It's been proven over and over again: if you're willing to make an event happen, great things will follow. Brian Holden knew there was plenty of skaters and stoke in town, but not enough events. He made one. Chack it out...
The Colorado Push Race
Makin' it Happen!
After realizing that Colorado had no events to cater to the growing scene, I felt it was necessary to step in and make things happen. I wanted to have an event that would not limited the number of participants by skill level or discipline, but allow any skater to attend. The idea of a push race came to my mind, and I felt it would be a great event to have. Then, the Washington Park Longboard Jam and Clinic was born. I immediately started contacting as many sponsors I could with the event date only 2 weeks away. I managed to find 8 great sponsors to help me out.
With little than 2 weeks till the event, I started getting all of the information online to inform every skater to come check out the event. I posted flyers around Downtown Denver, and local skateshops in Littleton. As every day progressed towards the event day, the stoke became massive. I had over 30 participants signed up online, and had even more people drawn in from the flyers.
Finally, the it was October 17, the day of the contest. I woke up and immediately started packing up my car and getting everything set for the contest. I arrived to Washington Park 2 hours before the push race started to get the site going. Luckily, I was met there by Kawika and Kalani Omoto, two stoked brothers who brought their own grill to help me out. and I also had fellow downhill skater Andrew Clancy helping me unload all of the grilling supplies and water for the event. The grills started to get setup for barbecues, the Seismic banners were displayed, and skaters started to pour in.
It was still an hour and a half till the push race started and over 20 people had already shown up. It was great to talk with all of these skaters and here about all of their experiences with longboarding. As stoked filled the air, it came around time for the longboard clinic. Only 2 skaters showed up that had no previous experience riding a longboard, but I managed to show them how to footbrake, push, carve and ride their longboards. Watching someone have no idea how to ride a board, and see them progress is truly a great thing. I would encourage everyone to teach at least one person to longboard, it betters the safety of the longboard community, and also allows you to meet great new people. After the longboard clinic was up, it was finally time for the push race.
Over 50 skaters had showed up, and they were all ready to charged the park and see who would come out first. I lined everyone up, and counted down from 3 and yelled, “GO!” It was like watching a jail break but with longboards, I had never seen some much energy as people pushed to come out in the lead. Since it was an outlaw race, none of the sections of the park were closed off, and much of the first sections involved dodging bikes, people, geese and other obstacles on the path to victory.
Waiting at the finish line, I finally see the first place skater coming in fast, which a small amount of skaters behind him. Zak Maytum cruises across the finish line, with Martin Reaves right behind him, and Dylan Bartle coming in third. All of the skaters started pouring in, and had a surprise waiting for them.
At the finish line, Never Summer donated a free barbeque to all of the riders. They also gave away waters to all of the participants. Everyone came in and enjoyed their food, and also got to meet up with other members of the community. After everyone was done eating, the prize ceremony went underway, which led to the craziest product toss I had ever seen. There were pileups, tangles and dog piles like no other, people really wanted in on all of the free swag. After all was said and done, all of the skaters cleaned up the park, and left it as it was before got there. It only took me 2 weeks to pull an event like this together, and you as well can also put together and event for your community. Thanks to all of the sponsors that helped me out with such short notice: Never Summer, Mile High Skates, BC Surf and Sport in Littleton, Seismic, Neff, Randall Trucks, Silverfishliongbording.com, Venom bushings.
Full Results:
1. Zak Maytum
2. Martin Reaves
3. Dylan Bartle
4. Caleb Dunn
5. Dane Lindblad
1. Zak Maytum
2. Martin Reaves
3. Dylan Bartle
4. Caleb Dunn
5. Dane Lindblad
