As we say goodbye to 2020 I’m sure like me you will all be looking forward to 2021 and hopefully a return to something bordering on normality, if we can remember what that is?
The year got off to a bad start when we said a sad farewell to our friend, fellow racer and prime supporter Michael. At least we were able to give him a suitably fitting send off before the government-imposed lockdown began, for most of us that was the last time we saw one another.  

With Covid-19 being rife here, (and everywhere else), all UK races were cancelled. The ISSA also announced that all Main and Prime status events planned for May, June and July were cancelled. This meant that the World Championships due to be held in Båstad, Sweden were to be postponed until 2021. At the time we were clinging on to the possibility that things may have improved by October meaning that we could still hold our Hogtoberfest race, but it was not to be.

There were a few socially-distanced meet ups in Victoria Park when Boris relaxed restrictions earlier in the summer and a few races took place in the States and in the Czech Republic but that was about it for the slalom year.

In June the ISSA decided that as it was impossible to adhere to the scheduled international slalom calendar, they would hold several 25-cone World Series Cyber Slalom events.  Those taking part would need to register their participation on-line with the ISSA and set the same 25-cone straight course on the flat. Everyone would compete virtually on the same day, time their runs and submit the results to Corky the same weekend. The Cyber Slalom Course Specifications were as follows:

• 15ft from start line to centre of first cone. (Push start)
• Cone spacing – 6ft from centre to centre
• 15ft from finish line to centre of last cone.
• 174ft Total from start line to finish line. (174 feet=5304cm)
• Riders must run the course in both directions, two best times (raw time + cones) for each direction must be submitted.

The First event kicked-off during the “Go Skateboarding Day” weekend, 20/21 June with two further events on 22/23 August and 17/18 October. There is another due to take place on 23 January, so if you are interested in taking part please go to the ISSA website for further details and to see the results of the previous events. http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/

UK No. 1 Louis Selby has been taking part in these events and has consistently remained in the top 10 in the Pro category over the past three events. Well done Louis.

Obviously, we remain optimistic as ever that we will be able to hold races again this year and Sam has provisionally booked some dates at Hog Hill as follows:

• The Crackling – 15/16 May
• The Razorback Games – 17/18 July
• Hogtoberfest – 16/17 October

If the May race takes place then this will be dedicated to the memory of Michael Stride and at the July meeting we hope to hold the “old school” tight slalom (4½ -5ft centres) race for the Martin Sweeney Memorial Trophy which was cancelled in 2019 due to the bad weather.

Finally, a big thank you to Nigel Allgood for sorting out the problems with the website.

I would like to finish off by wishing you all a much brighter, happier and healthy new year and look forward to seeing you all again very soon. Take care and stay safe.

Michael Stride. Photo: Jason Bishop

We are deeply saddened to announce that Michael Stride passed away at the North London Hospice on Sunday 23^rd February following a lengthy and courageous battle against cancer.

I first met Michael when we were fresh-faced skaters at Southbank early in 1980/81. Little did I know then what a pivotal role this happy-go-lucky chap, driving around in a yellow Triumph Spitfire, would go on to play in the UK Skate scene. Michael was an enthusiastic supporter of all things skateboarding. In recent years his online skate shop, Octane Sport, would go on to sponsor many Slalom and Downhill events as well as maintaining a team of riders of all ages.

His first love was slalom. It’s resurgence in 2000s would see him travel to the States for the World Championships and compete in slalom competitions all over Europe. Historically the Brits have always been very good at tight slalom – where the cones are closely spaced together – and in 2003 in Morro Bay, CA, Michael beat Chris Barker to be crowned Amateur World Tight Slalom Champion.

Michael racing at Hog Hill. Photo: Jason Bishop

When Sam Gordon first secured Hog Hill as a race venue it was Michael that offered help, providing starting ramps, timing gear, speed guns and prizes. This was a progression of the support that he had provided for the Wasteland series at Hillingdon Cycle Track in the years previous. He didn’t provide for just one event, Michael and Octane Sport were title sponsors for over eleven years. He saw it as his duty as a skater to keep the stoke alive. Octane Sport was the UKSSA’s prime supporter. Michael was a decisive presence at the UKSSA’s inaugural meeting at the Punch and Judy pub, Covent Garden, with Chris Linford and Mog and Barny from Brixton Cycles at the start of the Millennium.

Michael’s love of gadgets and Heath Robinson engineering meant that over time he amassed a fair bit of eclectic timing equipment. When the word spread, Michael and kit were in demand. He timed everything from Joel King’s (and Jason Bradbury’s) jet luge World Record attempts on ‘The Gadget Show’ to running the clock on Guy Martin’s street luge when he was in training for an attempt on the toboggan world speed record. But his TV work didn’t end behind the scenes. He appeared as a judge on ‘Scrapheap Challenge’ where teams were tasked to build giant skateboards. Furthermore, Michael proudly won a Blue Peter badge by teaching Helen Skelton, in her first presenter challenge, to skate so that she could enter the Eastbourne Speed Days Downhill race.

Donning his engineering hat Michael designed and developed a range of CNC trucks for slalom and LDP use. These were sold and distributed by Octane Sport under the Virage brand name and made their debut appearance on the international slalom scene at the Tunnel Race in Zurich, April 2009.  

His 50^th Birthday present to himself was a Caterham 7, which was fettled and tuned to astonishing capacity, just as he would with a skateboard. Michael joined the 7 Club and went out on drives and rallies, where he made many new like-minded technical friends. At slalom events he would turn up with the Octane shop crammed into the passenger seat of the Caterham, with just a few bolts and bushings squeezed into the tiny boot space. In between races he would gleefully take people for a quick burn up round the block.

Those of us that knew Michael well will each have a lasting image or fond memory of him. The news of his passing spread rapidly around the worldwide skate community and tributes soon came flooding in. It is testament to the kind of person he was that there were so many beautifully written heartfelt posts summing up the person he was. Generous, playful, witty (never crude), irascible, but ultimately always inclusive and considerate.

Thank you for all of your kindness, endless enthusiasm and encouragement but above all your friendship. I shall miss you trackside at Hog Hill with the Ol’ Jalopy Shop – C7 SKT and your terrible jokes. Farewell Michael, enjoy the ride. 

 Our most sincere condolences to his mother, sister Susan and the rest of the Stride family.

With thanks to Sam Gordon.

Apologies from the editorial staff (Me!) for the lack of race reports last year but it was a particularly busy one for me. Normal service will be restored for the 2020 season. In the meantime, here are the results from 2019. 

The Crackling 18/19 May

(ISSA Basic Status)

Hybrid Slalom

A Group

1. Louis Selby
2. Sam Gordon
3. Paul Taylor Crush
4. Chris Charalambous
5. John Nicholas
6. Paul Coupe
7. Dill Hill
8. Dobie Campbell

 B Group

1. Richard Searle
2. Trevor Baker
3. Noah Ellison
4. Trevor Hickey
5. Alec Brown
6. Mike Fish
7. Simon T G Wells
8. Rob Ashby – DNR

 Official Timekeeper – Rob Ashby

 Giant Slalom

Raw Times – cone penalties (.2 secs) in brackets

1. Louis Selby                           24.57
2. Sam Gordon                         25.05
3. Paul Coupe                           25.46 (1)
4. John Nicholas                      25.85
5. Noah Ellison                         25.87 (1)
6. Paul Taylor Crush               26.18
7. Dill Hill                                   26.13 (1)
8. Alec Brown                           26.79 (1)
9. Lance Martins                       27.08
10. Trevor Hickey                       27.21
11. Richard Searle                     27.30
12. Alex Ireton                             27.86 (1)
13. Mike Fish                               27.83 (2)

 Turn or Burn @ Paddle Round the Pier, Brighton

6 July

 Tight Straight

1. Paul Coupe

2. Trevor Hickey

3. Dill Hill

Hybrid

1. John Nicholas

2. Dill Hill

3. Andy Makeham 

Summer Swine Stomp – 20/21 July

 (ISSA Basic Status)

Hybrid Slalom

1. Mmedo Duffort
2. Louis Selby
3. Sam Gordon
4. John Nicholas
5. Chris Charalambous
6. Dill Hill
7. Paul Coupe
8. Paul Taylor-Crush
9. Noah Ellison
10. Richard Searle
11. Trevor Hickey
12. Simon Wells
13. Mike Fish

Giant Slalom

1. Mmedo Duffort
2. Sam Gordon                        
3. Noah Ellison                        
4. Dill Hill                                  
5. John Nicholas
6. Trevor Hickey
7. Paul Coupe
8. Paul Taylor Crush
9. Richard Searle        
10. Timmy Peters

 Hogtoberfest and Martin Sweeney Trophy Race – 12/13 October

(ISSA Basic Status)

 Rained Off!

Hogtoberfest this year was tinged with sadness as we remembered our friend and fellow skater/racer Ed Brockman who passed away on 6^th October after an 11-year battle with cancer, our race meeting was dedicated to his memory.

The sun shone down on us as we set up, Chris made a start on course setting while Louis was helping run the sign up and registration desk. Everyone mucked in so in no time at all we were set up and almost ready to roll. A few test runs of the Hybrid course uncovered a couple of sketchy bits that required a bit of tinkering and tweaking but once sorted we were ready for practice to begin.  A late running Vincent Tanguy appeared just as practice got underway, but he was soon ready to race.
Then came our first casualty of the day, resident Swede Olle Bauer came off up by the start ramps and dislocated his shoulder before even going through a cone!

Qualifying Times

There were only a small number of entrants and once qualifying was over the riders were bracketed into two groups of eight. The ‘A Group’ would race first and was comprised of Louis, Chris C, Dobie, Paul T-C, Dill, Vincent, Noah and John Nicholas. The round of 8 saw Dobie, Paul, Noah and John heading for an early bath leaving Louis facing Dill and Chris would be matched against Vincent in the round of 4.  Louis cruised by Dill, the margin almost 3 seconds over the two legs and Vincent dispatched Chris to face Dill in the Consolation Round by a similar margin. Racing was very close in the Consolation Round, but both Chris and Dill picked up cone penalties in their runs, but it was Chris that would take the third-place spot on the podium by 0.37 secs. The final between Louis and Vincent was another close-run thing, both riders picking up a cone penalty, Vincent came out in front by 0.15 seconds. In the second run Louis picked up another cone penalty while Vincent ran clean and took first place.

Trevor Hickey, Simon, Alec, Trevor Baker, Rich, Mike Fish, Paul Coupe and myself were prepared to do battle in the B group. Trevor H. knocked newbie Simon out of contention after he DQ’d his first run leaving too much to make up in the second. Alec versus Trevor Baker was a bit of a cone-fest, but it was Alec that went through on fewer cones. In their first heat Mike and Rich tied, Rich DQ’d and Mike hit 11 cones (10 is a DQ) leaving it all to do in the second run. This time Rich ran smooth and clean, Mike wasn’t so fortunate and took out 5 cones at the bottom of the course meaning The One boss went into the round of 4 with comparative ease. The less said about my efforts the better, I should have opted to stay behind the timing table instead of trying to race as well. The long and short of it, I double DQ’d giving Paul Coupe a very easy journey into the next round. In the round of 4 Trevor went through without too much trouble, Alec hit five cones in the first run and DQ’d in the second. In the other heat Paul Coupe took the first run and Rich just edged over the line ahead of Paul in the second one. However, Paul was just that little bit quicker and advanced to the final by the tiniest of margins, just 0.1 sec.!

In the Consolation Round Alec picked up the third spot after Rich picked up four cone penalties over the two legs to Alec’s 1, leaving the McLaren man smiling at his podium finish. The final between ice cold Paul and fireman Trev was a very even match, both riders were in unison midway through the course on both runs. The only thing that separated them was the fact that Trev hit three cones over the two legs and Paul didn’t, so it was a victory for Paul and a second place for Trev.

With the Hybrid done and dusted it was time to break everything down and head for home.

After the perfect sunshine we experienced on Saturday afternoon we were looking forward to the same on Sunday for the GS, but it was not to be. The rain started and just got progressively heavier as the morning went on, so we sat chatting over numerous cups of tea and coffee in the café. Previously whenever there has been down time between racing we have had a never-ending supply of Ed’s skate tales of yore to keep us entertained but sadly no longer.

At lunchtime we pulled the plug on any hope of racing and began the soggy breakdown and pack up, that was it for another year.

Hybrid Slalom Results

 A Group 

1. Vincent Tanguy (FRA)
2. Louis Selby
3. Chris Charalambous
4. Dill Hill
5. Paul Taylor Crush
6. John Nicholas
7. Dobie Campbell
8. Noah Ellison

B Group 

1. Paul Coupe
2. Trevor Hickey
3. Alec Brown
4. Richard Searle
5. Trevor Baker
6. Rob Ashby
7. Mike Fish
8. Simon T G Wells

Ed at Southbank back in the day.
Photo: Dobie Campbell

On October 6th 2018 the UK skate scene lost another legendary character when Edwin Brockman passed away after a courageous 11 year battle with cancer.

I first met Ed at Southbank in early 1980 along with his very good friend Martin Sweeney and we remained firm friends ever since. Back then, in what has become known as the “dark days” of skateboarding, Southbank was the hub, the focal point of the London scene and home of the LSD Crew (London Skates Dominate – not the drug!). The crew were hardcore, made up of slalomers, freestylers and park riders which made for a great melting pot of talent and Ed was very much at the centre of it all. He would crack funnies at the drop of a hat and have you in stitches as he skated silently behind an unsuspecting pedestrian while pulling faces at them and gesturing. People will probably have their own memory or favourite Ed story. The one it seems that many remember was at one of the legendary post Southbank “food fights” in McDonalds in The Strand. In mid-attack, while bits of gherkin and fries were flying through the air he looked up and shouted, “Oi! I wanna eat my burger not wear it”.  Ed was also the instigator behind the pyjama skates around London not to mention the infamous “dress as an Arab” skate! You’d be locked up for doing that now! He enjoyed travelling to the various competitions around the country with the Southbank crew; always making sure to pick up any stickers and memorabilia wherever he went.      

Following the resurgence of slalom in 2002, Ed travelled to a number of races in Europe to compete with his fellow Brits. Through these European sojourns he not only met new skate friends and fellow collectors but added many more stories to his already extensive repertoire of skate related anecdotes; many of them retold in the café on wet Hog Hill days when he could often be seen holding court and entertaining soggy bedraggled skaters. He loved being at Hog Hill and was always ready and willing to help other riders out be it giving advice based on his wealth of experience or passing on tips to newbies.   

Grüningen, Switzerland, 2005. Pro Tight Slalom – Ed vs YoYo Schulz
Photo: YoYo Schulz

When the UKSSA held their first race at Hog Hill back in 2008 Ed and Martin were there. Ed raced and Martin assisted with cone marshalling duties. In the years that followed, both friends were a common sight trackside at Hog Hill. When Ed was no longer able to race he still came along to help cone marshal, His booming voice became a feature at races and he obviously injected his usual humour to the proceedings, shouting things like “Two of the Queen’s cones on the white lane and f*ck all on the red” on being asked to confirm a cone count. When not marshalling he would take photos of the racing while at the same time shouting words of encouragement to the riders as they passed.

Anyone that knew Ed will know his reputation for being something of a collector, in particular when it came to stickers! “All of the stickers in all of the colourways” springs to mind. They were meticulously stored in albums and plastic storage boxes, each sticker in it’s own individual ziplock bag. If anyone was going to a competition no matter where they always had strict instructions to “Pick up any stickers for me”.   Ed would bring his swaps and duplicates to Hog Hill, setting up his “Little Shop of Treasures” in the cafe selling all things vintage. It wasn’t just stickers though, there were trucks, wheels, bushings, risers as well as various badges and promo items – but always a bargain to be had. 

Even when his health began to deteriorate further it was his wish to come to as many Hog Hill events as he could so he could be with his friends. Paul Coupe would pick Ed and his boxes up from his home in Bermondsey and on arrival at Hog Hill we would get him set up in the café. We are eternally grateful to the very lovely Sylvia from the café who helped keep an eye on Ed and made sure he had his meds on time when we weren’t around.  He still had time for everyone and would sit sharing his memories about being a skater in London during the 70’s and chatting about past races or events. It was always entertaining looking through old skate books with Ed, he would normally have a story about something or someone in it. A few years back we were looking at an article about Skate City in one of my books when he shouted out “F*ck me!” and pointed to the page “See that grem in the white Cooper helmet on the lip, that’s me!” and it was!

Racing at Hog Hill.
Photo: Andy Turner

I will always remember the opening day of The House of Vans in London. Tony Alva, Christian Hosoi, John Cardiel and Steve Van Doren were in town for the official opening. Whilst talking to TA at the signing Ed said “I need to confess something to you Tony” He went on to explain how he and Bricky had ridden his board around at Mad Dog Bowl in the 70’s. It happened when TA and Mark Baker went off to get food before they did their demo later that day. “That’s right” TA said, “That’s right I had a bowl named after me, Ha Ha! So you rode my board huh?” He then proceeded to sign a vans poster, personalising for Ed and referring to Mad Dog Bowl. He was so stoked! About a fortnight later he called me up to ask if I had seen a particular Alva interview? In the interview TA had mentioned talking to some English skater at House of Vans about Mad Dog Bowl and riding his board around when he wasn’t there. “That’s me!” Ed exclaimed.

Ed with TA, the smile says it all.
Photo: Rob Ashby

Ed’s funeral took place at Honor Oak Crematorium in South London on Monday October 22^nd. It was standing room only in the chapel as his family, friends and fellow skaters gathered to pay tribute and say their last goodbyes. Ed’s wishes had specified “Vans are optional but compulsory for skaters” and in accordance with this there were Vans of all colours and styles on show. 
Friends in the skate industry donated skate stickers and I made up sticker bags with them which were given out to skaters in exchange for a donation to the family’s chosen charity Dimbleby Cancer Care, who had supported them throughout the duration of Ed’s illness.

Ed’s board and a pair of his  favorite Vans with floral tribute.
Photo: Alec Brown

TheUK skate scene has lost a truly unique and much loved character and I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are all better people for having known him and that he will be sadly missed by us all.

Our most sincere condolences and thoughts go out to Jill, Jack, Annie-Mae and the whole Brockman family.

Skaters, family and friends remembering Ed after the service.
Photo: Michael Stride

Race report by Rob Ashby

Chris Charalambous passes in front of the distant London skyline.
Photo: Andy Turner

This year’s Summer Swine Stomp took on a slightly different format than usual as it would incorporate the running of the inaugural Martin Sweeney Memorial Trophy Tight Slalom Race. Martin died last October and was one of this country’s top slalom exponents, excelling in Tight Slalom. He was probably best known for setting the original 100 cone record on Hawthorn Hill at Brands Hatch in 1991 which was recorded by BBC TV and featured on Record Breakers with Roy Castle. It was a record that stood for many years to come. At the European Championships at Hog Hill in 2013 Martin was presented with a special ISSA diploma by ISSA President Jani Soderhall in honour of him establishing the 100 cone record. To mark Martin’s passing and the immense contribution he made to slalom skateboarding we decided to hold a race bearing his name with a bespoke trophy to be raced for and awarded annually. The trophy was made from some of Martin’s personal bits and pieces of skate stuff by the very talented Bryn Nulty of Flaming Flamingo Forge and was based on an original sketch by Mac.

The Martin Sweeney Memorial Trophy for Tight Slalom
Photo: Rob Ashby

Numbers were definitely down on previous year’s summer events but those that were there were making the most of the track and the continuing fine hot weather.
Our aim was to run the Memorial Race using a timed, single lane, old school style Tight course on the hill where we normally hold the dual Hybrid. The fastest 10 riders would go through to a final on Sunday.
Chris Charalambous set about putting a course down but on completion and after a few practice runs it was clear that bar himself and Louis nobody else was going to make the course without DQ’ing.  We decided to try something else. We were few in number so were not in any great rush. In fact the afternoon had already taken on a much more chilled and relaxed atmosphere than usual which made a change for me and Sam. Normally we would be up to our necks running the dual Hybrid and manning the timing table/laptop. A new course was soon down and being practiced on but once again it proved way too fast. People were just not making it, either DQ’ing or spraying cones all over the hill, time for another rethink. This time Paul Coupe had a go at course setting, opting for a snaking “S” shaped course down the hill. Whilst it was by no means perfect and would not be the actual course used for the race we decided to leave it down for people to skate. Saturday therefore became just a nice relaxed “free skate”.
Whilst all the shenanigans were going down on the hill, Jim “Nutsac” had scoped a nice flat-ish section of track behind the Downhill start line up at the top of the track that would a) allow a proper old school TS course to be set b) with sufficient space to run it as a head to head race and C) it would allow the Downhill crew to get involved if they wanted to.
Having liaised with Timmy we decided that we would run the memorial race proper on Sunday afternoon after the GS. It would be old school in every way including a limited push start into the course. With a new plan in place for Sunday we headed home.

Saturday’s chilled atmosphere spilled over into Sunday, it was still too hot to rush anything and shade was at a premium. As is customary we began the day with the Giant Slalom; with only a small amount of racers we opted to go for the best of three timed runs. It was very hot but there was an occasional breeze, which whilst welcome by onlookers roasting in the searing Midday sun, could have a negative effect on a racers run time.

Andy Turner prepared for launch.
Photo: Rob Ashby

Following a short delay due to a timing issue we began the practice session…  “Mad dogs and Englishmen” springs to mind. During practice a few minor tweaks were made to the course before getting down to the serious matter of the actual timed runs. Racers may have been few in number but the competition was as fierce as ever, all eyes on the digital time clock at the top of the hill. After the first run Louis was leading the pack with a clean run time of 25.22 but Sam was hot on his heels with 25.44 also clean. Paul TC, Paul Coupe, Dill, Andy and Chris Charalambous were all putting very good 26 sec. times, the battle was very much on. Try as he might Sam couldn’t nudge Louis off the top of the leader board. His best run of 25.02 clean wasn’t quick enough. Louis’ final run time, a clean 24.68 ensured he chalked up another Hog Hill GS win for his Pavel Twin Terror model.

During the GS Simon Gunning, former World Record holder in Downhill showed up complete with his Roger Hickey designed downhill set up and gave a bit of an impromptu “show ‘n’ tell. He has even mentioned maybe coming along to Hogtoberfest possibly with a luge? That would be good to see. It is always good when old faces turn up at Hog Hill, you just never know who’ll show up next?

Simon’s Roger Hickey designed Downhill board.
Photo: Rob Ashby

From the GS we turned our attention to setting up the courses for Martin’s race. Big thanks go to Jim “Nutsac” Parry Jones for getting everything going on that front ably assisted by Chris and Dobie. In fact at this point I would like to say a special Big Thanks to Dobie for his sterling work on contacting sponsors for the race and getting us a stash of goodies from far and wide. This enabled us to make sure that everyone that entered walked away with something and we still have some left for Hogtoberfest too!

The dual Tight course
Photo: Rob Ashby

As previously mentioned the race format was going to be old school in every way. The idea was that everyone would race one another, there was a limited push start into the course, no cone penalties, 4 cone = DQ, first across the finish line takes the point. The two riders with the most victories would race for the trophy.  Simple and to the point.
A few interested longboarders came across to try slalom during what became a bit of an extended practice session. After a very brief rider briefing we began the head to head racing. Racers formed two queues and waited for their turn to race. The start was a simple 3-2-1-GO! then the skaters pushed hard into the course. With no cones to count and very few cones to replace the racing was almost continuous. Everyone seemed to enjoy the informal jam format feel to the racing. Chris was on blistering form, making short work of the tight course and racking up victories.

Chris Charalambous, speed and style.
Photo: Andy Turner

Simon TG Wells “Having a blast”
Photo: Andy Turner

Louis heading for the final against Chris.
Photo: Andy Turner

Unfortunately owing to a slight misunderstanding with our exit time from Hog Hill we were forced to bring a premature end to the heats and proceed to the final based on the greatest number of wins so far. A quick look at the tally board showed that Chris and Louis had chalked up the most wins and so would face each other for the honour of lifting the trophy. It was fitting too that one of Martin’s Southbank brothers should be in the final against the current cream of the crop – the best of British old and new.  
In the first run Louis hit just one cone and crossed the line just inches ahead of Chris who had run clean just as he had pretty much done all afternoon. All eyes were on the course as both riders began pushing in for the last run. Chris clipped a cone at the top of the course but was still neck and neck with Louis. Then it all went wrong for normally clean running Chris as he took out a swath of cones halfway through the course and DQ’d, leaving a very jubilant Louis, the winner of the inaugural Martin Sweeney Memorial Trophy Tight Slalom Race.

Well raced chaps.
Photo: Andy Turner

We carried out a token presentation as the trophy still needs a little bit of work to finish it off. The formal presentation will be carried out by members of Martin’s family who will award the trophy to Louis. I’ll keep you posted on when and where that will be.
Sam Gordon was awarded a special one off slalom deck made by sp8boards complete with the UKSSA 10^th anniversary Mac graphic printed on it. This was in recognition of getting the UKSSA racing at Hog Hill 10 years ago and so starting everything off.
 

Rob presents the Martin Sweeney Memorial Trophy to winner Louis Selby
Photo: Rob Ashby

Sam Gordon with the Special Award Slalom Board made by SP8boards with Mac “Hog” 10th Anniversary graphic.
Photo: Chris Drewery Photography

The weekend panned out slightly different than I had originally anticipated but I think Martin would have approved of the relaxed vibe. I enjoyed the few runs I did for him on his old set up that Paul Coupe bought along – I even got a clean run in! Quite a few people came up to me and said how much they enjoyed jam format head to head racing and that we should do more of it; something to think about for future Sunday afternoons after the GS perhaps?

Jim “Nutsac” enjoying the vibe.
Photo: Andy Turner

Dobie and Chris – when you gotta chill, you gotta chill.
Photo: Andy Turner

Schwag for all from our very generous sponsors.
Photo: Rob Ashby

Simon Gunning catching up with Chris after many years.
Photo: Rob Ashby

The Most Gigantic Mahoosive Thanks Dept.

On behalf of everyone monumental thanks go to Sam Gordon for getting us the gig in the first place 10 years ago and for all of his subsequent first class work in front of and behind the scenes, sign-up etc. ever since. We all appreciate your enthusiasm and commitment. I know you will be stepping back a bit what with fatherly duties and all but nonetheless the slalom community owe you much beer and many packets of crisps.

The Usual BIG Thanks Dept:

Michael Stride and Octane Sport for their ongoing support with ramps, timing and prizes

Lyn and Richard Case/RK Case Contractors for ramp storage

Simon Wells for transportation/ramp shifting and generally getting involved in just about everything during set up, racing and breakdown

LSD Crew – Jim Parry Jones, Dobie Campbell and Chris Charalambous

Kryptonics – for the awesome wheels!

Bod Boyle/Dwindle Distribution

Don Brown/Etnies

Dan Jagger/Supreme

Donald Campbell/Pavel Skates

Sabina Edwards/Thrill Magazine

Ian Coles, Sylvia, Dave and all of the staff at Redbridge Cycling Centre

 St John’sAmbulance Service

 Coupe Limousine Service

 ……And finally a special big “Thank You” to everyone that raced and helped out whether it be writing things on whiteboards, set up/break-down, van packing the whole shebang – many hands make light work.

Summer Swine Stomp 2018 Results

Giant Slalom

Raw Times – cone penalties (.2 secs) in brackets

1. Louis Selby                           24.68
2. Sam Gordon                         25.02
3. Dill Hill                                   25.84 (3)
4. Andy Turner                          26.46 (1)
5. Paul Coupe                          26.30 (2)
6. Paul Taylor-Crush               26.58 (1)
7. Chris Charalambous           26.92
8. Trevor Hickey                        26.94 (1)
9. John Nicholas                      26.74 (4)
10. Mike Fish                               DQ

Martin Sweeney Memorial Race Tally Board

Once again it’s time to grab your sunnies, deck chair, sun cream and best wiggling board for the annual Turn & Burn race at the Paddle Round the Pier Festival, Hove Lawns. Come on down, take in some sea air and glorious sunshine down in Brighton this weekend.
Big thanks go to the Paddle Round the Pier committee for having us back as part of their festival.

Due to logistical reasons the main race day will be Saturday when we will be running with ramps and timing. Unlike previous years we will aim to run both head to head Tight and Hybrid races on the same day. This should be feasible but is dependant on the number of riders. Sunday will therefore be a free day for riding slalom on the same spot for whoever is around.
The weekend forecast is “Scorchio” so I anticipate the going will be good to soft as the sun heats up the asphalt. We all know how soft underfoot it gets in the afternoon so as ever wheel choice will be key as the conditions change. Bring some shade with you too!

Race sign-up is on the day and entry is £10

See you there!

https://www.paddleroundthepier.com/
https://www.facebook.com/PaddleRoundThePier/

This years Summer Swine Stomp sees a change from the usual schedule in order to accommodate the running of the inaugural Martin Sweeney Memorial Race. Martin was a true UK slalom legend and the first person to set a record for skating 100 cones. The UKSSA will be celebrating Martin’s incredible talent with an annual old school Tight Slalom race for the Martin Sweeney Trophy made by the very talented Bryn Nulty of Flaming Flamingo Forge. The first of these will be run over the weekend of 14th/15th July at the Summer Swine Stomp event.
The race is sponsored by Octane Sport, Kryptonics Wheels, Dwindle Distribution, Etnies, Pavel Skates and Supreme.

The format will be timed runs on an old school style single lane Tight Slalom course. The course will be set using the whole width of the small hybrid hill and is intended to be fun but challenging course. We will have a final on Sunday featuring the top 10 fastest riders. Members of Martin’s family will be present to award the trophy on Sunday.
We will still run the usual GS on Sunday morning and time/weather permitting we may try and shoehorn in a head to head hybrid gauntlet race or similar?