Zero/Mystery Demo @ Kinsmen Skatepark
Words and Photos by -Owen Woytowich
Everyone loves that song from S-Club.. "Ain't no party like an S-club Party", right? Well, the city of Prince Albert in was singing a new tune. "Ain't no Demo like a Zero Demo". On Saturday, Sept 23rd, the city was graced with the presence of Ryan Bobier, Tommy Sandoval, Jamie Tancowny, Jimmy Carlin, and the chief himself, Jamie Thomas. The demo was to kick off the grand opening of the newly constructed The newly created masterpiece from New Line. The park alone was worth the drive from all over, but to have the likes of those rippers there as well was the icing on the cake.
Jamie Thomas, backside lipslide hubba
The day started off with the traditional shop signing, in which well over 400 kiddies crammed around the block to catch a glimpse and autograph of their favorite skaters. If that was any indication of the response to these guys, the demo was going to be ridiculous... sure enough, by the time demo time was scheduled to begin, the huge football sized plaza was completely crammed with kids, parents, local media, police....the whole nine yards.
Jamie Thomas, tuck knee
Seriously, if you were a thief, that was the day to be looting houses, because I'm sure the whole city was at the park.
Jimmy Carlin, switch heel gap
Anyways, one had to feel horrible for the guys. They've skated packed demos before, but this was just stupid. The amount of people was so huge, that for the first 20 minutes, only two obstacles were skateable.
However, after the Chief bellowed, the crowds eventually made way. It was almost comical because the more people would move, the more obstacles were discovered. Like discovering treasure almost, their zeal would spark up as they'd find a new gap or rail. In fact at one point, the excitement peaked when it seemed they were ready to call it quits...then Jamie Thomas discovered a double set. Now it was on!
There were seriously so many banger tricks landed that it's impossible to list them all. Here are a few notables that pop out. Little Jamie Tancowny threw down likely 20 tricks on a big nine stair rail every try.
Ryan Bobier, frontside blunt
Then on the monster pink handrail, the 1st try backside overcrook just blew people away! Jimmy Carlin the newest Mystery am did the nicest reg and switch fs flips over everything, among others. Ryan Bobier completely destroyed the double kinked rail, finishing it off with a gap to backside noseblunt! Wow...seriously, wow! Jamie Thomas of course did the tricks we've come to love from him, which was remarkable as it was his first serious skating mission since his recent knee surgery. But oh, the consistently in him, and the tricks showed why he has become a household name in every skateboard home. However, I think everyone would agree that the demo belonged to Tommy Sandovol. Every trick could have been an ender in a skateboard section. Backside three sixty over the huge gap, three flip over it, backside 180 50 down the double set hubba, kickflip front tail down it...the list goes on and on and on and on...seriously. Never have I seen a guy skate as hard and land as many tricks at the rate he did them. Hats off to Tommy.
Tommy Sandoval, Nollie backside180 gap
Ryan Bobier, gap to nosegrind
Ryan Bobier, gap to backside noseblunt
However, like all good things, it had to come to an end. The damage they did in that short demo will have PA buzzing for years. A huge thank you to the pros that flew in, to Sid and everyone at Centre Distribution for paying, the posse at New Line Skateparks for another marvelous park and Adam at Propaganda for organizing the event. For video highlights, peep this link:
that Garret Kendel filmed. Give it a few minutes to load, there's about 9 minutes of it!
Words and Photos by -Owen Woytowich
