Athletes Eric Jackson, Leanne Pelosi and Director Travis Robb heat up “Winterpeg’s” Premier of “Black Winter” . Prairies Tour Part 2 of 2.

Next on the Black Winter “prairie tour” was the fine city of Winnipeg, Manitoba featuring an IMAX screening of the movie and a hang session with athletes Eric Jackson, Leanne Pelosi and director Travis Robb. The crew at Royal Sports and Kings Snow, Skate, Surf along with Monster Energy wrangled up the snowboard community which is pretty hefty considering the town’s proximity to the mountains. But in spite of its isolation from anything considerably vertical and snowy it has produced some great riders and more recently the young Andrew Geeves (also in the movie).

Premiering the movie on an IMAX screen raises the energy level a bit especially when the director is also in the house and excited to see his work projected on a 72 ft wide x 53 ft high canvas. The fine detail of the athletes “crash-face” comes across much better on a screen that size and so do those sketchy but salivary big mountain lines. But better than IMAX is having the ‘real thing’ present and have the riders connect with the audience in person by sharing stories and signing autographs. Turns out some of the best stories came from the locals, like the history lesson that Leanne Pelosi got from a Flin Flon local. Yes, Flin Flon is a town in Manitoba and it’s named after a man called Flintabody Flonitan. Let that fun word combo soak in a minute….
As the movie progressed, the crowd showed their love for Leanne and Eric’s parts and gave the “that’s our boy!!” props for Andrew Geeves.  After seeing many of these premieres in the last few weeks I would say that Chas Guldemond’s part always leaves a hush in the audience as people try to wrap their brain around the number of rotations he does.

Montreal Supercross
Olympic Stadium
Montreal, Quebec
October 3, 2009
 
This past weekend the Monster Energy Leading Edge Kawasaki Team traveled to Montreal, Quebec for the annual Montreal Supercross in the Olympic Stadium.  
The team brought two riders, Brock Hoyer from Williams Lake, BC to ride in the Canadian only MX2 class and recently crowned Canadian MX2 National Champion, Teddy Maier from Fort Dodge, Iowa who was riding the new fuel injected Kawasaki KX450F in the MX1 class.
 
During Friday’s practice Teddy felt very comfortable aboard his new bike and clocked the fasted lap times, showing some veteran champions that he was serious about stepping up to the MX1 class. Meanwhile in MX2, Hoyer would log the fourth quickest time in qualifying. These lap times ensured both of the Monster Energy Leading Edge riders a good gate pick for the Main Event.
 
In MX2, the gate dropped and Brock Hoyer would get pinched off on the start. Despite being a ways back from the leaders, Hoyer put his head down and began to charge, logging the quickest lap time of the event in the process. Slowly Brock worked threw other riders into 4th and had a good battle with 3rd place finisher, Brady Sheren but couldn't make the pass before the checkers. Still a great ride for one of Canada's most promising up and coming riders.

Bonser Skatepark
Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Sept. 18-19, 2009
 
Last weekend Monster Energy teamed up with Billabong for the 2nd annual Canadian installment of Damn Am. This two-day event is part of a series of four contests held across the globe for amateur skaters. Consisting of a Bowl Jam, High Ollie contest and BBQ on day one and a Street Contest and Best Trick on day two, the Damn Am series has been a place for amateur skaters to get noticed.

 

The industry watches these events closely, and it's a great place for skaters to show what they can do, and have a great time doing it.

 

Day One - Bowl Jam and High Ollie Contest

A perfect Bowl Jam would be having Alex Chalmers as a guest judge and occasionally having him drop-in to show the skaters some lines. Well, that is exactly what happened. Alex is well known and respected in the skateboard world for his smooth and progressive bowl riding. Chalmers stoked the other skaters to get into the mood for the best trick jam. Highlights include Nathan LaCoste backside smith grinding at mach speeds and Adam Hopkins pulling off a trick on almost every corner and hip in the bowl, giving him the win.

Montreal, Quebec

Am Getting Paid is the largest amateur skate contest in Canada and brings in riders from all over North America. In its 5th year, the event had a location change to Le Taz (a brand new indoor skate-park just outside of downtown Montreal).  The riders were super excited about the new course, some of them saying that, "it was like skating an X-Games course."

Monster Energy had our sample booth set up inside the park, where we sampled two pallets throughout the event to spectators and competitors.  Our V.I.P lounge was the place to hangout, with couches, food, and music for the riders to chill out between rounds. Out of the one hundred and thirty five skaters, Magnus Hanson (Vancouver, B.C.) nailed 1st, Manny Satiago (Massachusetts, USA) 2nd, and Micky Papa (Vancouver, B.C.) 3rd.

 

 

 

Strathcona Skate Park, Vancouver, B.C.



Last Saturday was the ES Game of Skate at Strathcona skate park in Vancouver, presented by Underworld Skate Shop and Monster Energy. 

This contest has been around for years and has had a following of great skaters and spectators, and this year was no exception. Vancouver’s best were in full force, throwing down some amazing tricks.



 

This was the first Canadian event where Marketing merged with the M.A.T. team to execute a perfect day of skateboarding and sampling.  Monster Energy provided the DJ booth, where Vinyl Ritchie spun records all afternoon to create a perfect vibe. 

Magnus Hanson made it all the way to the finals and emerged as the winner.