JHB Downhill presents VTM Freeride – Event recap

Images: YTT photo events & Zander Erasmus 
Words & Images: Peter Köhne

Due to there being no race series in S.A this year JHB guys have taken it on themselves to try to organize some races and freeride events. The VTM freeride was a two-day event camp over with the option to skate two different hills.
Saturday kicked off pretty gloomy in and around Gauteng, which left a lot of us questioning the condition of the hill. After a little bit of a late start, guys were already skating in the wet but drying road, others just patiently waiting it out. In the meantime guys were taking advantage of the two small quarter pipe kickers we had brought from Bun and Bunee for the guys to skate in the downtime.By 11 on Saturday the rain was gone and the road had dried out. This is when the pack runs kicked off and pretty much continued in the same fashion most of the weekend.
Because of the lost time due to road drying guys were still keen to skate the schanskop run the rest of the day with everyone having a great time mobbing and having some bump draught runs. We continued to skate the skop until about 17:30 and then went to set up the sleeping arrangements and get settled. Once everyone was settled in the Voortrekker hall (the ones sleeping over)and had chilled for a bit, it was time for some night runs! The very first Schanskop night runs ever, and what an awesome way to end the first day of a freeride!

Then the keg from Black Horse brewery was unleashed the braai was set afire and we jammed to some sweet beats into the evening.

Day 2 was a slow start but expected as we had countless runs the previous day and guys were slightly knackered. We kicked it off at slide hill and guys shredded some urethane for a while before the road got a bit too busy and we decided to go back to some more skop runs. The rest of the day was filled with packed mob film runs and the guys too tired to carry on skating to have a good laugh with mates on the sidelines while guys came through the final S’s. It was cool to see the true spirit of a freeride, guys weren’t phased to put on leathers to push themselves to go faster, everyone was stoked to just jam together and other than a few roasties here and there no injuries!

Such a rad chilled freeride, one could not really ask for more. Big ups Elster for organizing such a sick event and cooking up a storm for the masses and Julian and co for always getting us back to the top of the hill!

Enjoy some stills picked out from the event!