A good chunk of the snowboard scene in Mammoth revolves around Wave Rave, however in my opinion all of the skate scene does. For 10 years now Steve Klassen who is not only the owner of Wave Rave, but also a badass snowboarder and skate-boarder has been
Wave Rave Skate Contest at JLA Skatepark
Words, Photos and Video by Greg Weaver
First I would just like to start off with a big thank you to Steve Klassen, Vans, Volcom and the employees of Wave Rave snow board shop for making this event possible. For those of you who haven't had the privilege to be in mammoth to check out the shop with it's world class selection of gear and very knowledgeable staff, I recommend you do but don't be surprised if you aren't satisfied with any other shop. Another place you won't find a comparison to is the Volcom Brothers Skate Park in Mammoth Lakes CA, which was the host to 10th annual Wave Rave Skate competition on Aug 23 2008.
A good chunk of the snowboard scene in Mammoth revolves around Wave Rave, however in my opinion all of the skate scene does. For 10 years now Steve Klassen who is not only the owner of Wave Rave, but also a badass snowboarder and skate-boarder has been helping provide kids in Mammoth with a decent place to skate. Whether it is buying the land behind his shop to build a wood skate park, then a vert ramp, incorporating a flat bar into the external structure of the shop, or Donating money to help have the Jeff Anderson Volcom Brothers memorial park built, you can pretty much say steve is down for the cause.
This event is successfully bringing together skaters from the local communities of all ages and genders to progress their skateboarding. There were 75-100 entrants in the event this year which has a street competition and a bowl Competition. The street com-petition is only 4 divisions: Groms 10&under, Shredders 11-15, Open 16& up, and Girls. The Bowl competition consists of 6 divisions: Groms, Shredders, Open, Girls, Masters 30-40, and Legends 40+. The crews from Vans and Volcom were on hand with hot dogs and refreshments for every one, as well as arts crafts for the little ones.
Mostly pretty standard stuff went down in the street competition, But in the bowl things seemed to get crazy! First the Groms went, and holly sh#%! these kids are under 10 yrs. old just killing it, frontside slashing 6 ft walls, doing airs, going big in the cradle, and basically skating better than I will ever skate. Just when I thought I had enough embar-rassment the Girls start, and these girls rip, slashing and doing the capsule Frontside and Backside! But the Open, Masters, and Legends competition's is where it really got heated with skaters like Patrick Reddy doing the big love seat switch and airing over it completely. Cody Rosenthal with multiple nollies on the vert wall plus variations of Bon-less's including the infamous 360 boneless which won best trick. Greg bogencamp and joaquin Sahagun did triple love seat runs, Scott Hoffer Grinded over the love seat, Mike lary who competed in both the open and masters was pulling out tricks like the sweeper, and backside 5o revert, Mark kleinertz and Steve Klassen who are both over 40 yrs old skated well and pulled some tricks out that no one had seen them do in while.
All I can say is that I am glad I was not a judge, too much good skating, especially when I skate with alot these guys all the time and you see them doing stuff cleaner than you ever have before or you see them do something you know they have been trying but they stick it in the comp. Once all the finals were over it was time for the judges to rally and decide on the winners. First place winners took home a $500 Gift certificate to Wave Rave along with a prize bag filled with various product, 2nd and 3rd place winners got a prize bag along with a new deck. After all the prizes had been handed out there was a product toss with tons free shwag so everyone got a little something. All in all this years comp was a great success, great weather, great vibe, free food, free product, and awesome skating what else could you ask for? See you next year!
Results Groms 10&under 1. Joshua Douglas 2. Alex Lee 3. AAron
- Double up, this park has plenty of room for two skaters at once, of course, unless its Mike Leary and Alex Wells. Shit then your better off just staying on the dirt.
- Joaquin Sahagun is the father of heavy metal, spawn of the devil, but the most genuine and nicest person you will ever, ever meet.
