Volcom Stone’s 2010 Global Wild in the Parks Championships went down Saturday, October 2nd at Peoria, Arizona’s Rio Vista Skatepark!
After nearly 40 qualifying stops around North America, Europe and Australia, the best amateur skateboarders in the world collided to test their mettle against one another for bragging rights and a piece of $25,000.00 cash! Just to qualify for this event, each competitor had to place highly at a regional contest to prove they could stand their ground against the best. Given the cast of characters and level of talent in attendance, this wasn’t a problem! The array of tricks was vast and the tactical precision with which they were executed was mind numbing to say the least. Needless to say, this truly was a showdown for the ages!
You're Volcom.
For the 3rd consecutive year, Volcom’s WITP Championships was held at Rio Vista Skatepark. Kevin Naughton, Ben Florine and the rest of the fine folks at the City of Peoria did a great job rolling out the red carpet to welcome competitors from around the globe! With three of the four corners of the earth represented, it was a melting pot of maniacal mayhem!
Texas' Zack Hemphill was a man on a mission all day long! Kickflip over the handrail in zone 1
For one reason or another, it seems the WITP Champs always ends up happening in the midst of a heat wave. Whether we schedule the contest for late October or mid-September, we always hear “you guys are just in time for the heat wave”! On event day it was well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (40 celsius) but of course tomorrow it will be in the low-80’s. It seems there’s no getting around it, which in some ways is alright because all of the competitors are dealing with the same climate.
Kevin Baekkel from Norway was a menace and brought some international flavor to the event
After over 200 rippers checked in, the 14 and Under division got underway at 2pm sharp! The Utah, Texas and Arizona competitors were up in the first heat and set a breakneck pace for the day! Ryan Thompson blasted out of the starting gates like a man possessed and had Colorado rippers Phil Hansen and Wyatt Milhollan playing catch up! In the end, everyone skated incredibly well and had the judges shaking their heads in disbelief! After the scores were tallied, Ryan Thompson (Texas) took 1st, Ehtan Loy (Californa) claimed 2nd and Phil Hansen (Colorado) deservedly took 3rd!
Zeke Logan was on the scene and terrorizing all three zones! Here's a nollie inward heel
The 15 and Over division’s time to shine was next and their display of technical tenacity was blinding! Heavy tricks were nailed in all three zones before the first minute of the heat had elapsed. Tyson Bowerbank tossed a blizzard flip down the 6-set in zone 3, Liam McCabe’s double kickflip over the picnic table in zone 2 was a showstopper and Alex Pellegrino’s f/s bigspin tailslide was a jaw dropper! The skating was so insane it would be impossible to run through all the tricks here so you’ll just have to watch the video above! After all was said and shred, Alex Pellegrino (Florida) placed 1st, Matt Militano (East Coast) 2nd, Tyson Bowerbank 3rd!
Here's Volcom's Jordan Mead doing his very best Stevie Wonder wiener impression.
Ben Sauer's pop shuvit late flip turned more than a few heads
The Pro-Am division rounded out the day’s anarchy in fine form. Hot off his European WITP Champs victory, Belgium’s Axel Cruysberghs was on the scene and on point! His U.S. and Canadian counterparts could only stand by and watch as he systematically annihilated all three zones in quick succession! From Axel alone we saw an ollie b/s 360 down the 10-set, b/s lipslide kickflip out on the handrail and a kickflip lipslide b/s bigspin out on the picnic table in zone 2! The scary thing was, given the level at which everyone was skating there could have been 10 different winners! You’ll need to check the video above to see what I’m talking about. In the end, it was Axel prevailing with Adam Arunski (Arizona) in 2nd and Julian Christianson (Colorado) in 3rd!
2010 14 & Under WITP Champions!
2010 15 & Over WITP Champions!
2010 Pro-Am WITP Champions!
First and foremost, thanks to all the skaters (and their parental support) for taking time off of school and/or work to come out to Arizona for a WITP Champs getaway weekend. Thanks again to Kevin Naughton, Ben Florine and everyone else at the City of Peoria for all their hard work and support! Those guys go out of their way to make life easy on us and we really appreciated it. Thanks also to our judges Aaron Suski, Jake Smith, Rashad “Peaches” Gentle, JR “Whitey” Weston, Josh Brown and Cody Creelman for making sense of the madness. Last but certainly not least, thanks to all of the sponsors below who gave us extra prizing for the 2010 WITP Championships! Have a great winter and we’ll catch up with you during the 2011 WITP Tour!
