CINCO DE MAYO – CONCRETE RODEO STYLE
After a short hiatus from our SE leg, the Concrete Rodeo was back in action this weekend at both Rio Vista Skatepark in Peoria, AZ and the Tempe Skatepark. We managed to catch a cold snap and it never made it over 90 degrees which was perfect weather for a contest. On Saturday the Skate4Love crew brought in Chad Tim Tim and Richard Mulder to stoke up the kids and MC the demo with 4 local shops bringing their team riders out to represent properly. From there the shredding continued as we moved into the Rodeo with 100 competitors skating every feature of the park from the pool to bowl to the flow/street course, literally until the lights went out, it went dark just a few minutes after the contest ended. CJ Bartlett and Anthony Knight battled it out in the Jousting Finals for 1st and 2nd Overall with the CJ coming our on top. Aaron Homoki had the highest score from the preliminary rounds and landed in 3rd Overall after the Jousting Finals. Ashley Welton and Amelia McCoy held down 1st and 2nd, protecting their home ground against Megan Brown of San Bernardino, CA who tested the local ladies and ended up 3rd Overall. 8-year-olds Justin Cymbalski and Shane Short beat out half the field to put everyone on notice at to which direction they were headed in the food chain.
On Sunday in Tempe we changed the format up letting everyone take one Street run and one Bowl run before using the entire park for the Jousting Finals. The 702 Kreu was in full effect for the second day in a row, pushing the locals to step it up and Benji Galloway stopped by to skate with the kids for the afternoon, just a little session on his way to the Protec Pool Party. The field was slightly smaller on Sunday, but the skating no less intense, with a lot of familiar faces returning to mix it up with some new blood. In the end it was Ashley Welton who took home gold both days for the women, Natalie Daz brought her A-game on day two to end up in 2nd place and Amelia McCoy in 3rd after the Jousting Finals…Aaron Homoki and Brian Bourgious put on a show for their final battle with a combination cat-and-mouse and doubles run that landed Aaron in 1st and Brian in 2nd . Travis Prang battled to a 3rd place finish overall after the jousting finals, increasing his standing on the points list after a 23rd place finish the day prior.
After this weekend, one thing has not changed since we were there last year, and that is AZ loves concrete skateboarding and with new parks opening regularly around the Phoenix valley, I cant wait to see what transpires for next year…A big Thanks! goes out to everyone who helped make this weekend go off from the kids who showed up, to the parents who drove them there, the cities for recognizing the need to build and willingness to let us take over the park for the day, and the sponsors for supporting the passion of everyone there.
Up next the Concrete Rodeo heads to Needles, CA to see its new creation and what park slayers it has bred since its opening, then we head to the home of last years finals, Henderson, NV and Site Design’s 25K square feet of street and tranny for another chapter of the Concrete Rodeo Tour. Please check out www.concreterodeo.com for a full list of results, pics from the events, updated info and schedulesâ