The kids were all over me as soon as I stepped out of the truck. They had been waiting since September for this moment - Hippie Mike's Tour de Surrey 2009. I chose Kwantlen Park to kick off the Series this year because I wanted lots of people there. I was competing with the DC Provincials though, so you can imagine that most of the Advanced and Sponsored were at Railside Park in Poco trying to qualify for the Nationals. We still had a ton of kids though.

I was having a tough time dealing with this death situation and requested that all the kids wear their helmets all day, for me. I gave out some Free helmets to some kids that didn't own one and majority of people there respected my wishes. I handed out this year's Hippie Mike T-shirts to everyone around, even random kids that just finished swimming at the Pool and came over to see what was going on. I figure, if these kids in Whalley want to rock my T-shirts, so be it.

Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking a lot about my competitions and how I organize them better. I decided to make a major change - no more Sponsored category. From now on, Advanced and Sponsored will compete together in one category, and I created a new category called the "Mini Category" for all kids 10 years old and under. I get a huge group of kids that always show up for all the contests which fall into this age group, and I find it tough to categorize them with the other Beginners sometimes.


Hippie Mike's Fans - Hit Read More for the RESULTS

I tried it out, and it was a definite success. 11 kids joined in this category, and they all did their best. JR and Keinan showed off a bunch of new tricks they are trying to learn, and all of the kids landed lots of stuff. The stand-outs were Jaden Dahl, who is a tiny little guy that can bust out heel flips all over the place. He landed a lot of cool tricks and took home 3rd place. Nick Logan - The Sugar Kid - bounced around the park with awesome intensity and toar up the place, rock fakies on the quarter pipes, body varial hi-jumps over the flat bars, and his famous "Spider Man" wall plant. Nick ended up in 2nd place. He was stoked. Then there was Max Stephans...This kids got some talent for 10 years old. Hitting up the ledges and flat rails, and sticking down flip tricks with ease. He won hands down. I really liked this new category. It seemed way more fair to these younger skaters, and I believe that the next generation is ready to get even better.

The Beginners also skated awesome.

The Beginners also skated awesome. All the kids were landing all kinds of cool tricks, my favorite was Brandon Baba busting out a Frontside 180 fakie grind 180 on the ledge on top of the pyramid. It was out of nowhere and blew everybodys mind. Too bad Brandon had a rough second run and didn't quite make the Top 3. The big stand-out in Beginner was Austin Beattie who dominated the park as good as a Beginner possibly could. Solid style, and pefect landings. Almost Flawless. 1st place. All the kids were landing lots, but I personally was loving the Old School tricks that Curtis Clements was busting out everywhere. Tons of Boneless and Powerslide tricks all over the park. He had good flow, and lots of confidence - ripped it!

Intermediate was also good. 8 kids, all landing tons of tricks. Fighter was grinding this nasty rail on top of the bigger pyramid all day, but had trouble landing during his runs. Dude named Sebastian was skating the park very creatively, transferring back and forth from regular to switch and throwing down sick tricks. He finished his second run with a stomped out Front Foot Impossible on one of the flat banks - SOLID! Brendan Nielson and Calvin Dignard both skated really well also, making use of almost all of the obstbales that the little Whalley Park has to offer. But the big Winner was Jaden Easton-Ellett who ripped up the quarter pipe set-up and did a ton of self taught, creative tricks all over the park. Then he finished it all off with a ginormous Acid Drop of the top rail of the big quarter pipe to flat - OUCH!


Kwantlen Intermediates

And on we went to Advanced. Lil' G - Sean Cuddeford - who has been hanging out with me again lately, came out to his first Hippie Mike's Tour de Surrey Event. This kid throws down...but unfortunately, not so much this day. Lil' G landed lots of tough tricks, but choked in his second run, landing nothing but a Blunt Kickflip Fakie on the big Quarter Pipe. It was Tiiiiiiiiieeeeeet!!, but not good enough to win it. Bonsor Local, Glenn Rebic and Tsawwassen Local Shadd Trepp also made first appearances, but had the same result as G. Both skated awesome all day though. The Advanced was sweet, lots of cool tricks all over the park. Jordan Strong ripped it up, but didn't quite qualify; Cisco Gooding, same thing. Ryan Brynelson brought his Freestylin' skills out and blew peoples minds again with some new insane tricks, Kyle Kizmann tore up the whole place in both of his runs, but Ryan Barron, who claimed to me that he is going to win every Tour de Surrey Contest this year, took home 1st place. I think it was the Sticky, Nasty Feeble Grind on the Up Rail he put down to start off his second run that might have done it, but he dfinitely did land a truck load of tricks...


Advanced Winners Kwantlen Park 2009

No Girls Category this year, which is normal for Kwantlen Park, but usually we get "The Carrie Williams Demo" where Carrie just skates the whole park by herself for 1 full song. Being 5 months pregnant, I don't think we are going to get any skateboarding out of Carrie this year. She did however come out, help set up and take down everything, and judge all the Categories. Thanks Carrie - Love you.

It turned out to be a Beautiful Day. The contest went smooth, and no one got hurt. I think this year will be a great success for the 6th Annual "Hippie Mike's Tour de Surrey" - See you out there...