Official review of the Victorian Rollerblading Titles 2014 at Prahran Skate Park

Melbourne Rollerblading’s Simon Kelly gives us the official low-down on the Victorian Rollerblading Titles 2014 at Prahran Skate Park.

The Victorian Titles has always been a battle for state supremacy and the competition is drawing more and more of a crowd each year as the Melbourne rollerblading scene continues to grow.

For 2014’s competition Prahran Skate Park was transformed into what some described as a ‘magical wonderland’, with coping being built on to the top of almost every edge box and square rail.

Huge props go to Danny Hawkins, Paul and JC for leading the charge in the preparation and building these extra obstacles to make this event truly unique.

The mercury was rising at the time the event was due to kick off and the first competition spot, the miniramp, was hot enough to fry eggs.

All competitors got straight into it with wall-rides, tech switch ups and spins, showing that there’s more that can be done on the small ramp than most people expected.

The under 14s weren’t put off by the older competition either with great lines from Koby Brookes and Nick Thorne. Brad Watson put his Big Ground Control frames and 72mm wheels to work with a boosted backside on the guardrail on the outside of the mini.

Next up – the infamous Prahran vert ramp. This 14 foot monster will get your blood pumping just by watching someone drop in.

Veteran vert skater Scott Sanders took to the skies with massive airs and flips to take out the competition over Brad Watson, Hayden Golder and Gaetan, who all skated every other event on the day as well and managed to put up some awesome tricks on the vert.

To start off the street course session we had the junior skaters stepping up to see what they could to with the park.

These guys are growing their skills fast and everyone was stoked to see them push their limits and challenge each other with gaps over the stairs, ledge rolls and linking up some grinds between the different obstacles.

Bladies Shine and Tiffany Street took to the street course to battle it out next, with Tiffany just coming out on top, lacing clean grinds over the box and being one of the few people to hit the steep stair rail all day!

The Old Skool (over 30) competition has seen more growth than any other category since we first introduced it within the competitions last year and it’s been great to see these guys prove you can still shred ’till you’re dead while having a blast competing against your homies.

The top three skaters all represented different states, with Steve hailing from Tasmania, Brad a local Victorian, and Benny Granero making the journey from QLD to represent 4sqair wheels and show that he’s still got the ridiculous switch ups locked down.

To give you a taste of the level of competition within the Open category: one of the first tricks was a true top soyale 720 rewind out by Thomas Scofield; Martin Gade’s opening line had about seven different tricks in it, was ridiculously clean and had everyone going absolutely ape shit; Danny Hawkins busted out a huge disaster true kind grind on a ledge he built during the competition (this was best trick); and Phil Moss from Sydney with that 360 makio on the box, making everyone feel moist and paving the way for his first Titles podium finish.

From there the skating was insane with all competitors lacing trick after trick and the spectators got to their feet to witness Victorian blading at its best at a park that was built just for this one day.

This event is a huge testament to everyone who’s involved in this community, from those to helped with registrations, to the skatepark builders, to the BBQ chefs, the time-keepers, and everyone who came down just to hang out, get loud and see something dope.

Here’s to an incredible year of Aussie rolling and I’m juiced to be involved in more events in 2015!

Thanks to all the sponsors – Bayside Blades, Seba, Rollup.tv, 4Sqair, VC Clothing, Razors Australia, Melbourne Rollerblading and Ground Control. Without these guys we couldn’t keep putting on events like this!

Support those that support Australian rollerblading and keep the scene strong. Thanks to all that came out to make this such a great weekend. Blading is alive in Australia, especially in Victoria!

Opens
1st: Martin Gade
2nd: Tom Scofield
3rd: Phil Moss

Old Skool
1st: Stevie Walker
2nd: Brad Watson
3rd: Benny Granero

Vert
1st: Scott Sanders
2nd: Brad Watson
3rd: Hayden Golder

Girls
1st: Tiffany Street
2nd: Shine Au Yeung

Mini
1st: Martin Gade
2nd: Brad Watson
3rd: Danny Hawkins

U18
1st: Daniel Werry
2nd: Lachlan Keighery

U14
1st: Nick Thorne
2nd: Jackson Werry
3rd: Koby Brookes

Official edit by Daniel “Tab” Talbot featuring Martin Gade, Danny Hawkins, Thomas Scofield, Brad Watson, Josh Nielsen, Hayden Golder, Phil Moss, Ben Granero and more. Photos by Hayden Golder, Craig Richards and Tim Macauley at The Light Monkey Collective.