So no doubt you’ve seen a few photos of the event yesterday; it was a rad day and everyone who attended had a great time. The day began well, with the sun shining and the best trick comp going off big time. Rosko, Sketch, Matty Aldersley, Tom from Shutupandskate and myself were the judges, and we got through the first 3 groups of skaters in the space of 15 minutes, and then the rain came! During this time we saw some mental tricks going down – Quiksilver sponsored world record holder Alex Decunha (he’s done the most no-comply flips in a minute) was tearing up the transitions with airwalk variations aplenty (one of which gained him the 2nd place award), massive transfers out of the mini and stylish lien tails. Moose surprised me by having some stylish front rocks on the 5 ft quarters, whilst Harry Myers pulled out the quickest boneless disaster I think I’ve ever seen. Over on the funbox with had some mental flip tricks being performed by various technical heads, Dom Hodgkins from Stratford nabbed 3rd place with a banging Nollie Bigspin Heelflip over the hip. Cov’s own Kyle Smith was bringing his trademark flip trickery to the comp, with trick after trick after trick landed to bolts over the funbox hips, the best of which was a totally amazing backside flip, whilst Russ Bristow attacked the funbox with backside 180 melon grabs.
The rain stopped the best trick comp for a while, but we managed to sneak in the final group during a slight dry patch. This group saw Si Hughes taking the slam of the day (even though Harry or Joxa apparently took a mental slam on the mini ramp during an impromptu mini jam). Despite falling on his arse, Si did some stylish tricks including a chilled out Ollie to Nosestall Revert. Luke McManus from Birmingham and little Dylan Reid (who was the youngest competitor at 10 years old!) were in this group; those of you who have seen Luke skate before will know he has the most consistent blunt to fakies ever. He managed to put down a few of those and whacked out a varial heelflip over the funbox hip, whilst Dylan got in there with some fully grown adults and showed them how it was done! Covpark Tom showed everyone how he got his nickname by putting down his usual technical liptricks – quick nosegrind pivot disasters and styled ollies over the funbox were the main attractions in Tom’s lines. At the end of the comp, the judges agreed there was one clear winner – after competing at Covpark Combat for the last 3 years and relentlessly getting better and better, Tony Lui finally got to taste the victory by performing a trick that Daryl Nobbs would be proud of; a massive 270 frontside air over the hip into the mini ramp. It was clear to see after he landed the trick that everyone agreed with the decision, as the crowd went absolutely mental!
The game of SKATE took place after this; it was a first for Covpark Combat as usually we stick to transition based comps, but in order to cater for everyone we decided this was a good addition to the comp. It was certainly well recieved, with a good 30 people stepping forward to try and get the prize. We cut down most of the people with a quick 3 rounds of SKATE or dice, where those who didn’t land any of the 3 tricks rolled were automatically out. After the qualifying round we had about 15 guys left – and the technical skills really came out! Alex Decunha set his go to trick (a no comply flip) which gained a few disagreeable looks from the other competitors (those of you who stick to the “no feet on the ground” rule), but because I love no complies I allowed it, and cut people a bit of slack on trying to perform it. The guys from Shutupandskate weren’t taking the game lightly, with both Ben Gay and Simon Toft really going for it with every flip trick they had in the bag. Not sure, but I swear Simon put down a Nollie Backside flip which really separated the men from the boys; Ryan Hughes dodged a bullet and landed it on his very last attempt. Ryan also came through with switch heels that confused some of the less technical skaters in the game! Team Stratford (Seb Croft and Dom Hodgkins) fought long and hard during the game as well, with Seb confusing many by setting a Nollie Casperflip, and Dom pushing hard to land as many tricks as he could to stay in. The final 3 contestants were Luke McManus, Simon Toft and Matt Hingley, and Matt managed to come out on top with a Switch Frontside Flip (as well as only gaining 3 letters in the whole game).
The Death Jam attracted less people this year (probably because of the rain), but the small group of people who entered fully went for it. There were some comical slams – Ian Bradley went on a pushing rampage after getting knocked out first, CyberGeorge was the loser in a clash between himself and Lewis Spencer, whilst Joe Morris tried to cheat (like always!) and got disqualified. Gnarly Gnick did laps around the park whilst puffing on a cigarette and was knocked off through outside interference (it’s not in the rules so it’s ok!). The final 2 contestants were Seb Croft and Dom Hodgkins, and the two Stratford lads fought each other until Seb took an epic slam and left Dom as the winner.
After comps were done we handed out the prizes, which consisted of a copy of the Ride DVD Humble Jumble, a copy of Batface, some Ride and Terribleco stickers, a Board in the Midlands t-shirt and a voucher for a free pair of Vans from the Vans warehouse. This lead onto a product toss which became a violent and scary affair, with people fighting over DVD’s, stickers, t-shirts, and a horrible, long battle to try and win a Shutupandskate deck. Despite popular opinion, I broke up the tussle and decided this lad below to be the winner of the board!
Overall, it was a great day despite the weather; everyone had a wicked time and it seemed like everyone left the park on a high. Next year’s one will have to be special as it’s the 5th one; so make sure you get over for it next time!
The Terrible Company 
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