wasteland contest a great sucess.
The weather was fine for a great contest at Hillingdon Cycle track. Paul Price came out on top, closely followed by Martin Drayton. Sam Gordon beat Ed Brockman in the semi final to grab third spot. Ella Roggero had the best fall of the day, but no bones broken! Full results below.
Ella Roggero takes a tumble!
Giant:
1st Domonik Kowalksi 18.05 PRO
2nd Greg Fadell 18.26 PRO
3rd Mikka Hadestrand 19.04 PRO
4th Hans Gothberg 19.24 PRO
5th Josef Stefka 19.37 PRO
6th Chrstoph Baumann 19.40 PR0
7th Tomas Potucek 19.83 PRO
8th Paul Price 20.22 PRO
9th Mick Reiss 20.35 AMATEUR
10th Viking Hadestrand 20.47 AMATEUR
11th Antonio ??? 20.72 AMATEUR
12th Martin Drayton 20.77 PRO
13th Frank Wheeler 21.04 AMATEUR
14th Ian Stone 21.10 AMATEUR
15th Herve Berthou 21.32 AMATEUR
16th Mog Ford 21.52 AMATEUR
17th Viktor Hadestrand 21.69 AMATEUR
18th Gabe Steptoe 21.74 AMATEUR
19th Ella Roggero 21.76 LADY
20th Sam Gordon 21.88 AMATEUR
21st Jason Bishop 21.89 AMATEUR
22nd= David O'Connor 21.90 AMATEUR
22nd= Kathrin Sehl 21.90 LADY
24th= Louis Slipa 21.91 AMATEUR
24th= Richard Norbury 21.91 AMATEUR
26th Pele Plast 22.01 AMATEUR
27th Peter Klein 22.18 PRO
28th Chris Linford 22.62 PRO
29th Rob Ashby 24.43 AMATEUR
Tight (Pro's only)):
Hans G 10.81 10.59 TT 21.40
Dom K 11.14 10.56 TT 21.70
Mikka H 10.97 10.86 TT 21.83
Christo B 10.80 11.16 TT 21.96
Greg F 11.35 11.15 TT 22.50
Paul P 11.51 11.42 TT 22.93
Tomas P 11.65 11.75 TT 23.40
Martin D 12.10 11.62 TT 23.72
Josef S 12.16 12.26 TT 24.42
Peter K 12.40 12.78 TT 25.18
Chris L 13.70 DQ TT
Oct 2007, New Official Guinness World Record for British slalomer!
China's largest TV company (15 stations and 1 Billion viewers in Asia!) wanted to film a new skateboard GWR record for their Record Breakers show and contacted the Guinness World Records organisation for ideas.
After discussions with Paul Price, they came up with an idea - 50 cones @ 1.6m (5ft 3ins) centre-to-centre on the flat with a clean run! This is tighter than we normally race in competition and any cone dislodged would disqualify the run. Normally in competition a downed cone attracts a 0.1 second penalty, but GWR made it clear from the start that they were only interested in perfect runs.
The event took place at Hyde Park in London on 2nd October 2007, and 2005 World Amateur Tight Slalom Champion, Martin Drayton was to be the one attempting to set the benchmark for this new event.
On the day, there was continuous light drizzle following rain from the night before, so the original location was too damp and treacherous with some standing pools of water. With the high humidity it was clear that it was not going to dry. Luckily Curt Halliday, one of the Brighton skaters went exploring and found a spot under some trees that had almost enough room for all 50 cones.
It meant a run-in with wet wheels and a very wet first 6 cones, a dryer section with a few wet slippery sections and a wet run-out. As it was a case of either making an attempt in these treacherous conditions or not skating at all, Martin gave it a shot. The end result? 12.83sec clean and a new world record.
Martin was a little disappointed as he had logged 11.22sec clean in the dry the previous week off a shorter run-in, so was planning to shoot for a sub 11sec on the day after a 'banker' run. After the clean run on his 3rd attempt the event was over as far as the Officials and the TV company were concerned, so any plan of a conservative run followed by a few flat-out runs never materialised!
For their support, Martin would like to thank his sponsors:
Gecko Decks, Seismic Wheels, Vans/Protec, Skullcandy headphones, NITRO Bearings, Decent Hardware Bags,
Bolle eyewear.
and also his support team, Curt Halliday, Steve 'Munchh' Rhodes, Mark Roberts, Frank Nelson, Niall Horton-Stephens, Ellis Lamb and Kane.
You can view a movie of Martin's record here.
Oct 2007, Ella Roggero stars at World Championships
Ella Roggero astonished everyone by taking an incredible third
place in the women's hybrid event at the world championships at the tender age of thirteen.
Such was her overall performance that she has now been offered a place on the Pavel flow team.
Full results here
Sept 2007, European Championships, Grenoble
Race Report by Paul Price...
FRIDAY
A team of six of us set out on Friday morning with Ryan air.
Martin, Paul, Sam, Pat, Richard and Louis were the crew.
Due to a 15 kg weight limit we were limited to what we could bring. The Europeans arrived by car and had the luxury of bringing a lot of kit.
At Grenoble airport we rented a new Mondeo station wagon but it could not fit us all so 2 of us had to get the bus into town and then we had to shuttle people to the hostel.
The Hostel was bunk beds and very basic, with no towels, and a basic breakfast. Up at 7am each day to get to the race site for 8.30am. This was no holiday, races are hard work.
SATURDAY
Racing started with the Giant Slalom on a closed off public road in Grenoble. a head -wind meant peoples second times were generally slower even with a change of wheels.
Paul Price got his photo on the front page of the newspaper!
Then we moved to the stadium for the special slalom. A lot of racers were unhappy the race was to be held on the flat, a fast hill is so much more exciting. The Amateurs, Juniors and Women finished their racing and then a difficult pro course was set up. The plan was to run the pros at night but the flood lights were not strong enough so at 8pm it was decided to race on the Sunday morning.
A riders party in a club out of town included a swimming pool and free vodka. a lot of racers had sore heads the next day, and some arrived too late to race.
SUNDAY
The Pro Special Slalom was very close, with 0.5 a second between the top 10 qualifing times. The cones started at just over 5ft, got wider then tighter towards the end. The racing was intense, and anyone could have won. Janis from Latvia was the eventual victor.
Then a tight straight course of 40 cones at 1.7m was set up with some very close racing for the Juniors, women and Pros. It required concentration and focus to do well in this race. Janis was on form and won here too.
In the afternoon the Nations Cup was run, with teams of 3 from each qualifying Nation.
At 6pm the prize giving got underway, including money down to fifth place.
To the victors the spoils. We went back to the hostel, cleaned up and went out for a well deserved meal.
The best UK Pro result was Paul Price with a 4th place and the Best UK Am result was Sam Gordon with a 7th place.
So I hope we see more UK slalomers racing at next years events. Get training now!
Full results in pdf format here.
Aug 2007, Paul Price shows how its done at Wasteland.
Rain started the day so it was decided not to rent a van to transport the ramps.
This meant a strong push was essential to get a good time, and Martin's Achilles did him no favours. In all other races they use ramps, and that's what we need to practice.
Attendence was low as many people were on hoilday.
A few of us arrived and it dried out by 1pm enough to race. Timing equipment problems meant we did 2 runs by stop watch in case of more rain. Curt and I both had stop watches on the finish line and our timing reactions were within 1/10 of a second - with a few identical times recorded. We averaged our stop watch times. and added cone penalties. Thanks to Curt for helping out (and fixing my back) - good luck with the wedding next week!
Just as well we got some times as we did not have dry time to complete the double elimination racing. Rain started and stopped us. We did get some good racing in though.
Everyone was riding well, and Big Steev would have finished much higher than his qualifying time. Bish and Crowbar (unbeaten) were skating faster too. Ella was the best female and junior, with Pam taking to the cones too.
After the rain stopped play we gave out prizes donated by Octane Sport and Pavel Skateboards (I think nearly everyone got something) and then hit the pub.
Thanks for the willing help from everyone, it made everything flow smoothly.
When I win the lottery I will buy big ramps, a tag heuer timing system and Brands Hatch.
Until then - see you at Hyde Park - then in September are the Europeans in Grenoble and the World Championships in North Carolina. Super!
Results - Qualifying times - fastest of 2 runs
1. Paul Price 12.305
2. Mike Stride 12.705
3. Martin Drayton 12.750
4. Mick Reiss 12.965
5. Pat Holden 13.485
6. Luke 14.785
7. Bish 14.800
8. Crowbar 14.895
9. Ella 15.175
10. Rich 15.245
11. Big Steev 15.46
12. Munch 18.725
13. Chris 20.435
Aug 2007, Wasteland contest coming up August 19th
Grass roots slalom race for allcomers, beginner to Pro.
2 timed individual runs decides qualifying spreadsheet for head-to-head.
Sign up by clicking here.
Hillingdon Cycle Circuit is on Springfield Road (West London).(off Uxbridge Road, A4020) just past the roundabout for the A412 (Hayes/Southall). The road is Springfield Road and there is a WICKES DIY store on the intersection which has traffic lights and a Turn Right lane for those coming the West. There is easy access from the M40/A40 or the M4 and M25.
http://www.hillingdoncyclecircuit.org.uk/
July 2007, Riga: Sam wins gold!
Sam finally makes the breakthrough and wins the ams at the Baltic Sea Cup in Riga, Latvia. Sam amongst the medals Paul and Neil scored some good results too.
June 2007, Gothenburg: Sam collects two silvers!
Sam Gordon continues his recent impressive form by collecting two silver medals at the Gothenburg Grand Prix.
Sam (Right) pictured with Holger Kindler (GER), winner of the overall am title.
June 2007, Skateboarding in the Olympics!
It is now almost certain that Skateboarding will feature in the 2012 Olympics to be held in London. It has yet to be decided exactly what forms of skatebording will be included. Obviously we feel that Slalom is the perfect olympic event! See here for more info.
June 2007, Paris and Hannover results
Sam Gordon in Paris where he achieved an excellent 4th place in the Giant.
Full Paris results on SlalomRanking.com
Hannover am results:
SpecialGiantTight
May 2007, Cornish open slalom championships announced
9am (!) Sat, 30th June - Crooklets Rd, Crooklets Beach, Bude, Cornwall.
May 2007, Scrapheap Challenge!
Channel 4 presents (giant sized) slalom skateboarding featured on scrapheap challenge! You can watch selected highlights here.
April 2007, Paul and Sam do battle in Germany
Paul Price and Sam Gordon have just returned from Germany where they were
competing in an outlaw giant slalom race- where they had what appears to
be the biggest start ramp in slalom history! There is a nice video of the event here.
Results
pros
best of three timed runs
dominik kowalski 27,187
steve hinzen 27,735
vincent berruchon 28,251
ramon königshausen 28,355
homer baumann 28,374
heiko schöller 28,495
mika hadestrand 28,783
patrick allan 29,505 paul price 29,697
starsky 31,008
yoyo 32,563
ams
best of two timed runs
max möhlmann 29,36
manfred koffinke 29,51
frank beste 29,69
sven lippert 29,99
olliver otten 30,13
david rudnianski 30,26
carsten pingel 30,27
donald campbell 30,53 sam gordon 30,98
bart brunninkhuis 31,00
kongo 31,14
kathrin sehl 31,15
guillaume st.criq 31,28
holger kindler 31,58
ulli schönborn 31,67
peter jachmann 31,72
j s. dennebuoy 32,07
frederic huyn bach sac 32,18
joe loves eddy iocavelli 32,19
paul brunninkhuis 32,30
markus möhlmann 32,37
andreas brüderle 32,43
pogo andy 32,48
stefan möhlmann 32,58
michael metulla 32,95
frank korte 33,01
wolfgang toth 33,28
pascal wiens 33,59
flavio badenes 33,89
gregor thiesen 34,43
ferdinand möhlmann 34,61
martin ausm ruhrgebiet 35,99
charles thubert 37,47
alexander möhlmann dq
April 2007, Sweeney's world record movie (again)
The movie showing Martin Sweeney setting a world record for skating 100 cones back in 1991,
goes from strength to strength, it has been placed on youtube multiple times, and when
combined with the metacafe.com viewers, has now been seen by nearly half a million people
worldwide. Paul price was even approached by someone from Guinness world records asking if
the record could be attemped again for their TV show.
It was a great day's racing thanks to a lot of trouble-shooting spreadsheet work by Paul K and, of course, the weather Gods. Both timing systems failed (there is obviously a good reason why foolproof systems cost so much) so racing went to double eliminator head-to-head. This worked well because it had a mix of folks racing each other, with a second chance race if you were knocked out. Upshot is that more folks had the chance to skate and race a whole variety of competitors.
Paul Price came out on top (so we can rest easy), but very rapid performances from Ella, Pat, both Jacks, Paul T-C and Wafflesole. Great racing from the Bish boys (Bo and Luke) and a very brave effort from Pearl who took on both the ramp and a hill course for the first time. You've left your mark!
Thanks to Mick for not only the use of ramps, but also for his marshalling and judging (never an easy role - stewards!) and of course to Michael Stride and Octane Sport for the full support, transport, prizes and cups of tea.
Special mention should also go out to the secondary competition; that of Nat Wafflesole's time trial of the full track on the Rolls Rolls board. This was done to support his oncoming charity challenge to circumnavigate New Zealand by skate, continuing the good work of the Boardfree campaign. Victor was Louis 'Slippa' Selby for cruising around in an unreasonably fast time. He's a force to be reckoned with, that lad.
Still room for miles of organisational improvement (and a burger van) but all in all a great day's racing and a real blast made special by all of the competitors who took part in the spirit of the event.
Sam Gordon.
L-R: Pat Holden 4th, Sam Gordon 3rd, Louis (winner of one lap challenge), Paul Price 1st, Chris Linford 2nd.
The 2007 Slalom contest schedule is now available here.
December 2006, Cadwell Park: "Big Hill Freeride"
By all accounts the motor racing curcuit at Cadwell park could be the best
slalom skating location found since Brands Hatch. Sign up for the contest here. For directions simply type "cadwell park, uk"
into google maps.
December 2006, Record Breaking Skating!
Our fellow Hyde Park skater Dave Cornthwaite hasn't finished his trans Australia skate yet, but he's
now surpassed Jack Smith's previous world record for the furthest distance travelled on a skateboard.
There's a nice movie of a news report on "Channel Ten" on the Boardfree website.
October 2006, UK Pro's on tour
Two of our UK pro skaters both grabbed second place results in
separate contests over the weekend. Mike Stride got 2nd pace in the
Tight Slalom section of the "Showdown on Main Street", Park City, Utah,
whilst Paul Price got 2nd at the "Great Western" race in Germany. Paul
got some great scalps, beating both Christoph Baumann and Dominik Kowalski.
"Showdown on Main Street", Tight Slalom
1 Kevin Hornibrook
2 Michael Stride
3 Gerry Huitt
4 Phil Plunkett
5 Jack Smith
6 Martin Drayton
7 Mark Johnson
8 Tim Kienitz
"GREAT WESTERN" Pro tight
1 ramon königshausen 10,902
2 paul price 11,425
3 christoph baumann 11,083
4 dominik kowalski 12,248
5 heiko schöller 11,736
6 steve hinzen 12,209
October 2006, Sam Gordon excels at Antibes Grand Prix
Sam Gordon got the highest placing of any Brit at Antibes with his best ever
giant slalom performance gaining a 6th place in the amateur division. Full results Sam's photos
September 2006, Wasteland 3, report by Paul Price
A quick overview of Wasteland 3 Classic slalomthat was ran on Sunday 10 September in West
London, near Heathrow Airport.
Here is a group picture:
There were about 40 entrants from all over England- an excellent turn out. Sadly no overseas
racers made it to London, I guess we are just too hard to get to. Did I mention we were
under the flight path of Heathrow Airport?
We started with a single lane timed race, with a variable wind which picked up
as we raced more. We took the best time of three. Mick was looking fast on his
first run - his second two ended in spins as he pushed the limits.
With limited time left we did some head-to-head sudden death eliminations,
but Clingflim and Edwin had already left and missed some close racing.
Prize giving was courtesy of Mike Stride at Octanesport.com.
After the prize giving we went to the pub. A good end to a good day.
Thanks to Sam for making it happen, and help from Scotty, Mike Stride, Mick, Mog, Ian and many others.
Here are some early results, pending the official spreadsheets:
Top 4 Head-to-Head
1. Paul Price - Pavel - Carhartt - Vans
2. Mike Stride - OctaneSport.com
3. Niall Horten-Stephens
4. Nat 'Wafflesole' - in his first race!
Giant slalom results below:
August 2006, Dave Cornthwaite - sets off in Oz!
Having warmed up by skating the length of Britain, our mate Dave
is now embarking upon a world record attempt: to skateboard 6000km across Australia.
Check out his website here.
July 2006, Brixlegg results..
Mick Reiss on his way to 8th place in the giant
The world championships in Austria has just ended with Luca Giammarco taking the overal title. Full results below...
Tight Special Giant
I've put together a movie from the event here.
July 2006, Alternative to Hyde Park?
The pictures below are from Finsbury Park. It is on a slight slope and has
fewer pedestrians than Hyde Park. The only problem is that it's a bit rough - but
put on some 80 durometer wheels and its fine! Certainly well worth a try. Follow the "Where to skate" link for map.
July 2006, Bude Skateclassic - Slalom Results...
An enthusiastic crowd turned out on the morning of Saturday 8th July to cheer on 16 competitors in this year’/ ‘Bude Skateclassic’ slalom contest.
A rainy early morning didn’t bode well but this soon dried up and gave way to a beautiful-rest of the day. The contest featured two strands-a timed race and / ‘sudden death’ head-to-head.
Paul Price took 1st place in the timed race, closely followed by Michael Stride. Sam Gordon was 3rd. The next five racers times were within 0.7 seconds.
The head to head was more of an informal crowd-pleaser with Paul and Michael in the final-Paul again winning by a very small margin.
Claire Eatoch was Women’s Champ, Tai Vickery Junior Champ, and Scott Menzie picked up / ‘Longest Distance Travelled Award’!
Whilst not on the smoothest surface ever, the course was a lot of fun. Set up on a long gently sloping road, it was approximately 40 cones and ‘do-able’ by all, but difficult enough to challenge the more experienced riders.
Generous prize donations by Octane Sports and Apollo 11 meant no competitor walked away empty-handed.
This was a fun event with a wonderful relaxed atmosphere; thanks go to all who helped make it possible: Sam Gordon and Ian Stone for setting up the timing equipment, Michael Stride and Paul Price for organisation, and Bude Skateclassic for including it in their programme.
(Report by Pat Holden)
1. Paul Price 15.592
2. Michael Stride 15.929
3. Sam Gordon 17.124
4. David O'Conner 18.360
5. Ian Stone 18.380
6. Jon Warburton 18.714
7. Pat Holden 18.772
8. Tom Beaumont 19.074
9. Paul 'Crowbar' Nolan 19.871 (Rookie Champ)
10. Paul Samson 20.880
11. Richard Norbury 21.595
12. Scott Menzie 22.716 (Longest Distrance Travelled Award)
13. Nathan Ridley 26.719
14. Claire Eatoch 27.735 (Womens Champ)
15. Tai Vickery 28.5371 (Junior Champ)
16. Will Strioch 30.770 (Junior Runnerup)
July 2006, Ella wins at European Championships in Riga
Ella won the junior girls straight and special. In the straight she was less than a tenth of a
second off beating the boys too! Ella was running on a Paul Price model Pavel deck and ABEC 11 "Pink" wheels. You can
see her in the special slalom here.
Well done to Katii Campbell (honourary british) for beating the boys in the giant slalom.
Full results here. Click to see one of the pro's at full speed.
June 2006, Greuningen... Is there something in the water?
Well done to Paul Price for coming 4th in the pro - "straight slalom" and 5th in the "special".
Full results here. Loads of vids here.
May 2006, Hyde Park - biggest turnout of the year
Just some of the skaters that evening
12th May: There was no particular event organised, it was just a nice day and at least fourteen skaters turned up.
May 2006, Dave has set off from John o'Groats
Dave Cornthwaite has set off from John o'Groats heading for Land's End - This is just
his "warm up" for his journey across Australia. You can monitor his progress on
his daily blog, or his website.
April 2006, Announcing Wasteland II
Hillingdon Cycle Track (map), Sat 6th May. 12.30 till dusk.
£8 per head for insurance, £15 per family pair, £20 for 3.
You can register for this event (and see who else has entered) online here.
April 2006, Announcing the SKATECLASSIC - 06
SATURDAY 8TH JULY / BUDE / CORNWALL
SLALOM / STREET / DOWNHILL / AFTERPARTY
ITS ON... CHECK THE SITE FOR MORE INFO WWW.SKATECLASSIC.CO.UK
March 2006, Wasteland Classic results...
A mixture of good news and bad... first of all there was a great turn out - loads of new faces and about 30 entrants in all. Unfortunately the weather
was truly awful, with the wind blasting us back up the hill! And even worse it then started to rain :-( but not before everyone had at least
two timed runs through the giant slalom course.
Despite the weather, a good time was had by all and we hope to see more events in the UK later in the year. Thanks to Mike Stride,
Sam Gordon and Paul Keleher for making it all possible.
March 2006, The UKSSA is now affiliated to the UKGSA
The UK Skateboard Slalom Association has become affiliated to the UK Gravity Sports Assciation. The UKGSA supports Street Luge,
Downhill Skateboard (Stand-Up) ,Classic Luge, Gravity Bike, Soapbox racing and now Skateboard Slalom too.
You can now join the UKSSA for £25 by following this link.
Membership runs from February 1st - January 31st each year.
Feb 2006, World Championships in Brixlegg
It seems everyone wants to go to Brixlegg for this years world championships (July 21-23). You can see
the website here. Sam Gordon has made up a page of
information about cheap flights in one of the Brixlegg forums here.
Jan 2006, Dave Cornthwaite joins us for some slalom lessons
Dave Cornthwaite of "BOARDFREE" is planning to skateboard across
Australia later this year to raise money for charity. Look out for him in the press.
He's in London at weekends and decided to join us in Hyde Park to learn how to slalom. In his first session he also volunteered to skateboard
backwards whilst taking videos of us. The new videos will be on the site soon.
Dave is a graphic artist and has kindly designed our new logo for the UKSSA.
December 2005, Stockholm Winter Clash
Ella Roggero, the only British skater to come home with a trophy.
The Stockholm Winter Clash was a superbly organised event held in a huge indoor sloped heated car park. Some
excellent computer software and a separate results screen meant that the races ran like clockwork and
everyone knew exactly what times they had. Lots of very close times added to the excitement and positions were changing constantly.
Pictures here
Full results here
Contest forum here.
November 2005, UKSSA gets new website
Mick Reiss is now the new webmaster. Please email mick@reiss.demon.co.uk with
suggestions for the site.
September 2005, British skater is world amateur champion!
Martin drayton won the World Open Tight Slalom section of the world championships at Morro Bay,
California.
September 2005, Brands Hatch results
Giant
1. Mike Stride 39.786
2. Paul Price 39.883 + 2 cones
3. Clingfilm 40.698 + 2 cones
4. Sam Gordon 42.831
5. Mick Reiss 44.198
Tight
1st Paul Price 35.759 + 0 cones
2nd Clingfilm 36.795 + 4 cones
3rd Mike Stride 38.016 + 2 cones
Special
1st Paul Price 30.886 + 2 cones
2nd Mike Stride 31.885 + 2 cones
3rd Sam Gordon 31.807 + 1 cone
Grass roots slalom race for allcomers, beginner to Pro.
2 timed individual runs decides qualifying spreadsheet for head-to-head.
And finally 
There were about 40 entrants from all over England- an excellent turn out. Sadly no overseas
racers made it to London, I guess we are just too hard to get to. Did I mention we were
under the flight path of Heathrow Airport?
We started with a single lane timed race, with a variable wind which picked up
as we raced more. We took the best time of three. Mick was looking fast on his
first run - his second two ended in spins as he pushed the limits.
With limited time left we did some head-to-head sudden death eliminations,
but Clingflim and Edwin had already left and missed some close racing.
Prize giving was courtesy of Mike Stride at Octanesport.com.
After the prize giving we went to the pub. A good end to a good day.
Thanks to Sam for making it happen, and help from Scotty, Mike Stride, Mick, Mog, Ian and many others.
Here are some early results, pending the official spreadsheets:
Top 4 Head-to-Head
1. Paul Price - Pavel - Carhartt - Vans
2. Mike Stride - OctaneSport.com
3. Niall Horten-Stephens
4. Nat 'Wafflesole' - in his first race!
Giant slalom results below:
Jim blasts down the course...
