You know it ,we dont sell scooters in the Hopshop. In the same way we do not sell Penny’s or plastic skateboards. I dont care if Globe or Flip or Stereo make them. No amount of video marketing can convince me otherwise. These are fashionable toys.  We are not a toy shop or a fashion shop … we are a skateshop.

However, occasionally a scooter video comes along that represents the sport. Like the bantum video, we might not sell the product, but we approve of the marketing… I can’t turn my back on the streets Annie…

Instead of a Christmas card this year, we are sending STICKERS to all our wonderful customers!

If you were a Hopshop customer this year, thank you, you made 2011 the best year ever. We loved seeing you in the skateshop, at the events, talking online and generally being part of the Australian skateboard community.

OK SO HERE IS THE DEAL

We have collected over $100,000 worth of skate stickers from all your favourite brands. We are mailing out to our top 3000 customers over 20,000 stickers!! First 1000 envelopes were mailed out a couple of days ago, if you have received mail, you are one of the top Hopshop customers.

Not everyone is going to get stickers, we had to make a few rules. You had to have ordered something in 2011, and for logistic reasons, the cut off was the end of November. We sorted customers by their total orders, so if you only ordered bushings this year, you probably missed out. You had to have a Hopshop account or ordered online, it is only these customers that we know who you are and your address. That’s why it is so important to have a Hopshop account … you know it is free.

HUGE thank you to the brands that helped us share the stoke this Christmas. It sounds simple but it has been a huge effort getting organised. Stickers have been arriving months in advance, and they have been hidden in the Hopshop waiting for mail out time.

There is also a real cost to all the skate companies that participate. PLEASE give them a huge shout out. I have provided below all their social contacts. Like them, friend them, send them a thank you. We want this to be an annual event, if you share the stoke, they will see the value in doing it all again.

Big thank you to the elves in the Hopshop that stuffed envelopes: Caspian, Harrison, Josh. Also the family insider help from Veronique and Lisa.

Special mention to the distributors: John and Christine at JHS and Co, Peter at Goliath, Glenn at Black Box.

WHAT STICKERS HAVE BEEN SENT OUT

Caliber Trucks
Caliber on Facebook or Find them on the web
Give em lots of love, they were very generous.

3000 stickers released

Loaded Boards

Our friends at Loaded and Orangatang are always first to join an event to stoke skaters in a major way, they send a slab of stickers!!

Big moon hugs to Loaded – you can squeeze their face or grab their tweets or watch the vids

500 stickers released

500 stickers released

500 stickers released

500 stickers released

500 stickers released

500 stickers released

25 stickers released = RARE

25 stickers released = RARE

25 stickers released = RARE

25 stickers released = RARE

Rayne longboards

Always a favourite in the skateshop, and they love you very much with thousands of stickers. You can return that love on the face or tickling their twitter or watching their moves

1500 stickers released

1500 stickers released

1000 stickers released

Sector 9

Shout out to the Sector 9 Australia team, you rocked Australia with a suitcase of stickers. Show em that they are not too big for a hug, pinch em on the tweeter or stalk em on facebook or just be a voyeur. If it wasn’t for these blokes, Jackson would not be Number Two in the world !! (IGSA World Cup rankings)

1500 stickers released

1500 stickers released

Heelside Magazine

Your favorite Australian skateboard magazine. They are original, creative, bold and crazy. They deliver you something your mum does not understand and probably does not approve of, so let them know their hard work is appreciated. Get social on their arse. Or a quick little spray.  You must subscribe for them to survive.

1100 stickers released

ASRA – Australian Skateboard Racing Association

They are the only REAL skateboard association in Australia. Real members, elected board, community inspired and skateboarders looking after skateboarding. So who is fake? SbA or Skateboard Australia are a $2 event company. The sham is our tax money is funding a private skateboard company. No elected officials. No accountability. Hundreds of thousands of dollars siphoned off with our Government’s approval. They know the facts, and continue to waste your money. WE NEED TO GET MAD. Join ASRA. Even better become a financial member, it makes ASRA stronger and SbA look stupider. Time magazine has made the Protester the person of the year. You can make a difference. You can change the world. You can create the world you want to live in. No generation in history has more power at their fingertips than you. Protest. Talk. Yell. Scream. Skate. Create. Dream. Then take small steps to make it happen. Contact your elected politician or senator. Tell them to stop wasting our money and take skateboarding seriously. Then get your mum, dad and all the family to do the same thing. If you use twitter, so do they.

1500 stickers released

Fallen Shoes

Some of the raddest skate stickers you’ll find on the planet. I did not scan every sticker that went out. If you got something different, post a pic.

On the Fbook or on the inter webbie thing, they probably dont want to know you like them, they’re too cool for school. And are core = only little boards here (they’re easier to carry).

100 stickers released - RARE

200 stickers released - RARE

50 stickers released - RARE

25 stickers released - RARE

125 stickers released - RARE

125 stickers released - RARE

50 stickers released - RARE

Early Skateboards

The OG crew on the Goldie, designing boards for Australia. Twitter or FB or web

40 stickers released - RARE

20 stickers released - RARE

Fibretec: Swiss made dream machines. They are fine like a piece of … art. 50 stickers were add into the mix.

Vicious Griptape: Sent 50 special decals to stoke, if you got one, your lucky. If you have their tape on your deck your even luckier…and probably dont have any fingerprints.

Bombsquad, Ladera, Dekline and Slippery Dip all contributed some special stickers.

Thank you to everyone who is apart of the Australian skateboard/longboard scene. Lets do it all again next year. We promise the Hopshop will be bigger and better in 2012. We hope you will be a part it.

Live life … skate every day.

PS: We send out stuckers to our bro’s in New Zealand. We  love our cousins across the ditch too!

TWITTER USERS
We are using #hopkinstickers

One of my favourite Australian websites at ATM is Pozible. Why? It is all about people getting together and helping non commercial projects get off the ground.

Pozible is based around the social phenomenon of crowd sourcing. Basically a whole lot of people contributing small amounts of money to achieve an overall goal. You dont even have to pledge money, just promoting an idea amongst your network of friends might raise them that extra dollar that gets their project funded.

One of the projects I have supported today is a Melbourne skateboard competition called Just Another Female Skateboarding Competition. No guesses what it is all about.

At the Hopshop, part of our mojo is encouraging more women to skateboard and longboard. So we are supporting and promoting this Pozible project, maybe you should too? If you dont have a dollar to spare, then promote to to your facebook friends or …

I’ve been a bit slack on the blog posts. I’m looking at the article log jam, it will take a while to clear. Apologies to Robdog, Maga, Dennis, Pat, and all the other contributors. I will start churning out the longboarding blog love – right after this Hopkin Team chest beating.

The IGSA World Championships are in Brazil this year. Peru gets it’s first World Cup event at Tarma. With one of the world’s fastest downhill skaters on our team (Jacko), the longboarder born on a sun bed (Luca), PLUS a Peruvian born speed Queen (Maga), and her crash prone handbag (Robdog), it made no sense to have them sitting in Australia.

The South American Hopkin Racing Team tour is ON.

Bombing and racing big scary mountains, up against the world’s elite, fighting fearless locals, and representing all things Australia!!!! Oi Oi Oi.

The favour of this tour will be like nothing else…sweet + spicy + yum + yuk. No one will return the same, this tour will change lives, create legends and unbelievable fables to be passed down to the new generations.

A new World Champion crowned.Will it be another Canadian? Maybe local freight train Dalua? Could Jackson fulfil his destiny?

One thing is certain, no matter if you return home a champion or return home on a Care Australia flight … everyone will have a smile on their face. AND YOU will read all about it here.

That is not all.

I have interviews ready to go from some of the best women longboarders in the world.

Rob and Maga email in about skating with the Peruvian crew on local hills and mountains that you can only dream about. Can you taste the high altitude and the gnar dust? Luca is going to tell us if it is possible to leave thane lines on dirt roads.

That is just the South American tour. I have a European update with videos. A blog about a street skater who thinks his a longboarder, reviews on slide glove protos, Roni is reporting back on Drone Trucks, Westover has joined the cult and I have interviews so old that many of these people have simply stop skating and started a monastic life.  There are also race reports, exclusive photos from the Grom Bomb…and I can smell something Lea has brewing that she wants to unleash.

You have been warned. South American Tour updates start today. I keep rolling out new blog posts every day until my fingers bleed or my brain is fried.

Words and Rhymes by Trav Horsfall

Kozakov…. if you asked me 2 days ago, I was going to title this “Kozakov sucks dick”…… now I think I’ll call it “Kozakov – The Internment camp for skaters” … too dark?

The first night we were greeted by a mega storm… made extra mega by the fact that the hill and camp ground is basically inside the cloud.

The next day, we awoke to foggy but dryish conditions and practice was underway. This was paused several times as it lightly showered throughout the day. It was 15 degrees, summer my ass!

We all got onto the dirty 30 krone ($1) beers that night and went to bed to only wake up a short time later to my tent blowing over, making everything inside the tent soaking wet. The winds were up to 90km/h that night as some tents collapsed and other shelters simply blew away.

Day 2 wasn’t any calmer, the winds were still strong and so was the rain. Most people stayed in their tent to try and stay warm and dry, until they discovered the restaurant on the top of the hill. This would be the host for most skaters for many hours over the next couple of days as there is literally nothing else to do in the area.

For an event that was rained out last year, you would think they’d come up with a wet weather plan for this year… nope just sit around and wait for 8 hours in the cold.

That night everything now became muddy and wet; great. And the party “riders tent” gets its new name, the “Riders Vomit Tent” as the buildup of mud, spew, beer, Jäger increased on the floor.

Day 3, again wake up to cold rain. At this stage I got myself a hotel room, an easy 25min death march in the freezing cold in 3 day wet shoes down the otherside of the hill. At least my bed was warm and dry. At midday Marcus comes around to the tables in the restaurant to inform the riders of a riders meeting at 1:30pm and start thinking about skating in the rain.

Mist racing Kozakov 2011

The riders meeting: the announcement is made that qualifying will begin in the rain. However due to the lack of time left in the day, everyone gets 1 warm up and 1 timed run to find the top 64 spots. They also announce that the track will be made safer by removing the fast top straight and fast bottom section. This pissed a lot of people off, it was a World Cup event that they were altering for beginner riders.I watched a few runs in the wet and it was REALLY slow and boring.

The Norwegian guys weren’t even breaking, a normal summers day for them I guess!

At this point I got to the restaurant and sat at the table with Martin Seigrest. We begin talking about race formats and he tells me the ASRA format for last years at Newtons was bullshit because the #2 in timed qualifier, couldn’t beat the numer #1 in the qualifying tree. He obviously didn’t understand even after several attempts to explain it to him, he still maintains it was shit. The rest of the conversation intensified as I defended ASRA. He also didn’t skate in the wet and left early… a true competitor.

Danny taking a line at Kozakov

Race Day: Finally dry weather! although still cold.

Luge / classic luge qualifying starts in the morning as I make my way down the hill with the eliminated skaters that paid entry fee for 2 runs in the wet.

Watching was excruciatingly slow. They only had one bus going down and running a few heats at a time. You could easily run practice behind each heat and send 2 buses down. The 2nd bus was sitting at the top! At this point a crew of South Africans, UK and myself decided to form a Colonialist skate crew for these sorts of events as other nations do when they group up. Hilarious guys as we played reggae on one of the corners and dancing on the haybales to pass the 45mins between heats.

The big left corner at Kozakov 2011

The pace for the one and only practice run for stand up was intense. People barely breaking and railing the corners. P-Swiss’s speed checks were barely a check at all and some simply air broke and railed the corner.

Down to the racing. P-Swiss looked fast all weekend, wet or dry. Jacko was also hauling, as well as James Kelly. Racing got really intense, really quickly, as only the top 2 of each heat progressed to the next round. Not being biased, but the best heat was when Jacko crashed on the first corner with everyone passing him, he picked himself up and then hunted everyone down one by one to progressed through to the next round. Also another guy (can’t remember the name, he rides for weefunk) broke his arm on the first corner, got up and won that heat with a broken arm!

The semi final, you already know with Ramon falling and taking out GMack…he wasn’t a happy man.

The final I was on the finishline with mobile phone in hand ready to text through the results, and took a photo of Switzer coming first and Jacko very close behind.

P-Swiss beats Jacko at the finishline at Kozakov 2011 final

All and all Kosakov was pretty poorly organised, with no wet weather plan (especially after last year) and waiting almost 2 wet days before making the call to ride in the wet anyway. Spectators had no idea what was going on and just left waiting on the corners, with no ride to the top and no water on the track (you had to walk all the way back up).

Next year check the weather forecast and decide accordingly… unless you like sitting around all day with nothing to do.

Time for some rest before Insul!

Trav

Mobile phones dont really work at Maryhill, internet is only available in the motel, so much of what happened at the IGSA World Cup at the Maryhill Festival of Speed is still a mystery.

I type this in Australia on Tuesday night 7pm. I am slowly piece together some of the results. This must have been what it was like reporting on sports in the last century. Having to wait months for competitors to arrive home on a ahip to get the full report on what happened.

IGSA website is reporting on the men’s open final. Lots of controversy over a restart penalty in the semi’s and Mr Siegrist regulating in the final. The winner was Aussie Ramon. Yeah, could not happened to a nicer guy, no one skates harder than Ramon. Maybe the first person to win World Cup events in two different skateboarding disciplines (slalom and downhill)?

Still no official words on the women’s final. Everyone’s favourite IGSA official Komakino gave us the tweet on Ramon winning and Rebekka coming second in the women’s final. Rayne confirmed their team rider Dominique got third. Katie on facebook updated her status that she is the Maryhill Champion for 2011.  So that sorts out the women. It would be cool to hear what happened. Katie gives us a taste in one of her blogs, hopefully we get a bit more on the final. LOVE YA WORK KATIE, you still have my vote for the raddest downhill chick in the world (sorry Lea). Come back to Australia soon, it was fun having you work in the Hopshop. We’re growing our women’s scene for when you come back.

I know what you are thinking, wasn’t there suppose to be a Junior World Championship race at Maryhill? I know I know. We helped one of Australia’s fastest juniors get there to compete against the world. So many people have called me today to find out the result. I’m sorry to say I have nothing. Maybe it didn’t happen. Though Aiden on Coast Longboarding has said Max won the Junior 2 final.

In the world of longboarding and downhill racing maybe it is not a big deal. There was 70 juniors competing at Maryhill, we get than many juniors at MOTH each year. There must be a lot bigger junior events around the world. Still it would be nice to get a tweet or an article on a result. You could do it 10 words.

We’ll just have wait until Kelly grom arrives back in Australia to hear what happened. As soon as I know, you’ll know. If you beat me to the news, please post up in the comments.

UPDATE
See comments below, Kelly gives us a run down on the Junior finals.
Junior 2 results (14yrs to 17yrs)
1st Max Wippermann  USA <– new Junior World Champion
2nd Alex Silva USA
3rd Austin Nicassio  USA
4th Justin Rolo  USA
5th Brendan Davidson  CAN
6th Riley Crone  USA
7th Spencer Smith  USA
8th Bradley Cameron  USA
9th Shaun Douglas  CAN
10th Keith Henderson  USA
11th Quin Finocchio  CAN
12th Kelly Carter  AUS

Junior 1 results (8yrs to 13yrs)
1st Nohlan Campbell  USA
2nd Roger Jones  USA
3rd Oliver Korman  CAN
4th Bryan Sheehy  USA
5th Nathan Anderson  USA
6th Quinn Dubois  CAN
7th Gaines Harrison  (jr) USA
8th Tristan Bell  (Bellaboy) CAN
9th Adam Bornstein  USA
10th Maxim Moisanen USA

Women’s Open results
1st Katie Neilson CAN
2nd Rebekka Gemperle SUI
3rd Dominique Vukorep CAN
4th Jerica Green USA
5th Alicia Fillback USA
6th Ishtar Backlund SWE

Note: The views expressed here are those of James Hopkin. I do not represent ASRA, although I am a financial ASRA member and my company is a core sponsor. I do not have an official position within ASRA. I do not speak on behalf of ASRA.

With the disclaimer out of the way, lets get on with the fun stuff.

This post is in a response to Guff’s comments on ASRA

I am very surprised that ASRA and HOPKIN are supporting, encouraging and promoting illegal racing.

Feels like Guff has hung a badge of dishonesty on me. It was not long ago we were helping each other organise outlaw races, I suppose someone got religion.
It is worse than you think Guff, I have sponsored skaters to travel to Canada to compete in outlaw races!

Within Australia, there are a small group of people that have a big issue regarding outlaws. Believe it or not, it was the main reason ASRA was formed. The horror, the horror.

What is an outlaw? What is a sanctioned event?
An outlaw is a race held in an area that does not have insurance to protect organisers. Most outlaws have the blessing of legal authorities, however it is sometimes impossible to get official permission or funding to support a sanctioned race.

The myths of an outlaw event

It will ruin the sport: The biggest myth is that outlaw racing will ruin the sport or make authorities legislate and ban the sport all together. Politicians will use any topic to divide the community and boost their standing and credibility to the public. Anything youth orientated is always a target. Everything grows from grassroots. Sanctioned events grow out of outlaw racing. Without outlaws, you would never have sanctioned racing. By banning the one thing you need (outlaws) will hobble the sport forever.
The fact is one of the best racing scenes in the world is in Canada, and it is all based around outlaw racing.

Makes insurance hard to get or insurance companies will refuse to insure sanctioned events: Insurance companies are businesses. Their purpose is to make money. They will only insure something that is a defined risk, ie the amount of money they collect is more than what they have to pay out. What influences insurance companies more is legislation regarding liability claims.
Insurance is always used as an excuse not to do something. In the last four years the easiest part of a sanctioned race is insurance.

Endangering the lives of motorists: A tonne of metal with an engine is more than a match for a person on a skateboard.

It is dangerous: The way outlaws are run make it safer, in many ways than a sanctioned race. In a sanctioned race everyone relies of the event organiser to do the right thing. At an outlaw, the collective group is responsible. Everyone is aware of their responsibilities, everyone skates with extra caution and safety.

Race organisers are only protected at a sanctioned race: Insurance is not always the safety net people expect. Just ask all those Queensland flood victims what they think of the ability of insurance to protect them. At the end of the day, insurance is a piece of paper. It can be interpreted in many ways. The interpretation is always in the favour of the stronger party. That is the insurance company. Remember the golden rule with insurance: they are in business to make money, they can not pay out more than they collect. An insurance company will always protect itself in the event of a huge claim. Believing you are protected because you have insurance is a false assumption.

Racers are insured at a sanctioned race: Insurance is for race organisers NOT competitors. In a way competitors have less rights because the insurance takes away your ability to sue them if they are liable. You have to deal with the insurance company, and we all know they play fair.

It is all about the racing: Outlaws are usually about friends getting together for a session. It is less to do with racing, more to do with mateship. No money on the line, no trophies, just mate against mate.

Growth will only come through sanctioned events: Sanctioned events cripple small sports. A sanctioned event can only be organised by a small group of people with specialised skills. They are exercises in making money. They might not be making profit, but they have to generate large sums of money to pay for all the costs. The only way for sanctioned racing to work in the long term is for sponsorship from companies outside of the sport. Such sponsorship comes with ideals and views that are not always in the best interest of the sport. It can also be taken away at anytime, or be subject to the vagaries of the economy and hence cripple a sport in a short period.

Why our sport needs outlaw events
Money: Lets get real here. There is not much money in our sport. There are people that believe companies like Landyachtz and Rayne are making huge profits and are big targets for big sponsorship deals. Longboarding is like skateboarding. The hardware manufacturers are not big profit generators. they have fixed margins on hardware but uncertain costs. In skateboarding, the hardware companies are not the big money sponsors, it is shoe, clothing and soft drink companies.

Gives organisers a learning experience: Anyone that has been involved in organising a sanctioned race knows it is a huge commitment and a thankless task. You hear so many comments from within our community about why ASRA are not doing more sanctioned events, but those people are not willing to volunteer to make it happen. Outlaws give new organisers valuable experience. When you cut your teeth on an outlaw you learn things like, if competitors are sitting on a hill waiting all day they need water and shelter. Success is in the detail, you can not learn this by watching, you need experience.

Sanctioned events come out of outlaws: This is true. Even Bomb the Snowies in its first year was an outlaw race. Why this is important is it gives organisers and locals valuable experience. I know this sounds hard to believe, but most locals dont want a bunch of skaters racing down their local hill. Given the chance, they will always say no. The biggest effort in any sanctioned race is dealing with objections. However an outlaw goes a long way to building local trust. Locals and authorities are not stupid, they know what you are up to, it is usually a test, we’ll give them some slack to see what happens. Skaters at outlaws respect the area and the local community. they leave the area better than when they found it. The usually build friendships where the locals are their biggest supporters.

Builds interest: Outlaws are low key events. They are less intimidating for new people. They let skaters come and watch and be apart of it without it being a big deal. Most skaters first racing experience that gets them hooked on the sport is an outlaw. How can that be a bad thing?

Does not have to be financially viable: Outlaws are community events. They survive because of the sum of the group involved. They can be run on shoe string budgets, local communities or charities can be involved and raise money through sausage sizzle or drink/t-shirt selling. Melbourne Old School Skaters have raised money for overseas charities through their events.

Competitors are responsible for their own actions: Outlaws are an interesting phenomenon. On the day of the event, you have a group of people, gathering in the shared knowledge of what they are doing is a good thing but not absolutely legal. They are not there to be destructive, but participate in a community event. The difference is the share responsibility. Competitors behave differently, they see themselves as guests not competitors that have a right to be there.

It is a form of protest: When people gather to protest do you think it is a sanctioned event or an outlaw? They are blocking streets, deliberately causing a public disturbance to get their views heard. The authorities are always forewarned, they know it is going to happen, and they allow it. Why can’t outlaws be seen like this? Governments are not going to give our sport legal places to compete until they have to. If we all stayed home and wrote letters and asked permission to skate on the road, it would NEVER happen. Outlaws allow skaters to participate in a peaceful protest to show governments and authorities that there needs to be more legal spaces to skate and race (luge include, yeah the skaterboarders dont mind doing all the hard work ).

Are the authorities really ok with an outlaw event?
This is a hard question to answer because every outlaw is different. Some “gravity sports” are harder to organise into an outlaw. Not picking on luge but a luger looks dangerous to a policeperson. Someone lying on their back going 100km in a straight line is something that would shock a lot of people. A group of skateboarders has the benefit of a long history of skateboarding behind them. It is a recognised sport, many people in authority skateboarded in their youth and can relate to the sport. Most of the general public will dismiss skateboarders as young people having some fun.
Unfortunately, skateboarders can get away with organising an outlaw race, it is a lot harder for other sports. Does that mean we should ban them because every sport does not get the same privilege?

Sanctioned racing’s biggest challenge.
The biggest threat to sanctioned racing is freeriding. Sounds crazy but I’ll explain why.
When I was involved with ASRA in the last three Newton’s events, the biggest priority was the competitors. Taking care of competitors is the biggest challenge. Organisers get distracted with enforcing rules, taking care of sponsors, making money etc. However the reality of our sport is sanctioned racing is funded by competitor entry fees. Riders are paying money to skate a hill. It is the organisers responsibility to make sure it is a hill worth skating and that competitors get as many runs as their legs can handle. For the pros, that is a lot of skating.
Thinking it is all about a winner, or a tree of racing, or finding the fastest competitor is all fool’s gold.
Organisers are competing with freeriding. When a bunch of skaters can find a quiet hill, bomb it with friends, get a draft going, beehive swarm for kilometres together, get to the bottom and do it all again for free. Competing with that, and creating better value, is the real challenge and focus for race organisers.

Does Hopkin Racing support Outlaws?

You have read my views, it is pretty clear I have a positive view on outlaws. My racing team competes at outlaws. My staff and team have organised outlaws. I have sponsored outlaws.
We are also big supporters of sanctioned racing.

I don’t write all this to convince the small minority in our sport that outlaw racing is not evil. If it is evil, it is a necessary evil. It is grassroots. It is core. Without it our sport withers and dies on the vine. I do ask; if you are against outlaws, please stop all the hating. There are legitimate reasons for its existence and they go beyond blaming one person for encouraging it. It is part of our culture, part of our DNA.

I had the great privileged of speaking to Leo, who started Surfa Sam Skateboards in the 60′s. Arguably one of the founding fathers of skateboarding in Australia. My first skateboard was a Surfa Sam, so he is responsible for getting me into the sport. He told me the story of the first day he tested his skateboard prototypes. He lived in Rose Bay, and cut out these wooden boards and put on roller skate trucks and wheels. He then gathered the local kids, gave them all skateboards and sent them off down this big local hill. Australia’s first outlaw? Definitely the first freeride session. He said looking back, it could have end that day on the hill, the kids where going down this hill out of control, falling everywhere off the boards. If someone was seriously hurt, Surfa Sam Skateboards could have been over before it started. However he took a risk. Pioneered the sport. Paraphrasing Einstein: we are all standing on giants shoulders. Sanctioned racing exists because it is standing on the shoulders of outlaws, it should respect that.

peace out.

Win a FREE set of wheels
First grom to post a comment that reveals one of my literary references gets a free set of wheels. I want book name and author. Clue: the easy ones are at the top of the article.

In what must be a world first, the lugers that have organised Bomb the Snowies have banned Trav from attending their event because he “organised” an outlaw race on Friday.

Whether you approve of outlaw racing or not, what is your definition of an outlaw race? Eight skaters bombing a hill, to see who is fastest, winner gets a t-shirt? If that is an outlaw race, then hundreds of outlaws are happening around the world every week!

Here is the story

Eight skaters got together on Friday to bomb Kosciusko Road. They were over an hour away from the race hill for Bomb the Snowies. Nothing to do with race organisers, and according to reports, organisers knew they were going to skate the hill, and did not have a problem with it, as long as it did not effect their event. However that all changed at the riders meeting on Friday night. The only thing I can see that has changed is the arrival of GSE and the person who represents all that is good about lugers: Mr Smith. Punishment for bombing a hill without permission according to GSE is a total ban from any of their events and kicked out of Bomb the Snowies. Such a diplomatic solution was only ever going to have one effect, total chaos and a very heated argument. According to Jackson, he was assaulted by race organisers. In the end, stupidity did still reigned supreme but GSE decided that instead of banning skaters, that would have ruined their event, they would just ban Trav. As the escape goat, he was pronounced as the devil, leading the good and pure skateboarders away into the valley of evil known as Outlaw Racing. Baaawwaaahhhhh.

Heelside magazine, Trav and Kurt are all banned from all GSE events, including BTB. As the only Australian magazine that reports on their sport, that is shooting one’s self in the foot.

Why all the agro?

As many skateboarders have commented on Facebook this afternoon, lugers seem to be upset that their sport is dying and no young people want to do it. Bunch of cranky old men was another description.

There is definitely two types of racers in Australia. On one side there are the young gun skateboarders wanting to have fun and have a real community based on mateship, respect and longboarding. The other side are the old folks (less than 1% of ASRA) who luge, sharing a bonding vile for anything ASRA, skateboard or longboarding, and are trying to revive their “gravity” sport from its current death roll.

Who won the evil Outlaw Race?

Jackson beat everyone to the bottom of the hill . Henry came second. Cam third and Kelly (looking very much like Cooper) beat Benbro for fourth!!

What does all this brouhaha mean?

Nothing really. Who cares. You can not change the nature of people. No amount of venomous bile will stop the growth of longboarding.

I hope the lugers read this, because I will sum up their problem with this conundrum. A longboarder will jump on his/her board, skate to the shops and be totally stoked. A luger would never use their luge in this way. A luge is only designed to race not to live life on. That is why they do not understand the passion and spirit within longboarding.

If lugers continue to be lead by people, who’s sole purpose is to create a wedge between longboarding and luging, they will only be longboarding roadkill. The novelty act before the main event. Never a part of the community.

I predict lots of Heelside T-shirts will be worn by competitors at Bomb the Snowies this weekend. Should make for an interesting event.

I have an idea for a new t-shirt:

GSE = FAIL

Trav has been a frequent visitor to the Hopshop the last 5 days and his constant companion is the publisher’s issue of the new Heelside Magazine.

Trav and Kurt have put an enormous amount of work into the new magazine, and it has paid off big time. So Trav gets the first copy off the presses and he has been showing it around, flaunting it in the Hopshop. Can I just state right now, I am impressed. A skateboard magazine is a competitive space. Many would dumb down the idea and go for cheap commercial success. Not Trav and Kurt, they are creative, innovative, irreverent, humourous all wrapped up in big action words like gnar and steeze.

Most comments I have heard this week about the new issue of Heelside Magazine is “the best skateboard magazine I have seen”.

What I like, is that these guys are trying to create a great magazine, one worth reading and putting on your bookshelf forever. Not just another skateboard magazine for the recycling bin. It is easy to talk up a magazine, a lot harder to actually do what you say and publish one.

Here is the tip:

This issue will not be online to read for free. There is a limited print run. It is real, not a figment of someone’s imagination. Trust me, your friend ain’t going to give up this magazine without a fight. If you think you’re just going to skate round to your mate’s house and borrow his copy for a few days… NOT going to happen. This mag is a keeper.It is also huge, you could not sit down and read this in an hour. You might just finish it by the time the next one arrives!

If you want to be the first person to get it, you have to subscribe . Subscribers get their issue first.

Have you heard of this competition?

Slam magazine runs it every year and it goes a bit like this. Anyone can vote for their favourite skater. Voting closes on 1st February. The top 20 skaters are published and then that top 20 decides amongst themselves who is worthy to be the Grand Poobah and collect the $5000 prize.

Who want’s to crash this party with me?

We can because anyone can vote! That means YOU.

Who can you vote for? Slam magazine makes that clear, and I quote:

Skateboarders can practice any discipline .

However they do qualify that statement with Street or Vert. Apparently that is the only type of skateboarding they know. I think longboarding and downhill qualifies as “street” skating. It is mainly done on the street.

It is time to let Slam Magazine in on a little secret … there are a lot of longboarders in Australia.

Here are some longboarders that deserve your vote. Choose carefully, you can only vote once, but you vote for 5 skaters.

Jackson Shapiera – fastest skateboarder in Australia, 2nd in the World Championships in Germany
Ben Hay – topped ranked Australian at Newtons (IGSA World Cup)
Rob McWinnie – soul longboarder and winner of Red Bull Peru Night Race
Cameron Kite – on the podium of nearly very race in 2010.
Gabe Gwynne – style master, slide school co-ordinator, ex super grom (too old now to be a grom)
Merrick Wildash – Junior IGSA World Cup Champion 2010 – best junior in Australia and the world
Steve Daddow – Australian Grand Master – keeper of the steez
Corey Leeson – ranked in the top 20 in the world – 2 years running
Adam Yates – Landyachtz Eh Team, and official Australian Master of Ceremonies in Canada
Haggy Strom – 2010 Australian Skateboard Slalom champion and President of ASRA

There are plenty of other rad longboarders to nominate, those are a few off the top of my head.

If you want to throw in a skateboarder name, maybe consider Renton Miller, he supported Newtons this year by being our top vert skater on the Vert ramp. Or maybe the Hopkin Skate Team super grom Jack Dauth. Jack is our young skateboard ripper on the team.

Whoever you vote for, please put in a longboarder or two. If enough people crash this party, then Slam will have to sit up and take notice of a quiet revolution happening underneath their noses…psstthhh dont tell anyone, it’s called longboarding. The only difference between us and them, is Longboarders skateboard for life.

Vote now