Skateboarding for Hope presented by Vans went down at I2B Skatepark on 16 May, 2015 and brought out over 60 of the area’s top skaters for a shot at their share of the R5k prize purse and a chance at a wildcard entry to the TopGrom Championships & KDC SA Championships taking place this October 7-10 in Kimberley at Kimberley Diamond Cup.
While the weather wasn’t fully in our favor, we got the crew together to get everything taken care of before the action went down. We got things started with a soggy session with the children from Bright Lights Home in Somerset West. Martin Stoffberg and Chris van der Merve spread some SFH cheer and spread some positive vibes to the kids with a motivational speech and a skate session before we hooked all 10 of them up with 10 complete skateboards, compliments of Vans.
The level of skating in Somerset was on point as it always is in the CPT area. Most of the top young guns and OG’s alike came out to shred including Tyler Kammies, Ethan Cairs, Shuaib Philander, Khule Ngubane, Jean Marc Johannes, and more. Probably one of the crazier moments of the day was revealing the results; finding Quentin Mooiman just one point ahead of Khule Ngubane, and another behind Nero. JHB transplant Josh Chisholm came through and put down on the course, landing him first place on the podium. Nero, in 2nd, left with the wildcard entry to the KDC SA Champs. Josh Spice topped the day off with a gap to lipslide on the rail, landing him an additional R500 for best trick of the day.
Thanks to all of our sponsors who made the day possible and contributed to another great stop on the 2015 SFH season: Vans, Kumba Iron Ore, Northern Cape Tourism, Red Bull, Top Grom, World Skateboarding Grand Prix, Aquavita, Old School Productions, Pragmatics, and I2B Skatepark for their hospitality and access to the skatepark, and everyone from Bright Lights Children’s Home for bringing the kids out to spend the day with us.
The next opportunityto qualify to compete in KDC this October will be at the KDC Grand Slam at the Coca Cola Dome next month on 14 June. Stay tuned for more details on that one coming soon.
Results
TopGrom
1. Noel (R1500 product voucher)
2. Maximus (R1000 product voucher)
3. Conner (R500 product voucher)
Open Div.
1. Josh Chisholm (R2500)
2. Andrew Nero (R1500)
3. Quentin Mooiman (R500)
Best Trick
Josh Chisholm, Gap to lipslide (R500)
Getting ready to give all 10 of these away.
Chris van der Merve rounding the kids up for some good ole SFH cheer for the children of
Skate lessons with Chris and Martin Stoffberg.
This kid was stoked to finally have his own board.
10 more fresh completes given away to disadvantaged children thanks to Vans.
20SK8 mascot Ethan Cairns with a frontside feeble.
Tyler Kammies with a color-coordinated back lip.
Karl van Antwerp with a back smith as cool as his ‘do.
Khule, always hustling. Back T.
Africa Skate’s own Andrew Nero with a frontside salad grind.
Alex Williams, kickflip front board. This kid has been ripping lately.
JM in the house. Noseblunt.
Spice coming through with the big flick for the win.
Congrats to our TopGrom division winners:
Josh Chisholm came out in first place!
And Nero was in 2nd. Since Spice had already pre-qualified at Midway Mayhem, Nero got himself a wildcard.
Big ups to Open Div. winners Josh Chisholm (1st), Quentin Mooiman (3rd), and Andrew Nero (2nd).
Photos by Grant McLachlan