Words: Jason Wilson / Media: Devin Demenezes
The first Jackalopefest skimboarding competition presented by: Skim USA took place on June 3-4 in Virginia Beach, VA. Started in Montreal, Canada the festival features skateboarding, base jumping, bouldering, freestyle motocross, and now skimboarding! The pro/am skim competition kicked off with pro heats first on Saturday morning, with the high tide, and lightest winds of the weekend. Team standouts in the pro rounds were led by the Valencia brothers who unloaded an arsenal of technical maneuvers with speed and amplitude that stood out above the rest in the hard to skim white water conditions. Straight off the plane from California Mason Broussard also put down a solid first heat showing he’s a force to be reckoned with this year; coming off a difficult knee injury that slowed his pace last season.
In the amateur rounds Dylan Duncan, Graham Shelton, Trent Moranda, Kaleb Perkins, Chip Sanders, and Drew Fusco came out swinging with consistent varials, combinations, and the ability to find lines/reform waves that impressed the judges as on shore winds picked up over 20 mph! On day two the team was faced with relentless winds, after heats were postponed so event organizers and competitors could re-group to better prepare for the tough conditions. Zap Mini division competitor Gio Tomasi started the competition with high energy and smiles that reminded us all what we came to do. His skimboarding and attitude impress the beach as he continues to lead the youth as a shining light in our sport!
Women’s professionals Sydney Pizza and Libby Rendall threw down in a young gun vs veteran, white skim exhibition of bashes and shuv-its that came down to the end, with Syd taking the win in a fun team heat.
To keep things rolling, our top ams scrapped out taking top spots in Mini, Boys, Mens, Masters, Grand Masters, Sr. Grandmasters, and Semi Pro. Up and coming Zap prospects Will Grady, QUICK, and Linclon Wilson made their presence known on tour! The skimboarding competition concluded with a team Zap battle between Yahir Valencia and Mason Broussard that was close all the way through. Mason brought skate style riding and a versatile bag of tricks to the flat ground final, while Yahir skimmed with lightning speed and laser precision that was hard to match. Mason hung on to the end and kept it tighter than most pros could in the Virginia Beach white water to finish second against the winner Yahir Valencia! To make things extra special and put the icing on the cake for our team Mason hustled his way onto the professional skateboarding street course where he had qualified the previous day for the semi-finals. Navigating the chaos, Mason slipped his sandy feet into his skate shoes and threw down a memorable performance as the rest of the team and family cheered from VIP!
Shout out to Jackalopefest, The Hilton Virginia Beach, and Skim USA for throwing one of the best action sports parties we have ever attended. Mega shout out to Tony Hawk who brought his vert showdown to the sand with a giant half pipe on the beach and legendary Bird Man energy that kept us entertained all weekend! Yes, Tony was there! Base jumpers were parachuting off the hotel, landing next to the skim contest. Motocross riders were hitting jumps on the beach and everything seemed to flow in perfect chaos... You do not want to miss this event next year!
