Capri Christmas Slide Jam

by adminDecember 21, 2014

Written by: Mike Schein
Photos by: Mark Callanan

With the help of Rachel “Bagels” Bruskoff and Tim “Skittles” Scott as marshals I was super stoked to have been able to organize this first ever Christmas Slide Jam at my local spot. The idea for the event came to mind since I knew that a lot of skaters would already be in the Cape because of Hot Heels a week ago. What better way to bring all those people together than with a slide jam!?

After a bit of thought, I realized that I could turn the event into a legit slide jam if I could get some brands on board to sponsor some free gear. I approached Gunslinger, O’Steez Clothing, Team Edible Things, Baboon Boards and Stainless Marine, all of whom were keen to get involved. Everyone who participated, myself included, couldn’t be more grateful!

The day started out early with tons of skaters already on the hill by the time I made it out there. We had to have two riders meetings – the reason for this was because we were going to be skating on an open road and there are lots of dangers inherent in this. After the riders meetings everyone started skating as much as they could! We ran a judging system that was used by Ross Druckrey and Ethan Cochard in the BoomTown Slide jams in the US. Every skater got 3 rubber bands. They could then give any number of these rubber bands to any skater that they thought deserved them! If someone did something sick that you really enjoyed, you would give them a band.

After about 3 hours of skating, the longest standy contest was held. Lots of people participated, and it went down pretty smoothly! I thought I had it in the bag but then Yannick laid down a huge one on his last slide and snatched the win. A special note goes out to Sameegh who ate it super super hard while participating in the longest standy contest. It looks like he won’t be skating for a few weeks because of a heavily bruised ankle! Heal up quick bru, prayers from my side, mate!

After the longest standy, we counted up the rubber bands, and the 6 finalists walked up the hill. In another three runs each, the finalists had impress the judges Ricki Allardice, Tim Skittles, and Rachel Bagels.

Then there was prize giving! Thanks to all the sponsors, we had more than enough prizes, and could throw out some freebies too! At the end of the day, it was a super fun, and unique jam! The one sad thing is that this jam was the only jam in Cape Town this year besides Llandslide at the beginning of the year. The Cape Town downhill community really needs to realize that what brings us together are events such as this – relatively spontaneous, fun slide jams where everyone can just come and enjoy a day skating with the homies!

Special thanks go to the official event photographer Mark Callanan, (who’s pictures of the event can be viewed here) and to the event videographer, James Park-Ross. James’s #Successful edit of the jam will hopefully be out before Christmas.