THE GONZILLA.TV INVITATIONAL

8 Oct, 2012 7:44 am by in Comps and Events, Original Features, z

 
 

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Here it is – our first ever invitational event.

We’ve been to many a competition over the years and witnessed some weird formats along the way. We wanted to take the best ideas from those comps and try and create something magical.

Admittedly some of the ideas fell by the wayside for different reasons – the live band, the on slope bar, the hot tub… but what stayed was the simplicity of a good session…

Invite the best rail riders you can get, build a legit setup and offer up a decent prize at the end of it. Focus it on the riders and what they want and need – no controversial judging – put the onus back on the riders themselves, and allow them to throw down.

We also wanted to get a good buzz going on the hill, and we were hyped that we pulled in such a crowd – most of whom had been hanging around Tamworth all day – which deserves some sort of medal in itself! ;)

We were stoked that the TSA dream team of Doug Johnson, Matt Higson, and Ross Needham took on our challenge with gusto and came up with a gnar-arsed setup. The phrase was “there is a grand on offer – we want riders to earn it”.

And they certainly had to. Calum Paton got carted off to A&E and half the field sat back and watched or just did their own thing as the more adventurous riders took on the beast, gappin and transferring like tramps on meth escaping from imaginary snakes.

Let’s not forget the Tamworth team built this park in less than an hour – proof if ever there was one that Snowdome Tamworth is indeed “the best fucking resort in the entire Milky Way”.

Seasoned riders took the more controlled, tech challenges the setup offered up – Chris Chatt and Jonny Russell displayed outrageous board control and found their trannies… which is nice!

But props to eventual glory holder Matt Higson, Will Smith, Ross Needham and Matt McCormick who dominated the gap session, throwing down more and more death defying stunts and hyping the crowd – and us.

Massive thanks to Snowdome Tamworth and TSA for stumping up the cash with us, trusting us and helping us put on a great session – we couldn’t have done it without them, and to all the Doozers behind the Snowdome scenes who brought it all together like clockwork.

Somehow we seem to have created something LEGIT! – Enjoy the show fool!