2008 Volcom Wild In The Parks: Stop #3 - The 2008 Wild in the Parks tour headed South to San Jose, Costa Rica for stop number 3 Saturday May 24th! Read on to hear about our first ever Central American WITP expedition!
2008 Volcom Wild In The Parks: Stop #3
The 2008 Wild in the Parks tour headed South to San Jose, Costa Rica for stop number 3 Saturday May 24th! Read on to hear about our first ever Central American WITP expedition!
If you’ve never been, I feel it necessary to begin by saying that Costa Rica is a place you've got to check out! The capital city of San Jose is spread out over a large area and is full of things to see and do. On top of the list has got to be Arenas Skatepark! While not huge, the park is indoor (perfect for the rainy season) and packs a solid punch as far as features go. Offering something for everyone, Areans is 8 years old and will hopefully be around for many more! If you’re up for a bold venture outside of San Jose, there are spots to be skated as well as other groovy things to keep you occupied. We decided to check some of these out by seeing where the road would take us. We traveled by zip-line through the jungle, went to a beach and watched Arenal Volcano erupt all in a day’s work! That was just the tip of the iceberg…
Our 1st ever Central American Wild in the Parks kicked off shortly before 1pm on Saturday with the 14 and Under competitors getting first shot at terrorizing the three WITP zones! It was clear many of the kids had been keeping up withWITP events elsewhere because they were hip to the format in no time. Arturo Chaves and Esteban Varga were hot out of the starting gates and didn’t let up until the final horn sounded! All told, the entire 14 & Under Division put on a great show and left the 1000 + spectators thirsty for more!
The packed 15 & Over Division was up next and cut to the chase by throwing down a multitude of hammers in short order! Building on what the groms had started, the older group systematically slaughtered all three WITP contest zones! Nollie back lips, fakie flip 5-0s, fakie back smiths and even a b/s double-flip were witnessed during the three 15 & Over heats. Bang, bang, bang!
The Pro-Am Division jumped into the ring next and blew us all away! These guys had everyone in the entire building backing them as they put on one of the finest displays of trickery in recent memory! Where do I start?? Three flip to 5-0 on the down ledge, gap to back lip on the flat-down rail, nollie flip noselide on the funbox plus a monstrous gap to nose grind on the zone 1 ledge had more then a few heads shaking! Anyone who thinks Costa Rican’s don’t have skills are kidding themselves!
Just as the WITP madness began to wind down, Mark Appleyard, Nick Trapasso, Jake Duncombe and David Gonzalez took the floor and put on a show that won’t soon be forgotten! David Gonzalez was a man on a mission and had everyone tripping on his tech wizardry. The boys put an exclamation point on a radical day!
A huge thanks to Mauricio, Esteban, Coco and the entire crew at Arenas Skatepark for all their hard work and stone support! Thanks also to Esteban Quesada, Guillermo Porras, Edwin Lewis, Olman Torres and Stevie for judging. Thanks to Randall Sanchez for blowing things up on the mic as well as Pat Lloyd, Ernesto Alvarado, Miguel Castro, Nina, and Gioconda from Volcom for all the time and effort they put in to make the WITP possible! Hopefully this will be the first of many Wild in the Parks to strike Central America!
Results:
14 & Under
1st: Arturo Chaves 2nd: Daniel Chacon 3rd: Kevin Mejia 4th: Josue Watts 5th: Tomas King 6th: Esteban Varga 7th: Joe Hernandez
15 & Over
1st: Abmer Ramirez 2nd: Alexander Sanchez 3rd: Ricardo Vega 4th: Johan Solano 5th: Jordan Viqurz 6th: Alberto Bargas 7th: Emmanuelle Quesada
Pro-Am
1st: Alonso Garro Bangel 2nd: Diego Espinoza 3rd: Samy Montano 4th: Carlos Mata 5th: Jorge “Coco” Monge 6th: Pablo Navarrete 7th: Pedro Beitia
