The 2010 Wild in the Parks tour rolled into Portland, Oregon’s the Department of Skateboarding for the 8th stop on Saturday, July 24th!
When traveling to Portland, Oregon in the summer most think of dusting off their snowboard gear, but not us. We come for some of the best amateur skateboarding this side of the Mississippi and Department of Skateboarding delivers! When stepping foot in “D.O.S”, it is readily apparent that Kyle Reynolds and crew live, breathe, and eat skateboarding. This park utilizes every nook and cranny with features resembling a street plaza and a traditional skate parks love child. With this skate park there is no question why Portland’s WITP faithful always leave us with our jaws on the floor.
Zach Vanderdasson, f/s pop-shuv f/s noseslide, zone 1
The 14 & under division was ready to get things rolling on this sweltering Portland afternoon. The heat only seemed to fuel the fire and within a blink of an eye, tricks were thrown down in all three zones! This division seemed like they where playing a large game of 1 up since the battle between skaters seemed to get to the pro-am level. With double kickflips in zone 1, a head spinning whirlwind of flip tricks and grinds and zone 2, and an insane amount of tricks stomped, including one of the best hardflips of the day down the three block in zone 3, the judges were sweating! After the final scores where tallied, Ben Sauer claimed 1st, Austin Visinteiner 2nd, and Chase Majury rounded us off with 3rd!
Anthony Grant was on point and destroying the WITP competition
The 15 & Over division was chomping at the bit and ready to show they were not to be outdone. Immediately we saw the skating pushed even further then we thought possible. These guys have definitely put in a serious amount of time on their boards and the results speak for themselves!
Compton, f/s tailslide in zone 3
Throughout the day we saw many impressive tricks thrown down including frontside and backside big spins down the big three, buttery smooth blunt and nose bluntslides in zone 2, Jeff Evans’ silky smooth kickflip b/s tailslide in zone 1 with only seconds left it the finals heat! In the end Jeff Evens held down 1st, Ben Campbell 2nd, and Austin Young took home 3rd for his efforts!
14 & Under winner, Ben Sauer switch heelflip down the 7-set
It was now time for the Pro-Am guys to take center stage. It was as if someone had flipped a switch to jack up the energy even more. With anticipation all around you could feel we were in for the unexpected. These guys proved why we have a “Pro-Am” division for the WITP. Every year the pro-am finals seem like less of a contest and more of a demo.
As always, the free barbecue drew a crowd of hungry competitors
It didn’t take long for a back smith to backside tail combo held for days in zone 1 to go down, front crook to backside 270 from the ledge into the bank in zone 3 and multiple flip-in flip-out manuals in zone 2! In the end Anthony Grant captured 1st, Tyson Reynolds hot on his heals in 2nd, and Jonathan Bastian found himself in 3rd!
Front blunt on the barrier in zone 2
Big ups and respect goes Kyle Reynolds, and the rest of the extraordinary crew at the Dept. of Skateboarding for all their hard work and WITP support over the years! Thanks to Clint Graham plusTim and Dylon Snail for all of their support and hospitality. Thanks also to David Gravette, Willis Kimbel and Clay Hunt for being all over the judging scene and holding it down all day long. As always, thanks to the WITP sponsors below for support the tour!
