OFFICIAL Guinness Slalom Skateboard World Record - New event!

[martin drayton]

Well, China's largest TV company (15 stations and 1 Billion viewers in Asia!!!) wanted a new skateboard GWR record for their Recordbreakers show and contacted the Guinness World Records organisation for ideas.

They came up with an idea:
- 50 cones @ 1.6m (5ft 3ins) centre-to-centre on the FLAT with a CLEAN run! Timing starts behind the first cone and ends when the whole of the board passes the last cone.

I think they trawled the ISSA section on SS.com and saw flatland distance discussions.
They also made it clear that they were NOT interested in cone penalties, only perfect runs and wanted an event that was more accessible for people to try, more so than the 100 cone record.
The event took place at Hyde Park in London on 2nd October 2007.

On the day, we unfortunately had steady light drizzle continuously following rain the night before, so the original location was too wet and treacherous with some pools of free standing water. It was clear with the high humidity it was going nowhere. Luckily Curt found a spot under some trees that had ALMOST enough room for all 50 cones.The pic below shows me doing a helmet-cam run and you can see how wet the start of the run is.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...hhelmetcam.jpg

This was the only day they had set aside to do it, so I figured I would just go easy for the first couple of runs.

The rest of the pics are here:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ayton/?start=0

It meant a run-in with wet wheels and a very wet first 7 cones, a dryer section with a few wet slippery sections and a wet run-out. The end result? 12.83sec clean and a new world record-IN THE WET! There will be video footage available soon!

I was a little dissapointed as I had done 11.22sec clean in the dry last week off a shorter run-in, so was planning to shoot for a sub 11sec on the day after a 'safety' run. After a clean run on my 3rd attempt the event was over as far as the Officials and the TV company were concerned, so my plan of a conservative run followed by a flat-out run never materialised! I was bummed!

Well, the Guinness officials were there on hand to give me my certificate so I was happy to have something to show my daughter in my old age (not that far off)!
I would like to thank my Support Team, Pig City's finest -
Curly Curt, Munchh, Mark the Weatherwitch, Frank N, Niall, Ellis and Kane.

I would also like to thank my sponsors for their support and encouragement -
Gecko Decks - Jeff Sacre, for making the lightest boards EVER built.
Seismic Wheels - Dan Gesmer, awesome wheels from an awesome guy.
Nitro bearings, Khiro hardware - Khiro Bob is probably one of the unsung heroes supporting our sport...Thank you Bob for mindblowing bearings!
Bolle eyewear - Supporting me on snow and concrete since 1995.
Vans shoes/Protec pads - Thank you Derek Voit for going out on a limb.
Skullcandy headphones - Simply the best, thanks Rick Alden.
Decent Hardware Bags - Thanks Jonno for the best skate luggage ever built.
Octanesport - Thanks Michael for always helping a brother out.

[Slim]

Way to go Martin! I saw you skate in Monterey a couple of years ago. 2005 I think. (I believe you won the tight slalom amateur, right?). Glad to see you still skating fast!

[pavedwave]

RAD!! Nice job Martin-- that sounds freaky tight -- can't wait to see the vid!

[Munchh]

Heres the 1st vid i could put together.



What a great day, good one mate.

[Spike]

Wicked video ...love the music! What set-up did you ride, was it specially for this type of course? Is it standard stuff you can buy?

Ta,

Spike T.

ps.Did we meet a couple of times many, many years ago at Harrow skatepark? I was just starting slalom and asking for advice.

[martin drayton]

Wicked video ...love the music! What set-up did you ride, was it specially for this type of course? Is it standard stuff you can buy?

Ta,

Spike T.

ps.Did we meet a couple of times many, many years ago at Harrow skatepark? I was just starting slalom and asking for advice.

Hey Spike,
Yup, I do remember you! Small world. That was the music I listened to before I took that run, very inspirational lyrics.
For the event I used:
-Gecko Street/Slalom 32" re-drilled with 18" wheelbase (I am currently designing a new TS board for them, foam core, Kicktail 30" and it will be THE lightest board on the market!) The company are the leading British company in specialist helmets www.geckoheadgear.com and applies that technology (super strong, superlight) to skateboard applications.
-GOG trucks - as far as I'm concerned, nothing else even vaguely comes close in terms of precision, agility and pumping power.
-Seismic wheels, 86A front and 84A rear - even in the wet gave me the perfect blend of speed and grip. If it had been dry I probably would have run 90/86a.
-Nitro bearings - I see why Jason Mitchell is happy to promote them! They are superfast, supersmooth and all the extra stuff that comes with them is a bonus, ie Speed lube, spare shields and spacers.

Hope that helps,we should try to meet up for a skate before winter kicks in!

Take care,

[martin drayton]

And made by Mark Roberts, here is the video of the GWR event:
http://www.metacafe.com/w/868141/


Sk8 safe,

Martin.

[GPymp]

Martin, can you show your video camera friends where ColoRADo is? I would like to see the same coverage you received, for George Pappas. (When George makes his attempt at the 100 cones again) And any other crazy..err... I mean studly slalom guys wanting to make the attempt.

I assume you will want to be here too!


Awesome job on your fifty! You are leading the fight for more slalom exposure.

[martin drayton]

Thanks a lot! Yes I'd love to be there...anywhere dry with a good surface, I'm in!
We may have a go at it in February at a racetrack in the UK....weather permitting.

Looks nice, doesn't it?

[GPymp]

Yup, its stunning and I see a spot for a lawn chair and picnic basket.

[Ogre]

For those that don't know Martin personally, he is a great ambassador for the sport! And while several jabs have been taken at him for this claim, the more exposure the better. I for one am glad he got the ball rolling!
And GPymp, after a go at the course, I challenge you to a furious game of croquet on that low land to the right of the straight!