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WELLINGTON BOWL-A-RAMA - A Full Contact Sport? |
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Written by Simon Vita Photos: Dean Tirkot
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Saturday, 27 June 2009 |
 Nicky Guerrero WELLINGTON BOWL-A-RAMA
Who would have picked skateboarding as a full-contact sport?
WELLINGTON BOWL-A-RAMA Who would have picked skateboarding as a full-contact sport? Well, those at the second annual Wellington Bowl-a- Rama were treated to a bowl jam final that was more akin to Wrestlemania than a skate contest. The eight riders were at it from the get-go. With two, three and sometimes four riders in the Waitangi Park ninefooter, either rolling or splayed out on the bottom, there wasn’t a lot of room to move. Yet with riders the caliber of Benji Galloway, Chris Senn, Jimmy the Greek and Tim Johnson, in between the inevitable slams and near misses was some bionic skating. At the forefront of the hijinks was Chris Senn, pushing and shoving as well as grabbing the beanie off a fallen Corbin Harris. Galloway carried on from last year’s comp and was all over the bowl.
A combination of mad lines and a bottomless bag of tricks saw him emerge a deserved winner, but close on his heels was UK rider Ross McGouran. McGouran’s been living in Wellington for a month or so, and he made good use of his local knowledge, plus runs that strung together massive back-to-back airs. Johnson won more than a few new fans with his post-contest attempts to nail the end-over-end fingerflip air that eluded him during the final. He took slam after slam and left a trail of elbow blood down the walls of the bowl but eventually made the trick. A notable omission from the final was last year’s winner Rune Glifberg. The Danish maestro was off his game, in part due to a pre-contest party at a local club. It wasn’t all bad news for Denmark, however, with Nicky Guerrero taking first place in the Masters jam, pushing Pat Ngoho into second, the same place he finished last year.
Results:
1. Benji Galloway
2. Ross McGouran
3. Tim Johnson
4. Otavio Neto
5. Jimmy “The Greek” Marcus
Masters Division
1. Nicky Guerrero
2. Pat Ngoho
3. Jason Parkes
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 28 June 2009 )
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Concrete Wave Vol 7 No 4