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High Speed Bowl Contest Cutting Edge . Vermont July 15th, 2000 download text for printing The Cutting Edge bowl in Benington, VT has been a fun spot for a road trip for quite some time. Rectangular in shape, approximately 7 ft in depth, and porky metal coping, it's an indoor bowl made of wood that is perfect for (skip the flat bottom) speed lines and big grinds. So when I got an email with a contest flyer attached, I knew I had to convince my girlfriend that the weekend we had planned for Acadia National Park would be better spent in Vermont. She went for it. I was stoked. The flyer promoted "cash prizes" for "highest speed judged by radar" and "longest grind." As we drove through the Pennsylvania countryside, across a small section of New York state, and in to Vermont, fields of cows and big red barns were replaced by road side statues and art pieces, antiques, crafts, and head shops. Green Mountains loomed ahead. It had been a couple of years since I'd been up thataway but I recognized the large stone church that serves as a landmark for finding the skatepark. We were the first to arrive that morning. We met Shorty, one of the guys responsible for the whole event, and he showed us where a section of the shop and the park had been remodeled. The mini-ramp was rotated 90 degrees and widened to 24 ft. There was a new low section next to the pool coping extension, closest to the wall, and it had 2 bowled corners on the other end, adjacent to the bowl (with 2 levels of deck in between). Our two man session heated up when Tino and Matt from NYC awoke from the car they'd slept in right there in the parking lot. Tino got it going with tailslide shifties and Matt earned his style points with hands behind his back, long-ass 50-50s, and a rib cage Gator tattoo. The day unfolded in to jam style chaos, session after session. Skaters kept arriving. There were strong showings from Rhode Island, NYC, Cape Cod, suburban sections of Mass, and a handful of Vermont locals. The lack of structure to this contest was a beautiful thing. No one's names were (officially) called and no one was told when (or how) to ride. The only exception to this was the transfer craze that erupted, a megaphone was utilized to clear the mini-ramp, providing a landing pad from the bowl. A highway patrol radar gun was being pointed at skaters during bowl runs. The judges were somewhere soaking it all in, skating along with the rest of us, to the best of my knowledge. Nick collected $7 bucks from everyone to build up the prize purse. He's a long time fixture in the Benington scene and co-builder of the bowl. |
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Bottom line is, it was a fun, relaxed, atmosphere with skaters of all levels just pushing it. Some highlights included Smiley's eggplants (on no vert) and frontside rockslides through the corner. (This Smiley is from Connecticut, EAST posse, not to be confused with other Smileys here and there). Bato was ripping but he devoted most of his energy in to being the MC, he heckled and praised fellow skaters with the megaphone.
Chaz McGee stole the show. For those that remember this small fry of 5 years ago, hauling through the concrete corners of Dodge skatepark in Columbus, Ohio with a skateboard as tall as his shoulders and a helmet as big as his whole body, it was a real treat to see him rip. His voice has changed, he's twice as tall, and his bag of tricks now includes head bonking (homage to Science) frontside boneless ones, huge transfer air ability, and early grab 540s. That got him a best trick award and he also got a prize for highest speed at 28 m.p.h. When Donny Barley heard his name called in the awards ceremony, he said, "give (my prizes) to Chaz." Donny was also ON, as Bato put it, "big smooth 'check me out' transfers" in addition to the longest grind of the day. It was a stand up frontside 5-0 across two gritty parking blocks placed against the lip of the bowl. Another prize was awarded to Rob Erickson for teetering tail blocks on the curb. Kalo man, "the last Benington local," stood out in full camo gear, and stuck backside boneless transfers. Nick Sherman is a ripper from Cape Cod, he got a prize. Jim Gagne was awarded for pulling "little wheels, big pants, melon transfers." Tino Razzo got some at 25 m.p.h. switch. Plus, prizes went to Big Tim for big grinds and to Chicken Hawk for doing invert transfers. These transfers were sick, he floated a couple feet, planted the hand, floated another couple feet, then stuck 'em and rode away. Chicken Hawk is a fuckin dynamo. Thanks to Nick for making this bowl skateable all these years, thanks to Rob for giving me the heads up with the flyer, and thanks to everyone who showed, I had a blast riding with you all. See you next time. Joey P. |