DVS Copenhagen Pro
November 19, 2007 @ 5:01 PM
Coggies, incidentally, are what chaps like Mark Baines call the 'backie'- the ancient art of getting two gyppo's on the same bike. These are not to be advised on the hired boneshakers which fill Copenhagen's elegant little streets, particularly if you are also carrying your board. The whole cycling gig to and from the contest has much to recommend it, provided you don't pursue the wrong rucksack out into the rather terrifying docklands.
And so it came to pass that we would arrive first thing in the afternoon in a bicycle gang somewhere between Lost Souls Harley Club and the Famous Five. The Copenhagen Pro was held to try and host an event that only the elite of skating were eligible to enter. Because of the 'I'm a pro for my mate's bedroom company" debacle that we currently find ourselves in the idea of professional skateboarding has been debased, and so you find that the level of what constitutes professional is at its most loose since Lib Layraman did three tricks in a row and went pro back in the 411 miasma.
The production team behind the Tampa Pro event and indeed the skatepark of Tampa itself ran the gig and did so with aplomb. You can say what you like about their total grasp of decency but they know how to keep the tempo up all day long. Their DJ deserves his own TV programme, he was some tulip.
A word, dear reader, about the Copenhagen Park: its perfect. Cleanest toilets ever seen in a skatepark, its vast with a giant vert ramp (vert is strongest here of anywhere in Europe), bowl and brand new streetcourse for the shindig.
If you are going to Copenhagen, definitely go.
It also held just the right amount of people, overhanging the streetcourse on all sides from the walkways at ceiling level. This is the way to keep the action close without wheels snagging toes. The other great feature is the glass walled lounge which sits out over the vert ramp: you've never witnessed vert in all its dangerous majesty until you've seen from the height of the riders heads in mid- flight. With the baying crowd draped over the countersunk ramp and 2,500 free beers guzzled while the likes Neal Hendrix, Renton Millar and hometown heroes Rune Glifberg and Nicky Guerrero thundered and charged around the ramp, it was like watching gladiatorial combat. Thrasher's filmer and bon vivant Preston Maigetter claimed it was the best vert contest he'd seen, and he loves a bit of it. High praise indeed. Rune won.
Street had the advantage of not being packed with desperate ams training their new trick, so everybody got as much (or as little) practice as they chose or the previous night permitted: a good who's who of the better guys without being as insane as, say, Lausanne 2002, with the big audience/rider separation. Squads of thrilled young skaters got their autograph books stuffed between runs.
There comes a point just before the finals where everybody is beat: too many hours sat on wooden bleachers, not enough sleep, too much convenience food, where a lot of contests lose their fizz right when you need to get the hype going. Schaefer and co, to their credit, have done enough of these to start whipping it up to create the hothouse atmosphere that is the difference between seeing something made or just a good try. Who was good? Bastien looked like his timing was a little off in practice but cometh the hour, cometh the man; Jani Laitiala and Kerry Getz are both on that next- level of goodness at skating, Eero and Wagner Ramos landed more all weekend than everybody else put together, and Ricardo 'Porva' Oliveira is even better now than he was when he won Prague last year. Best Trick was maybe a little flat but considering how beat everbody was, only the Brazilian hunger was left to take the loot. The afterwards- the suspect Thai place, the dirty beers and all that drama was exactly as it is supposed to be and the whole thing is a real testament to the hard work of former Alis Team Manager Simon Weyhe who worked endlessly and tirelessly to ensure that every detail of the event- the food, the coffee, the shops, the places to go and things to skate- were all perfect. We thank you. Simon, and the DVS and Spotlight chaps for a great weekend for skateboarding, and for the city of Copenhagen. Top Marks.
