Go Skate Day 2008 "Bomb The Hills" Mayhem - Northampton, MA

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Alex Maldonado, Devin Colon, Jackson Gregg, Jim Grant, John Desimas, Matt Marek, Nate Greenwood, Nate Jackson, Tim Bushey

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Go Skateboarding Day in Northampton MA was mayhem to say the least. The small park has a Nascar track type set up that leads you in circles and sometimes those circles overlap into someone else’s line. The bowl is more or less part of the street area which allows some overlapping between the two on a busy day. Gnar shredders of the bowl were not giving up their day of skating for some stair jumpers and kids were sending boards into the bowl every time they would bail. Onlookers were everywhere and when the contest kicked off it was chaos to get things going, the jam format with heats of three going for an extended time sounded like the best idea but was super difficult to judge. Honestly everyone killed it, some had great runs, some had sick hammers, some flowed the entire park, everyone brought something to the day.

Intermediates went up first and everyone did well, Cody T took third followed by Jackson Gregg and then a little outside talent by the name of Chandy took first. If anyone saw Chandy skate, you are pretty sure you will be seeing more of this 13 old kid from Lowell real soon! The list of tricks that went down were solid and basically involving the stairs, hubba and rail. Kick flips, hard flips, 5-0s, 3 flips, front boards the list goes on. The bowl contest was easy enough, only a handful of skaters entered for this one. The winner, Jack, last year could barely drop in on the bowl and now progressed so well he took it! Second was Hector from Sik City, then Cody T for the double threat!

Now as we get into the later part of the day the sun warmed up and started beating on everyone , there never seemed to be enough shade or water . The park swallowed a total of 20 cases of Poland Spring and 10 cases of Red Bull trying to keep it cool. Vans slayed the grill wipping out weiners for the afternoon.

Advanced street kicked off, the talent was great, groups were so difficult. Everyone was skating so good! Jim Grant killed a hard flip BS180 which was ridiculous then Skater Dan had a linked run that was sooo smooth and flowed around the park like he owned it. Nate Greenwood used a good part of the park impressing everyone with front 3s down the stairs a medley of rail trickery and some ledge love to send him into the finals but Brennan O’Connor was not to be overlooked bringing some heat to the park. Caleb was another one to wow people busting out some stuff that even took him by surprise. Nate Jackson brought some creativity to his run like he always does and then made the mistake of calling one more trick and ate some crete. Clint broke his board early in the day and was still adjusting to his new set up but he still managed to stomp a switch hard flip down the stairs that was awesome. Tim Bushey was swerving around the park getting some crooks and nollie flips like it was his job, smithing his way through it. Local Kyle had an awesome day landing most tricks he would do in a two hour session in a 5 minute run. There was so many skaters and so much going down it would be impossible to list it all. Zak D killed the set with back 3s and almost managed to get a back three flip. John Desimas and Nicky Lamarche definately did some damage to the rails, stairs and hubba, Nicky even ollied up the stairs. John with some switch front boards, switch front tails to regular Nicky has one of the best hardflips I have ever seen. JJ Colon snuck in last minute to get some firsts at the park, I am pretty sure no on has front blunted the hubba? Everyone at this point were so close it was really hard to judge and it seemed like everyone should get a second run but with limited time we had to start cutting it down. It was not fun labeling first second third, I wish I could give ties to all the finals! It would have been Kyle Schroeder, JJ, Skater Dan, Nate Jackson, Nate Greenwood, John D and Nicky everyone brought something to it, sorry to say the way it works n the end is different. So the placing went third was Nicky followed by John and then Nate Greenwood in first.

The bowl went quick, with everyone so drained at this point and the day almost done. The number of skaters was fewer so went fast. Again everyone killed bowl but Nate Jackson who skated it more like a mini ramp than anything else took first home followed by Matt “Thrasher Matt” Marek and tied for third more or less was Jimbo and Devin Colon. Keep in mind we did not have a room for ties so Jimbo took the label and Devin got some prizes!

Alex Maldonado killed the mic and everyone owes him a thank you for that one! He did a great job announcing and entertaining. Thanks for Red Bull bringing enough drinks to give everyone the shakes.

Also in attendance was Dave Bachinsky, Matt Fenell, Tom Kruper, Ali Atmaca silently killing it but not entering. Thanks for all who attended, skated, helped out, or just supported the day!

Sik City more bringing some local love as well as Boardrooms’ support and Vans who pushed the event for GSD and www.SkateTheory.com that helped with the PA system, prizes, drinks, advertising and TONS OF PICS TO CHECK OUT HERE