7’s Slide Jam – Event Recap

Written by: Henry Shen
Photo by: Tanya Swanepoel

Some of the local groms and even pros pulled through to the event and everyone was stoked to have a chance at prizes.

I faced some serious challenges while organising the event. One of the biggest problems was a problem I had to settle with myself and that was the pressure of wanting to organise a sick event and not leave anyone disappointed. I wanted to organise something that was Safe and that wasn’t very easy as I couldn’t close off the road for the event which obviously in turn didn’t allow skaters to skate to their full potential.

Another challenge for hosting any event if I’m not mistaken is getting prizes. Like, be honest skaters! Most of you all pop up at events hoping for prizes. Like, who doesn’t want free gear? FREE gear spreads some stoke in all of our souls if we are lucky enough to get something. I struggled a few days in getting prizes but thanks to Ricki Allardice, Gunslinger, and Boardhub for helping out with something to keep the beasts satisfied.

Now that the negatives are out of the way here are some positives from the event…

We had some sick exposure to skating in Cape Town and in general. There were newspaper reporters scouting for their latest find and they came across a Sick group of fearless daredevils busting out fat standies and just going slideways. A photo of a local legend skating at the jam “Kent Lingeveldt” appeared in the Sunday Times Newspaper.

The best thing about hosting Local events or any event at all is knowing that you just helped better the sating scene in your community. Be honest with yourself. As skaters, you all want to better the scene and I hope this article inspires more events like this one. I hope it helps skaters realize that it doesn’t take a million rand to close off roads for some posh event in order for us to have some fun. Outlaw that SH!T. Outlaw the SH!T out of that street! JUST SPREAD THE STOKE AND KEEP SKATING ALIVE.

Winners:

Longest Heelside: Blue Goodman

Longest Toeside: Yannick Lussier

Race Winner: Blue Goodman

See you at the next one!

Henry.