Well, hopefully everyone enjoyed the first Skater Of The Plaza comp?? We, at least got a dry day, although extremely windy, but at least no rain for a change!! The comp saw some really top notch skating and just shows how getting the plaza built has brought the standard of skating in Stoke, so good. The lads from Etnies and DC, who judged the comps throughout the day ( massive thanks boys- sterling job done!!) were very impressed on how good some of the skaters were and how well the comp was attended. So a massive thanks to all who turned up, supported the comp skater throughout the day and to all who made the effort to enter the comps and made the day a great success. Hopefully we could do this annually??

The first comp session was the 8-12 year old s. A good turn out for this one, with a few nervous entries but well done to the novice skaters who just thought “give it a go”!! That's what its all about!!

We held this session at the 'Pier-7' area and there was a couple of 'stand-out's' here. First place went to Shane Gratton. He was ripping and landed some nice stuff on the ledges and went for the big show stopper with a f/s180 down the 6-set and after a few slams, almost got it but was halted by breaking his wrist after a nasty slam- game over for Shane!! He had done enough for the judges to give him the first place though- well done mate and hope you get better soon and see you out at the plaza ripping as usual! Also a good effort by Harrison Race saw him get second place.

The next comp was the 13-17 year olds. We ran two sessions here, the first at the 'Pier-7' area and then onto the '5&4 sets'. Again, well done to those who had a go, even though some had not been skating for very long! Takes guts! Some of the skating from the more experienced lads was quality! First place went to Curt Munton who was ripping it up- so unlucky not to land the blunt shuv out on the ledges! Nice flips over the hip and some crackin stuff down the 5&4 sets with a bit of rail action thrown in for good measure! Second place went to Harry Wilson, nailing a big b/s flip down the 5! Can't not mention Alex with his huge pop- dishing out big 'uns over the hip and destroying the hubbas with 5-0's and krooks! Got to come close next year mate?! Also young Reuben was trying his hardest to get among the the top spots- good effort mate!

Next up was the main attraction- the over 18's. Here we got a lot of entries and we thought it a good idea to do small sessions on various parts of the plaza with each skater picking up points for 1st-4th spots. This way each skater had the chance to take their points onto a different spot and strengthen their score at each session. The points were then totalled, giving us an overall winner!

The first session fir this age category was at the 'T-Block'. A nice warm up session here saw some rad skating with all the skaters giving it some from the off!

The next session was at 'bottom ledges' and here we got each skater to take a single run and cram as much into their line as possible. This lasted for two runs each. With a few good ledge tricks nailed and some nice manny action, the lads were well warmed up by now, ready for the next session at the 'steep banks/hip'. This session was ridiculous! I personally havent seen this area skated as well since the Blueprint demo or the Etnies comp a while back! Massive ollies and flips for 'Scottish' Ben Gay over the hip. Tailslides and blunts on the top ledge! 'Lil' Si Toft tre flipped to fakie the bank and added a a tailslde and a blunt stall 180 back in, on the top ledge! Nice flipage from Dan Wintle and Matty Hammond and Brian Gallon getting so close with a huge frontside shuv!

Next up was the 'steep banks gap-rail'. 'Scottish' absolutely ruled this with boardslides to warm up with, then nailing 5-0's 50-50's nosegrinds and a super fast backside lipslide! Coming up close was Si Toft and if Wintle had put down his front blunt (which he was so close to doing- and nearly losing his jewels to boot!), have would have been well high in the point grabbing!

To finish the 18+'s session, we thought we would see them have a crack of the 'big-2'. Again, some awesome stuff went down. Again, all who had the stamina left to stay in the game did well. Dan Wintle must have been high up in the scoring with big b/s flips and Rowan Flloyd's pop shuv to find his feet was well big but his 'Reynoldsesque' f/s flip was massive!

After the points had been tallied, it was decided the Si Toft made second place, with Ben Gay coming first and crowned 2009's 'Skater Of The Plaza'!!! Well done mate and well done to all who had a go and entered no matter how good you think you are (or not!)- that is what makes skateboarding so original!!

See you next year!

Mark.