Rider: Georges Agonkouin_gap to bs tail by Allessandro Volpin

Words by Allessandro:

rider: Georges Agonkouin is a globe trotter, he’s spending most of the year travelling worlwide across different continents.
Native from Benin, after three month born he moved with family to France, Menton, near Nice, where he’s still based.
After few years of crossing each other at europen competition we became friends and we start working together.
Between Italy, Estonia and France we shared experience on the street.
Georges he’s really known on international scene, he has a lot of friends worlwide, that’s why he is always moving from a country to anothers and in also because he likes to discover new spot far from his place.

About this shoot, it happen that last summer like usual Georges show up to Tallinn, he was around north Europe on tour with some friends, then he decided to stay here alone and we found only one day where I was free and weather was fine, so we decided to visit Music Academy of Tallinn where we never been together, luckely nobody kicked out from the yard, usually security there don’t let you skate longer.

Georges Agonkouin supported from LRG, Paradox, Pull-in, Theeve truck, New Era, EFX, Sorbothane, Chaka wheels, Skullcandy.

He attacks the gnarliest spots, his flip tricks have a rad snap, and he likes to skate really fast. This part is absolutely rock solid.

On May 25th Zürich’s new skate park will have its inauguration. Besides the official ceremony of the city council DC will present a contest named hOmeLand. In six different zones of the park best trick contests will be held. Each of those six zones will have a purse of 750.- ready for the winners. First five areas on the street course and then there’s a final Bowl Session with a live concert… All in all 6000.- which will be given away throughout the day. Turntables will keep your head bouncing all day long and beer and the grill are waiting too. The pricegiving will be held a little later at the afterparty at Amboss Rampe, a neat venue in the heart of the city.

For more infos check www.home-land.eu or our Facebbook site.

Es kann losgehen! Am 25. Mai 2013 wird auf dem neuen Skatepark in der Zürich Brunau die offizielle Eröffnung stattfinden. Nebst dem Champagnerchlapf durch den Stadtrat präsentiert DC unter dem Namen hOmeLAND eine Serie von Best Trick Contests. Von den Rails und Hubbas über die New Jersey Barrier bis hin zur Bowl. Im Verlauf des Tages wird jede Ecke ihre Highlights haben. Und jeder Best Trick Contest wird mit Total 750.- honoriert… Summasumarum wären das dann 6000.- die verteilt werden! Der ganze Tag wird an den Turntables begleitet und für eine feuchte Kehle sorgt eine Bar und der Grill lässt deinen Magen nicht knurren. Der Eintritt ist natürlich frei! Weiter gehts am Abend mit der offiziellen Afterparty und dem Pricegiving in der Amboss Rampe in Zürich!

Für weitere Infos bleibe unter www.home-land.eu oder auf unserer Facebbook Seite informiert.

Trailer hOmeLAND 2013 Zürich from hOme LAND on Vimeo.

Following Vans’ call for Europe’s finest Independent Skate Shops and their teams to battle it out for the crown at 2013′s Shop Riot, on May 12th, twenty five of the Netherlands’ finest teams rolled into Deventer to kick things off.

Saint Petrus was on our side, with blue sky and summer-like temperatures as more than 75 skaters unleashed their best tricks to impress the crowd and fight for victory. ‘Shifty’ skateshop from Enschede and ‘Sparky’ from Zwolle even arrived with their own entourage, in big coaches packed with 50 fans each!

The crowd went wild during the finals, with the underdog ‘Sparky’ coming out on top to claim the 1st prize of EUR 1.000 cash and an all expenses paid trip to the Shop Riot Finals in UK. An impressive performance for the series’ first leg, and one that was no doubt aided by their coach-load of loyal supporters! With a strong assault on their local park, one of the competition favourites, ‘Burnside’, took 2nd place, whilst ‘Ben-G’, another team tipped for the win, failed to come up with the goods, eventually placing 7th, and so turned their attention to the BBQ, which swiftly became the focus of the teams’ second assault of the day. The young guns from ’100%’ skateshop, which included Vans rider Daan van der Linden, impressed both crowd and rivals in the qualifier, but could not rise up against ‘Sparky’s’ Chris Belling, Rick Holtvluwer and Mauro Ruberto.

Now in it’s 5th year the Vans Shop Riot series features 13 stops across Europe, taking in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, Israel, Holland and for the first time Estonia, Sweden and Russia before moving back to the UK for the finals later in the year. A full list of dates and locations as well as a round up from each leg will be available to view at vansshopriot.com; a site dedicated to the series, where you can see who’s taking part, edits from the local teams as well as round-ups and exclusive content from each stage of the Vans Shop Riot series.
Check out Vans Shop Riot dates, locations and teams at www.vansshopriot.com and facebook.com/vanseurope

#vansshopriot

Hier ist noch ein weiterer Teaser zum Film „Bearings” aus Bern. Es zeigt den Part zum Stadtviertel Bümpliz. Alle weitere Stadtvierteln werden dann im Film zu sehen sein.

und hier noch ein Artikel vom Bund über den Film:

http://www.derbund.ch/bern/stadt/Durch-Bern-brettern/story/25827166

wobei Nick Heuberger den Artikel mit folgenden Worten ergänzt:

Aber ich möchte betonen, dass der letzte Satz nicht als Diss gegen die Zürcher Szene interpretiert werden soll. Das Zitat wurde hier, wie oft in den Medien passiert, etwas aus dem Kontext geschrieben. Was ich dabei meinte war, dass im Gegensatz zu Bern in Zürich (oder auch andere Städte) zum Teil eine professionellere Herangehensweise zum Skaten gibt. Der Nachteil daran ist (und das haben sie im Artikel herausgepickt), dass dadurch das Skaten ernster und seriöser genommen wird und der Spass manchmal etwas im Hintergrund rutscht. Der Vorteil dadurch ist aber, dass unglaublich gute Produktionen/Skatefilmen/Projekte/Marken entstehen können. Aber ich habe keinesfalls gemeint, dass die Zürcher Szene per se verbissen ist…

wir freuen uns auf Eure comments!

Vor etwa einem Jahr haben wir in Liestal ein Contest veranstaltet. Nun, zirka ein Jahr später, ist es wieder soweit, es geht also in die zweite Runde! Der Contest findet diesen Samstag (18.Mai) statt, bei Schlechtwetter wird es auf 2 Wochen verschoben, siehe Flyer (ja es findet nicht während dem Opening vom Brunau-Skatepark statt!)

Over the weekend of May 3rd –5th, thousands of skaters, rock fans and spectators flocked to the small town of Varazze on the Ligurian coast for a taste of the Californian lifestyle, as the Vans Off The Wall Spring Classic celebrated its 5th year anniversary.

Already infamous for some of the best miniramp skating that Europe has to offer, great music and good times, not to mention the stunning beachside setting, this years Off The Wall Spring Classic promised to be epic.

With the cities of Milan, Genoa and Nice all nearby, skaters, press and visitors flew in from all over the Europe to be greeted by the Fiat Freestyle Team cars, who brought them right to the beach in time for a warm up on the ramp before the accolade of ‘Best Miniramp Trick’ was dealt out. With some great riding going down already, it was a hotly contested event. One of the first arrivals, Denmark’s Dannie Carlsen took to the ramp quickly, and it paid off as his half cab blunt 360 kickflip out saw him walk away with a 250EUR cheque. As newly crowned Dutch Champ, Daan Vanderlinden’s frontside nosegrind down the spine feature was another winner, as was Chris Gregson’s frontside flip disaster backside revert and a frontside noseblunt backside revert from Mason Merlino saw all four win cash prizes.

Vans ‘Off The Wall’ Spring Classic 2013 Recap from Vans Europe on Vimeo.

As the main contest kicked off the next day, the sun shone on Varazze for the Vans “Off The Wall” Spring Classic. The fifth edition of this already infamous annual event saw a pretty epic set up, with a new spine feature and extension section giving the mini a heap of possibilities for innovative lines and allowing the skaters to get a little technical. Combined with the sunshine and an awesome lineup for the evening’s music concert, this promised to be the biggest Spring Classic ever.

65 skaters made their way to the beach for the qualifying rounds, and with the bar really raised for this years event, places for the finals were hotly contested. The Euros were joined by some of the world’s finest, and as Mason Merlino had already proved in the ‘Best Miniramp Trick’ contest, the Americans really stood out, with Mason and Chris Gregson skating hard and impressing the judges. The UK’s Chris Oliver and Daan Vanderlinden really made use of the new spine, which featured flat-to-down coping, transitioned all the way to the flat. Nevertheless, the accolade of ‘best trick’ in qualifying had to go to another Brit, Josh Young, for his Ollie up the extension to frontside nosegrind. Another young shredder, the native Ivan Federico of Italy, also went big, riding away from a crowd pleasing McTwist. With the level really pushed this year, a few of the guys paid the price, with France’s Guillaume Mocquin ending up in an ambulance, but still managed to skate in the last jam. While Chris Oliver and Andy Scott fell too much to make the points necessary to get through, their riding impressed the judges, who awarded them a wildcard for the finals. They joined Denmark’s Dannie Carlsen, who went through in first place, to complete the 28 riders who made the grade for Sunday’s finals.

“In the past two years we’ve had fifteen to twenty solid riders who were easily identifiable, but this year, it’s been closer to forty or fifty, and all have to potential to walk away with a prize from the final” said Vans Sponsorship Manager Alexis Jauzion, who’s been involved since the first “Off The Wall” Spring Classic five years ago.

Saturday also saw the skaters session the street course, where once again prizes were given for the best tricks. Here Vans’ European team dominated. Italy’s own Jacopo Picozza hit the ledge with a smith grind flip out and a crook nollie flip later on, while Kris Vile (UK) made the most of the handrail with a 270 lipslide, and a nollie inward heelflip down the stairs and Czech’s Richard Tury impressed with a bigspin heel boardslide, feeble flip out and a switch heel backside boardsilde, which earned them all a cool 500EUR each. Killian Zehnder was the fourth to win 500EUR, with a frontside feeble frontside 180 out.

After the skate showdown the focus moved to the Monster Stage, where Italian rapper ENSI opened to the biggest crowd to ever descend upon Varazze. With his acclaimed freestyle rap and renditions of tracks from Rage Against The Machine, amongst others, the crowd audience were already calling for more. Fellow Italians Extrema then brought their own brand of heavy metal to the stage, getting the mosh pit warmed up for Strung Out, who saw looked out across to thousands of people all head banging. Finally, the evening’s headliners and longtime Vans collaborators Millencolin came out, and with tracks like ‘Happiness for Dogs’ and ‘Penguins & Polarbears’ the whole town rocking out.

Unfortunately the Californian spirit didn’t last, and the next day sore heads were greeted with heavy rain. Despite the best efforts of all involved, the weather is something that could not be influenced and as a result, the finals had to be cancelled. Riders and spectators piled into the nearest bar and the guys from Lovenskate laid on some creative entertainment whilst the Uppercut Deluxe barbers set about giving the guys some sharply styled haircuts.

As the rain was not letting up, the prize giving commenced, with the awards for the ‘Best Trick’ sessions first, followed by cash prizes from the 12,000EUR pot being given to the top skaters from the competition. As the rankings hadn’t changed, Dannie Carlsen’s laidback approach and technical skating saw him take the top spot and a cheque for 3,000EUR. Young ripper Aurelien Giraud (FR) came through in second place, and took home an extra 1,800EUR pocket money, whilst Italy’s Ivan Federico was presented with third place and a cheque for 1,600EUR.

In all, Vans’ fifth “Off The Wall” Spring Classic in the beautiful town of Varazze was a massive success, with an unprecedented level of riding, an epic ramp and good times all round, it’ll have provided some stories and great memories for all that were there. Here’s to next year!

In the meantime, you can catch all the action in an exclusive edit available at vans.com now.

Vans ‘Off The Wall’ Spring Classic 2013 – Skate Highlights from Vans Europe on Vimeo.

#otwspringclassic

1st Place – Dannie Carlson
2nd Place – Aurelian Giraud
3rd Place Ivan Federico
4th Place – Mason Merlino
5th Place – Chris Gregson
6th Place Vanderlinden
7th Place – Trevor Johnson
8th Place Ross McGouran
9th Place – Danny Leon
10th Place Josh Young
11th Place – Ewen Bower
12th Place – Juan Antonio Centenro

official skatepark opening in zürich 25th of may 2013 at skatepark allmend brunau. multiple best trick contests with 6000.- Franks prics money presented by DC

Trailer hOmeLAND 2013 Zürich from hOme LAND on Vimeo.

The Vans Shop Riot is back for it’s 5th year. 2013 sees the series touring the continent and a format that is set to be bigger and better than ever. True to its roots, the tour sees the cream of the core stores riders go against each other in no-holds-barred skate off. With the scene at its heart, the Vans Shop Riot is all about recognising European Skateboarding, independent Skate Shops and their teams through a series of original contests. It’s a chance for core skate shops to prove their place as pillars of their local scene, and put themselves up against the rest.

This year the tour kicks off in Deventer, Holland, on May 12th, before descending upon both Germany and Israel on May 25th. Over three months, the series continues across a further 10 European cities before returning to the UK. A full list of dates and locations as well as a round up from each leg will be available to view at vansshopriot.com

Through building recognition for these stores and scenes, the Shop Riot series illustrates Vans’ ongoing commitment to the core community and ultimately, the roots of the biggest and most significant success stories in independent Skateboarding.

The finest stores from each country will put forward their top shop teams, to battle it out for one day in their best Skateparks. With local rounds taking place in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Switzerland, Israel, Holland and for the first time Estonia, Sweden and Russia needless to say that the bar will no doubt be raised yet again, building on the insane level of skateboarding that we have seen over the last 4 years.

The winning team from each country will qualify for an all expenses paid trip to the UK where they will battle it out in the European Shop Riot Finals, pitting their skills against the European Elite for a slice of the 5,000 Euros prize pot.

New for this year is vansshopriot.com, a site dedicated to the series, where you can see who is taking part, edits from the local teams as well as round-ups and exclusive content from each stage of the Vans Shop Riot series. The site will be regularly updated with footage, news and results from each stage, and be the one-stop-shop for you to follow the teams all the way through to the finals.

Check out Vans Shop Riot dates, locations and teams at www.vansshopriot.com and facebook.com/vanseurope
#vansshopriot