"You can either stay
here and win $12 grand of prizing or go home and play X-Box," boomed the voice
of larger-than-life personality Jesse Fulton after the sixth rain delay
threatened to cut short the 3rd Annual Icarus Throwdown in O-Town. The skies
were angry this day my friend, decks were waterlogged, grip turned smooth, but
the morale of smelly groms will never falter. On this day the spirit of
skateboarding prevailed.
The scene was set and
the Orangeville Skatepark resembled a big time stadium event. The double-decker
Oakley bus was on-hand housing the VIP's, PUSH.ca and Red Star banners
decorated the bleachers, Nissan had trucks for lease littering the grounds, Red
Bull was on-hand to amp the kids with drinks, beats from DJ Mensa on the Sugga, and as many Red
Bull skateboarding stickers as their greedy little hands could swipe. Icarus
owner Fulton was on the mic and sizzling burgers were on the ‘Q.
The third installment of
the Throwdown brought some big names out to challenge the locals: the Element/Minor
Media trio of Will Marshall, Bobby De Kyzer, and King Shit controversy
Brandon Del Bianco were all in the house fresh from their trip down to The Berrics. Nike head Cephas Benson was
exciting the Feds by dropping butter nollie backlips and other assorted
trickery. Alishia Stevens has been on a tear for the females this summer and
was showing off her new Circa kicks and CBMK-honed tranny skills. Rumor's were
flying that former Geoff Rowley protégé Andrew Gordon was skating in the house,
but after the rain delays cleared he was nowhere to be found. Ariel Stagni from
New Line was flowing with a style matured from building all your favorite
skateparks, and pro snowboarder Harrison Gray was back on a skate for just his
third day since destroying his knee in the spring. That manchild has serious
skills on a skate.
After a few hours of
warm-up the contest was ready to start. Unfortunately the sky was also ready to
dump three weeks of humidity on the park and rain delays plagued the next five
hours of the event. But the Throwdown has a great vibe and people were stoked
to hang out or just skate in the downpour while waiting for it to resume.
Jesse Fulton, making it happen.
On a personal note: the
sight of Jesse Fulton squeegying a skatepark for hours on end made the whole
trip worthwhile.
The delay allowed the
focus to shift to more important things like crazy skate tattoo's. It was a
toss up between the Chris Cole doppelganger with an actual Zero/skull/Cole
tattoo on his forearm and the under-age wifebeater who must be real excited
about the new Emerica video as he had "Stay Gold" scripted across his chest.
The rain can't stop the spirit.
Red Star pro Grant
Patterson was judging the talent and rolled with a thick crew just like a rap
star should. Many other characters were on hand as well: Dan Opyc was lurking
in the cut, "Tripod" Richard Roth is down to just one leg but still took some
great photos, Dave Lapchuk was cruising around with the confidence of a man
married just the day before and having a happy one-year old child waiting for
him at home. Congrats OG. Never-not-working Chad Albert was under the Element
tent celebrating his first day of vacation (at a skate event) with his
beautiful girlfriend. What a grinder.
Back to the skating: the
future took to the course first where Bailey Wolf, winner of the Under 12's was
skating like a man amongst children, and mini Steve Caballero did an early grab
backflip flyout. Canadian's loving their flyouts isn't just a stereotype.
Spencer Forbes.
Midway through the Open
Division the rain started up again. Here are the Throwdown ways for killing a
few hours:
- Powerslide
comps
- $20 For
Bangers flatground contests
- Games of
SKATE under the gazebo
- Do skids
through the park on mountain bikes
- Skate with
an umbrella.
- Listen to DJ Mensa get mental on the "1's and 2's."
Here are his top five Jams of the Summer:
- Dave Shack: Summertime
in the LBC
- Total ft.
Biggie Smalls: Can't You See
- Michael
MacDonald: What a Fool Believes
- Mya ft.
Jay-Z: Best of Me RMX
- Cutty Ranks:
Hot This Yea
Dry game of S.K.A.T.E. under the gazebo.
The rain cleared just
long enough to run the rest of the contest with one heat for each of the divisions
on wet/slippery concrete. The Best Trick ended up being run in the rain, but
that didn't put a damper on the tricks that were being tossed down the set.
Kirk Harriet ended up adding to his Open win by stealing the Best Trick title
as well.
In the end the right
guys went home with dollars in their pockets, prizes in their bags, and dope
custom made trophies. Once tents and banners were torn down the after party at
Boston Pizza was all anyone could think of; pizzas would be chugged, Team
Pitchers would be swallowed. Check out the video for more of the skate and
pizza eating highlights. Get ready to Throwdown for Icarus again next summer.
Fancy wood trophies that Ontario is becoming known for.
RESULTS
Pro
1) Bobby De Kyzer
2) Cephas
Benson
3) Will
Marshall
Best Trick
1) Kirk Harriet - $2500
worth of stuff
Open (17 plus)
1) Kirk Harriet
2) Kyle Cheezequay
3) Justin Gray
Am (13 - 16)
1) Johan Moore
2) Shane
Eldridge
3) Kyle Jackson
Grom (12+ under)
1) Bailey Wolf
2) Jayden
Bono (Vans style kid)
3) Andre
Young (Steve Cab)
All photos: Richard Roth/rothphoto.ca
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Related:
Next Generation: Bobby De Kyzer
Stop, Drop and Roll with Will Marshall