Wednesday 4 July 2012

Hog Hill Longboard Racing post by Brad Moss

Photo taken from  http://www.eastlondonvelo.cc/wp-content/
Hog Hill at Redbridge Cycle Centre is most often a place where cyclists practice road racing off the main road and on a purpose built space specifically for them.

What many don't know, is it also regularly plays host to Skateboarding events throughout the year. This past weekend saw the 2012 Razorback Games which allowed for some of the UK's best slalom skateboarders to wiggle their way through the regular slalom cones and giant slalom over two days. Octane Sport, as ever put up a lot for the slalom including prizes, slalom racing timing, ramps and more.

Saturday had a beginners workshop to allow newer boarders to get to grips with the basics, something which Longboarding, due to it's speedy difficulty and a lack of closed roads, tends to facilitate quite well and autonomously throughout the community pockets across the country.

I arrived on the Sunday as I was working Saturday and to get involved with the downhill racing that accompanied the UKSSA (United Kingdom Slalom Skateboarding Association) Slalom. Quieter than usual from the older regular downhillers, it was great to see so many younger riders pushing hard and tucking tight on on their planks. It's not a particularly fast hill or race but it's lovely to have such a smooth grippy road to play on with packs of riders, a real good one for those starting the downhill exploration,

The Mini-Moto races started off the friendly competition and a few heavy slams, as delivered by Jamie Tharp of Dangerous Decks. The mini-motos are micro boards set up for fun and carnage and always leaves a fair few people with bruises, scrapes and the occasional broken bone. The are raced on "the snake" part of the hill and this time round a slalom element was added to shake things up.

Timmy Peters as the head MC and supported closely by Moe (from XSS), arranged and deployed heat after heat of Open stand-up, Junior Stand-up and Buttboarding for everyone to get their fix of  racing and to potentially nab a few prizes or two.

The next event will be taking place in October all being well so keep your eyes peeled. Here's footage from the final race. Thank you to Newtons-shred for helping contribute to making Hog Hills Races happen frequently and run smoothly. Here's some footage of the final where I finished fourth. This is a glimpse of why I love downhill....





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