Bowl jam highlights coming soon…

Witness all (I mean most…) of the bangers from The XC at Hemel Hempstead now, with Tom Harrison, George, Rob Smith, Jake Collins (speedy recovery boss), Blair McCafferty, Socks, Harry Lintell, Jed Cullen, Josh Young, Dave Snaddon, Korahn Gayle, Alex Barton, Daryl Dominguez, Manny Lopez, Chris Oliver, Keith Walsh and Kris Vile!

Girls and bowl jam edits to follow. Stay tuned…

Curated by Nicky “The Hammerhouse” Howells – “Don’t snake me, bro”.

Check back tomorrow for more!

The 2012 Vans UKSA National Skateboard Championships are nearly upon us, with heads from all around the country currently on route the The XC in Hemel Hempstead for this years two-day display of homegrown skateboarding madness.

Edits will be appearing over the course of the weekend so keep an eye on the website for the impending footage onslaught, but for now, have a look below to check out the hefty list of confirmed riders.

Stay tuned…

Street:
Gav Coughlan
Korahn Gayle
Mark Radman
Alex Barton
Kyron Davis
Colin Adam
Neil Smith
Josh Young
Craig Smedley
Kris Vile
Harry Lintell
John Bell
Nick Roberts
Kelley Dawson
Eric Thomas
Will Golding
Isaac Miller
Dyllan Vd Merue
Jack Tonge
Tom Gibbs
Phil Parker
Jason Lewer
Matlock Bennett Jones
Joe Marks
Ben Grove
Luke McManus
Adam Keys
Jake Collins
Luke Jarvis
John Howlett
Lewis Mottishaw
Rob Smith
Jess Young
Sam Murgatroyd
Joshua Checkley
Martin ‘Socks’ Maguire
Jason Cloete
Daryl Dominguez
Casper Brooker
Dave Snaddon
Cory Lawson
Alex Lally
Keith Walsh
Zeze Lana
Jed Jolly
Ryan Hurt
Ben Rowles
Josh Ward Brickett
Andy Coleman
Dave Chesson
Dan Lonngren
Manny Lopez
Chav Dan
Nicky Howells
Jess Young
Caradog Emanuel
Sox
Sam Pulley
Jed Cullen
Cam Barr
Kieran Mousley
Ryan Price
Charlie Birch
Jordan Sharkey
Arbel
Thomas TG
Denis Lynn
Thomas Harrison

Girls:
Emma Richardson
Lucy Adams
Fran
Zoe King
Helena Long
Lois Pendlebury
Stef Nurding

Pool:
Sean Willis
Rab Milne
Beanhead
Danny Carlsson

Be sure to keep the weekend of October 20th and 21st clear and make your travel arrangements to get over to The XC, Hemel Hempstead as this one always goes off! There will be the traditional two-day street comp, a bowl jam, girls comp and best trick comp, with skaters from all over the UK expected to be in attendance to battle it out for their share of the £10,000 prize purse on offer. Entry will set you back a mere tenner, and there will no doubt be parties and everything else taking place in Hemel over the weekend.

Check out the flyer for all the details you need – see you there!

Last Sunday, the Tech Deck “Young Guns Series” headed to The XC skatepark in Hemel Hempstead for the grand finale. With many of the qualifiers from the Welsh and Scottish heats making the journey, and a whole new load of hopefuls turning up to try and qualify at the last minute, the days skating was of an incredibly high standard.

With around 30 guys in each age group, making it into the final was no easy task. In the qualifying heats previous entrant Thomas TG astounded everyone by how much he’d improved over a year and became a crowd favourite, though it was Jon Howlett who powered through the qualifiers and earned a clear top qualifying spot. Also impressing everyone was the tech abilities of Paddy Maquire, who hails from Belfast and is a previous winner of “Manny Mania”.

The finals were set to be an exciting affair with previous qualifiers like Charlie Birch, Jordan Sharkey and Lewis Mottishaw skating for the first time. I know I probably say this every time I write up a comp report but the standard of skating and consistency blew me away. Sharkey and Thomas TG basically didn’t seem to fall off at all, and Charlie Birch, Charlie Smee and Lewis Mottishaw had a few more falls but made up for it with powerful tricks defying their years. Sharkey was declared a clear winner but the top four or five were really close. With Sharkey and Charlie already picking up sponsors and coverage as a result of this tour already it seems as though “Young Guns” is really achieving it’s aim to support young talent. Expect to see more from all of these guys in the coming years as they are your future skateboard stars without a doubt.

In the “16 and over” category, Jon Howlett blasted to first place, surprising no one who saw him skate in qualifiers. Tom Hewlett from Devon came in second  with smiler Danny Cartwright coming in 3rd. Once again all the guys in the final were of a really high standard.

Thanks to Tech Deck for truly supported grass roots skateboarding, and to all our co-sponsors: Vans, Skull Candy, World Industries, Rocket, Protec, Spitfire, Sidewalk, Progression Action Sports.

Under 16′s results:
1 – Jordan Sharkey
2 – Charlie Birch
3 – Tom Tg
4 – Lewis Mottishaw
5 – Charlie Smee

Over 16′s results:
1 – Jon Howlett
2 – Tom Hewlett
3 – Danny Cartwright
4 – Mullett Terry
5 – Paddy Maguire
6 – Tom Tanner

It is possible to qualify for the final on the day, but qualifiers will start at 9am so don’t lie in.

The top three from each age group at the other legs go straight through to the the final, meaning there’s only a handful of places left on offer. The top three finalists in each age group will go away with a bag full of booty from all the sponsors and a “wild card” entry to the UKSA National Championships to take on previous winners Josh ‘Manhead’ Young, Chris Oliver and Ross McGouran.

As The XC is often at full capacity we recommend you book your place in advance to be sure of gaining entry – www.thexc.co.uk

Weirdly it was a lovely sunny day when I drove to Edinburgh which made me even more stoked that there was such a good turnout for the Scottish leg of the Tech Deck “Young Guns Series” 2012.

Transgression park is a rad place, pretty transition heavy – just how the Scots like it!  My assistant for the day was “Big Mark” Burrows who helped judge as well as keep the rabble in order by laying down the law on the mic.

The Under 16′s were dominated by the cheekiest youth of the day Finn Dog, who sported a lovely Hawaiian shirt and had one of the most coiffured fringes I’ve ever seen. Even his dad was encouraging us to give him some abuse for being a bit soft! Finn killed it though with a smooth style, a good selection of tricks and a load of flow. Fair play.

In the over 16′s there was a lot of familiar faces, and a few new ones to boot. Sean Willis and Kieran Menzies were both just edged out of the prizes despite ripping all day. “Mullet Terry” got my vote for the best name of the day and wound up in third after attacking the vert wall. The top two were completely contrasting style wise – Leif Coffield is a blaster and transferred pretty much every line possible, whilst Daniel Nicholas had a more ‘street’ approach to it all.  While Leif attacked it, Daniel stylishly racked up the points by putting together some really incredible lines and staying on for about ten tricks at a time. It was a tough call but on this occasion tech triumphed over gnarl!

Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a rad day, it was a pleasure to spend time with such a good bunch of people. And as usual thanks to all the sponsors: Tech Deck, Skullcandy, World Industries, Vans, Protec, Spitfire and Rocket.

Results:
Under 16′s:
1: Finn Dog
2: Rory Fell
3: Desmond

Over 16
1: Daniel Nicholas
2: Leif Coffield
3: Mullet Terry

Edits courtesy of Zander Ritchie:

More Skateboarding Videos

More Skateboarding Videos

Witness the Adrenaline Alley pitness underneath, then keep an eye out for the majority of this lot at the UK Champs later in the year…