Archive for July, 2008
WCR 2008 Edit by Brazilionaire
Take a look at an edit of the 7th Annual WCR by Helton “Brazilionaire” Siqueria. Helton is a young filmmaker living in the Chicago area. He is most recently noted as having won the “Best Music Video” category at the CineYouth film festival presented by Cinema / Chicago. His music video, “Technology” was a short-form music video starring “The RichKiddz” rapping and singing about today’s youth involvement with technology culture.
Update: WCR 2008 Results
Those who came to the Windy City Riot this year got exactly what they’d expect. Interesting spots, run-ins with the police, sticky weather, amazing skating, wild after-parties –”all things blade”. Seven years running, the WCR has once again proven to be one of the best street contest to attend every summer in North America. The purse totaled just under a whopping $500.
This year the WCR returned to a two-day format. On the first day, everyone joined in a celebration of all things strange. The flatland contest was won by Justin “Jefferson” Augustus from Iowa. You may remember Jefferson as being one of the “most innovative” winners from years past. Then comes Antone. Anthony “Antone” Anderson (Chicago, IL) stole the high-jump title from the previously undefeated Paul John (cleared 53″ clean and 55.5″ with a brush on the pole), dunk contest (cannot explain in words) and tied the long jump contest with Matt Strobot (Cary, IL) at 223″. After all was said and done, the pre-contest proved to be one of the most exciting collection rollerblading moments of my life. We finished off the first day by skating a launch to metal planter. Too many kids to name skated amazingly however, it seems that Kruise Sapstein tore this spot harder than anyone else–especially after landing a fakie 540 topsoul to gap out. Many props to Kruise.
The beginning of day two was a “chest”. It was pouring rain and a huge event took place right near the meeting spot with forced the contest to be moved to, that’s right, lower wacker–Chicago’s depths of hell. We fashioned a launch ramp made of plywood to skate a high handicap rail. This was a great time until the biker cops rolled up and started giving everybody (myself included) $60 parking tickets. We, of course, moved on to the next spot. Walt Disney Magnet Elementary was a good solid spot with many skaters lacing tricks and many spectators yelling “Aaaaahhhh!”‘s…as you should find in any good street contest. The nicest police officer in Chicago politely asked us to move on so we did. The final spot allowed for some interesting tricks to be done. This kink rail next to a ledge wrecked some and made a hero of others. Casey Bohrnell broke his ankle and John Adams may have broken his wrist. The contest proved to be a battle between Jeph Howard and Derek Larson. Derek landed the best trick of the contest by stalling the fence, dropping to a fakie roll on the ledge then dropping blind to top soul on the rail. For a better idea of what happened at the final spot, you’d have to see the footage. Here are the results:
1st – Jeph Howard (MN)
2nd – Derek Larson (MN)
3rd – Kruise Sapstein (IL)
4th – Logan Clark (IA)
5th – Brian Bruno (IL)
Best Trick- Derek Larson
Best Style- Kruise Sapstein
Worst Fall/Scariest to Watch- Dave Depew
Most Innovative – John Adams
Way Cool- Aaron Peterson
Biggest Chest- Tony Wolak
Should Have Skated- Kruise Sapstein
Biggest Baby- Mike Froemling
Most Flamboyant- Brian Bruno
Update: Spots and Directions for WCR 2008
WCR 2008 Directions
Day 1
To the meeting spot – From the Northwest, take I-90/94 into the city, go past 290/congress and exit on 18th. Turn right onto 18th Street to head West. Make your first left onto Halsted. Make your first right onto 19th Street to head West. The meeting spot is at the basket ball court one block down on your left. From the West, take 290 into the city, just before you get downtown take I-90/94 East towards Indiana. Exit on 18th Street. Turn right onto 18th Street to head West. Make your first left onto Halsted. Make your first right onto 19th Street to head West. The meeting spot is at the basket ball court one block down on your left. From the South/East, take either I-90/94 into the city. Exit on Canalport/Cermak. Turn left onto Canalport to head Southwest. Go under the highway then take a right onto Halsted to head North. Go two blocks then take a left onto 19th Street to head West. The meeting spot is at the basket ball court one block down on your left.
Meeting Spot to Spot 1 of 4 – Wood Street Ledges – 640 s. Wood St. – Begin by heading North on Halsted. Go 0.8 miles and turn left onto Roosevelt. Go 1.3 miles and turn right onto Wood. Go 0.3 miles and the ledges are on the right side across the street from the construction. Feel free to park near the ledge.
Day 2
General directions to Spot 2 of 4 – I-290 and I-90/94 to Sea Wall/Shedd Aquarium – 1200 S. Lakeshore Dr. – Note: You’ll need quarters for parking. Head East on 290 towards Congress. 290 becomes Congress. Go past the Indian on the horse statue then turn right onto Columbus (at Buckingham Fountain). Go 0.7 miles then turn left onto McFetridge Drive towards the Field Museum and Soldier Field. Turn left at the T-intersection the spot is immediately after the curve on your left side. Park at the nearest meter to the spot and head towards the water on the north-side of the road.
Spot 2 to Spot 3 – Walt Disney Magnet School – 4140 N. Marine Dr. – Head West towards Lake Shore Drive. Turn right onto Lake Shore Drive. Go 6.6 miles and exit on Irving Park (If you hit Montrose or Wilson, you’ve gone too far). Turn left onto Irving Park then take your first right onto Marine. Go 0.2 miles and the school is on your left. Look for the square black stair rails. Turn left on the alley-type road that is on the south side of the building to park behind the building. We’ll skate the stuff on the northeast corner of the school.
Spot 3 to Spot 4 – Forest Glen Train Station Kinks – 5301 N. LeClaire Ave. – Head south on Marine back towards Irving Park. Turn right onto Irving Park. Go about 4 miles and take I-90/94 West towards Milwaukee. Stay right to continue on I-94. Exit on Foster, which is the first exit after 90 and 94 split. Turn right onto Foster to head West. Go 1000 ft (3 blocks) and take a soft right (not the 90 degree) onto Elston. At the second intersection take a right onto LeClaire. The rails are immediately on your left. Park in the parking lot straight ahead. The award ceremony will be held at the after-party location. Don’t forget to pick up your ballot.
Spot 4 to the after-party – Juan/Biff/Atteo’s – Don’t arrive before 10. Head southeast on Elton back towards the highway. Take I-94 East back towards the downtown Chicago. Take I-94 for 6 miles then exit on North Ave (If you hit Division, you’ve gone too far). Turn right onto North Ave. Go 0.6 miles then turn left onto Damen. The apartment is immediately on your right side above Skewers. Good luck finding parking. I recommend looking for side-street parking. Don’t smoke inside. Don’t open the windows. Please be respectful. There will be free Sparks and hopefully a couple of kegs. If you are under 21, you must be accompanied by an adult. You cannot sleep at the after-party location.
Thanks for coming to the Windy City Riot 2008! See you next year.
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This just in: Be-Mag to Give Top 5 Subscriptions!
I’ve just gotten news from the good guys over at Be-Mag that the top five competitors will be awarded a subscription to Be-Mag. And if that wasn’t enough, there will be plenty of free Be-Mag’s for competitors and spectators to grab at the contest. Be-mag has been a strong supporter of the Riot for many years and we want to thank Be-mag, yet again for pulling through. On a side note and in case you didn’t know, Be-Mag has, what seems to be, the largest and most popular messageboard in our sport. I highly recommend that you Join and post on the messageboard and subscribe to Be-mag!
WCR 2007 Images by Mire
Yet another update. Fresh from 2007, I’ve recently acquired some really nice images of WCR 2007 from Dylan Mire of Nashville, TN. Here is a link to the gallery. Dylan Mire is an amazing photographer who takes great skating photos. He seems to specialize in band and performance photography. Take a look at his Myspace Photography page for more examples of his work.
