Meeting At: Seattle Center Skate Plaza at Noon
Cost: $10 pre-register $20 day of contest. Sign up now!
This is one of the most prepared Street Battles to date. Spots are good to go, skaters are already signed up, and the weather couldn’t be better. Show up early to the skate park so you can session. For pictures of the spots and more info, go to www.skatebattleseattle.com
I wrote a report for the 2009 Annual Barn Burner event. I hope you all get around to reading it. www.be-mag.com
Its approaching the middle of March. Aside from March Mustache Madness, it usually means that the Annual Barn Burner is just around the corner. This is the time of the year when all the locals get super hyped and start practicing their best tricks, the normal overabundance of skateboarders and bikers are suddenly pushed aside by the throngs of rollerbladers that pack into the Skatebarn. The best of rollerblading and rolling industry converge and take over the Skatebarn for several nights.
I’m so hyped about this contest I dug out some snaps I took from last years Barn Burner.
Erik Bailey – Front Torque
Front Torque
Victor Arias – AO Negative Mistrial
AO Negative Mistrial
Ross Kuhn – Soul to Fakie
Soul
Jimmy Hoffa and Tom just finished the New Barnburner site. Filled with all the info you need for the contest and after party. There will be no registration the day of the event so make sure you pre reg. Also If your not on a skate company and are not apart of the WSR, you need to qualify the day before. Info at www.barnburner.us
My sincere apologies to all of bladewa. I’ve been slacking a bit on keeping this thing updated. I was really hoping to, at the very least make one skating related entry a week. In a utopian world where I didn’t have responsibilities, a mortgage, and a real job that pays the bills, I would have an infinium of time and resources to indulge in projects that made me happy and deliver new content for bladewa. Alas, such is not the reality, and to make up for the last two weeks, you get a two for one special on great Washington photography and content.
First I would like to introduce Adam Exline. I first met Adam at EOR2 and he’s been popping up at random skate sessions I’ve been attending all over the Seattle area. My second introduction to Adam happened a few weeks ago when I got a call from Kawika on a skate session invite. He asked me if I could pick up Adam from his downtown Seattle Apartment. I ring Adam on the cell phone. He describes to me where he needs to be picked up. I walk out of my condo and meet him at the end of the alley on the backside of my condo. Amazing that I had great rolling talent just one block away from where I live. Adam has somewhat of a lanky frame but he’s still able to steez out tricks like this Savannah on the West Seattle Flat Rail. - 
This second shot was taken from Steele Lake Skatepark in Federal Way. This was part of a large group session effort organized on the bladewa messageboard. We had a lot of great media activity at this session, as seen from my over the shoulder poached shot from Matt Crissinger. Matt is a fellow photog from the north end, he’s a Seattle veteran and I’m always excited to see any snaps that come from him. I overexposed this shot in hopes that by doing so I would bring more detail out on Kawika. I really liked the feel of the picture even if Matt is in the foreground of the frame.
Kawika Jarmin – Fishbrain Stall Steele Lake Skatepark-
I remember Rob Inks from back in my competition days. The days of K2 Backyard BBQ at Vashon, and the Winthrop Skatebarn contests. If I remember correctly, that was in 1998. Yes ladies, he was handsome then too.
Fast forward 10 years, ASA Pro status (although there is no more ASA), his own rollerblade apparel company (Budget Threads), a World Championship entry, numerous rollerblade MC’ing gigs, organizing and promoting rollerblading to the fullest with the Elements of Rolling contest series, Rob Inks is still ripping it. Need proof? Peep these shots taken from last weekends skate session
Back Royale to Wallride
Bank ride to 180
Here is the intro to the new vibralux team video “On Top”. They filmed for 2 weeks in seattle. I personally like the video, has a good flow to it and gets my hyped. Watch the intro, then buy the video from the shop!
I met Chris almost two years ago. He was the new kid with a southern drawl that would drive up to Seattle every weekend to skate and party. I’ve been lucky enough to skate with him on several occasions. Its been the unfortunate circumstances that I was without my camera almost every time. A week ago I was finally able to catch up with Chris in his home town of Tacoma and get this awesome True Spin Soul.
January 17, 2009 is a day that will live in infamy, it marks the day that Al Capone was born, the anniversary of the start of Operation Desert Storm and the second Elements of Rolling Event. I suppose you should care about either of the first two mentioned events particularly if you’re a fan of famous gangsters and of war, but if you’re a rollerblader you should at the very least care about the Elements of Rolling Skate Contest.
Elements of rolling is a rollerblader run contest aimed at uniting and paying sycophancy to rollers for specialized talents in a variety of obstacles or “Elements”. The idea to reward skaters who have strong skills in their respective Elements. Hence the name Elements of Rolling. Much like the real Elements, the contest Elements are in a forever state of change. The first Elements contest was street based and aimed at street obstacles. Elements of Rolling 1 featured elements such as rails and ledges.
The middle of January in Seattle is not known for being hospitable for skating due to the amount of rain we get during the winter season. The Elements crew thought it to be a better idea if Elements of Rolling 2 be an indoor affair. With the cooperation of Skatebarn West, the Elements crew was able to bring very different obstacles than their first contest. This contest featured obstacles such as a vert ramp, skatepark line, kinked rail jam, and a newly built (you will never find anything remotely similar on the street) dragon ledge.
Randy Juarez – True Top Soul
Highlights from the Elements contest include the vert ramp portion featuring the high flyiing flipping skills of Jeremy Townsend, whom after a hard spill during the beginning of the heat, still managed to put some sick lines together towards the end of the session. Several Barn locals including Jake Dotson and Brandon Weller completing channel gap to grinds. Last but not least, Marlo Love putting together sick lines including this true mizou.
Marlow Love – True Mizou
Bobby Tateishi – Mute 180
Park line was owned by street master Shawn Adair from our neighboring city of Vancouver BC, Canada. Shawn was able to include sick switch up grinds going up, across, and down the grind box on the intermediate section of the skate park.
The kink rail jam had tricks performed of epic proportions. A sudden hush fell over the crowd as Shain Lapointe completed a disaster hurricane topsoul on the center kink rail, a trick that was performed in the early portion of the session leaving many competitors scratchiing their heads as to what they needed to do to best him. This however did not slow Jake Dotson down from landing a soul on the roll-in to 360 disaster soul on the down portion of the kink. Brandon Weller followed up with a huge rail gap to disaster onto the down ledge finishing off the kink rail jam portion of the contest.
Brandon Weller – Rail Gap to Disaster Soul
I think that skaters had the most difficulty mastering the Element that was the Dragon Ledge. Built specifically for the contest, the dragon ledge is a long grind box spanning a length of roughly 20ft. It features a tricky hump then dips and kicks out at one end. Those able to ride the beast were able to grind through and launch out at the end of their grind.
Results Pro/Am
Vert – 1st Place – Jeremy Townsend, 2nd Place – Brandon Weller, 3rd Place – Jake Dotson
Park Line – 1st Place – Shawn Adair, 2nd Place – Bobby Tateishi, 3rd Place – Randy Juarez
Kink -1st Place – Shain Lapointe, 2nd Place – Jake Dotson, 3rd Place – Josiah Blee/Brandon Weller
Dragon Ledge – 1st Place – Josiah Blee, 2nd Place – Brandon Weller, 3rd Place – Randy Juarez
All in all I felt that Elements of Rolling 2 came off with a huge success. With a turnout of over 50 competitors spanning 3 different ability levels of beginner, intermediate and pro/am. The two main driving forces behind the Elements contest were its organizers, Rob Inks and Kawika Jarmin. These individuals spent hours getting sponsors, prizes, organizing, and building obstacles for this event. The only reward these two individuals got, were praise for putting together a great contest and the knowledge that they helped grow and perpetuate the northwest skate scene. Any monitary gain went directly towards the skaters that won their individual and overall elements. After all of their headache and hard work, they both look forward to putting on future elements of rolling events. Comming in the summer of 2009 is the Elements of Rolling 3. If you are interested in sponsoring, donating prizes, or volunteering, you can reach the Elements of Rolling crew at Kawika@bladewa.com.
Brandon Weller- Fish at the 2008 Haters ball
Welcome to the Blade WA Blog. Here the local photographers and videographers will showcase there work for your enjoyment. Erik Allas, Andy and Jonathon R, and my self will be contributing.
For more blogging/media, go to www.soserious.net
