Report: Street Battle Seattle 2008

Tags: erik allas, jeremy townsend, street battle seattle

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Street Battle Seattle was created in the summer of 2000. It is the longest running annual rollerblading contest in Seattle history. Not only does Street Battle Seattle attract the best in the Northwest, but it has also been known to bring in world class field of competitors- Andy Kruse, Dustin Halleran, Randy Spizer, Cameron Card, Demitrious George, Tommy Cheung, Rachard Johnson, Matt Andrews, and Brian Aragon have all been former Street Battle Seattle competitors. Now on its eighth consecutive year. It is the very first of street only contests. Truly one of a kind. It is run by rollerbladers, judged by rollerbladers, and is put on with the selfless thought of promoting rollerblading and bringing a unifiying event to the Seattle scene. It is a contest that myself and many other NW locals look forward to attending every year.

This years contest begins just as any other.

Jeremy Townsend: 'Hello?'

Me: 'Um hey, where are you?'

Jeremy Townsend: 'Running late dude, actually everyone is running late. I'll call you when I leave my house, we'll come get you. Actually, go to the store and buy some beer, by the time you get back, we should be there.'

Me: 'Sick.' End of call 11:00AM.

Scheduled meeting time for Street Battle Seattle 2008, 11:00 AM.

Leave it to Jeremy Townsend to show up late for his own contest. But in his own mind, he's really not late. Accustomed to the fact that rollerbladers in general never show up on-time for anything. He knows his crowd isn't showing up until 12pm. Its the foresight, careful planning, to know his own crowd and the people participating that allows this contest to run smoothly, year after year.

Street Battle Seattle is run in four locations. The first location being the general meeting spot. This is where the skaters register to compete and get directions for the next 3 spots. The meeting locations are carefully scouted out before the event. Picking a good location is pretty hard for renegade style street contests, 100+ rollerbladers gathered in one area is far from inconspicuious and generally generates a lot of heat from the local authorities. Alternative locations are a must if the show is to go on after a bust.

The meeting spot for this years Street Battle Seattle was Seattle's very own Greenlake skate park. A relatively new skatepark featuring small street obstacles and hard trannied bowls. A perfect warm up for most skaters. Skateparks are good first meeting spot due to the fact that you can't possibly get kicked out.

After registration, we headed out to the first spot. This spot featured a long step up style ledge. I was able to scout this location early this year. What I really anticipated was skaters utilizing the long ledge for lines. Instead competitors decided to utilize the last half of the ledge. I was amazed at the grinds performed on both the lower ledge and the step up. Several of Seattle's best wowed the crowd with crazy switch-ups. True athleticism was clearly demonstrated as skaters jumped up onto the step up with long steezed out grinds. An addition to this location was several steep transfer rails where bonus points were awarded for those brave enough to try to grind them.

Lavelle with a backside Savanah

Ross Kuhn

The second location was a school on the opposite end of the city. Many of this years skaters decided to ignore the directions and try to find this spot on their own. Amazing as rollerblader skate-spot radar is, this made for quite a delay at this location. A delay that was long enough for the local PTA to spark some interest in our activities and make a phone call to the local authorities. With little time on our hands the contest continued on a seven flat seven kink, this was performed on another side of the campus where the PTA was less involved in watching our every move. Creativity came out at this location as skaters demonstrated true balance by grinding through the kink, while others opted to go at it with more speed and gap off of the end. After our friends from the PTA left, the session made its way to the opposite side of the campus. There, skaters had the option of either skating a flat rail or another obstacle affectionetely named Nessy. Nessy being a concrete artpiece in the shape of a long serpentine water monster (Lochness Monster). The second round ended with wallrides and grind combinations on Nessy's curvy back. As we were leaving this location, Seattle Police Department decided to pay us a visit. We were lucky enough to finish the session without a bust.

Jake Dotson, Cab AO Fish

The final location was at yet another public school closer to the original meeting spot of the event. This skate spot featured a long steep 18 stair rail and a flat kink to drop bordering one of its sides. I got this reaction from one of the competitors after first seeing the final obstacle, "Are you serious? You want us to skate that?"
The fearless and brave competitors pressed on with wreckless abandonment of life, limb, and nutsack.

JT Truit, Backside Fastslide

The competitors returned to Greenlake Skatepark to finish out the day and announce the winners of Street Battle Seattle 2008.

The winner of Street Battle Seattle had to prove themselves at each location. The amount of tricks combined with consistency and style made the winner. The winner took home a prize purse of $500. This years winners were:

1st Place- Jake Dotson
2nd Place- Kawika Jarman
3rd Place- Ross Kuhn
4th Place- JT Truitt
5th Place- Dustin

Jake Dotson 1st Place Winner

After the contest, the official afterparty continued at a swanky nightclub deep in the heart of downtown Seattle. Put together by Jeremy Townsend, a handful of rollers finished the day with copious amounts of alchohol, dancing, and pretty ladies. Good times were had all around. A perfect end to Street Battle Seattle 2008.

Street Battle Seattle is not possible without the following Sponsors: Be-Mag, K2, Upheaval Designs, Teampartydown, Ground Control, Razors, Eulogy, 616, Night

Words and photos by Erik Allas