SUCK MY TRUCKS 2015
On Saturday, 25th July 2015, BETONKULTUR e.V. hosted the fifth SUCK MY TRUCKS all-girl skateboarding contest at ‘Skatehalle Berlin’. Five years: that means 69 competitors from 15 different countries and 48 different cities.
Yet, it all began a day earlier when the participants – half of which coming from the Netherlands – gathered at the Berlin indoor skate park to attend the so-called ‘spot tour’ as a customary pre-event to the main event proper.
The ‘Warschauer Bänke’ (i.e. a famous local skate spot) are deserted, everything is calm and clean, neat and tidy, the sun is shining, birds are twittering … until a mob of 20 teenagers comes rushing in, crashing the party. At the end there’s games of S.K.A.T.E. – with 360 Flips, Hardflips, BS Flips – the eponymous benches are given some tries with 50/50s, Smith und Crooked Grinds. One grazed knee and one slightly re-broken rip later, we move on to the next spot.
We end up at ‘Volkspark Friedrichshain’, more precisely: the mini ramp. Yes, the thing has a metal surfacing, and yes, it is hot when you fall; for it is 25°C (77°F) and the sun is roasting.
Even though the mini ramp was good for an hour of fun and games, the bruises and pressure marks from the impacts on hot metal also increased – and so we move on to the ‘Polendenkmal’ where it is much shadier.
Gradually, there is less skating and more talking. And why not, since some girls are meeting and getting to know each other for the first time while others are celebrating an early reunion after the last event. From time to time, you can hear boards popping, rounds of applause or cheers of encouragement. After lunch break we briefly drop by at the ‘dog shit spot’ and then return to the ‘Skatehalle’. For the rest of the day the girls are shredding in here. After all, there’s still the contest, and it might be advisable to take a peek at the Nike SB Shelter’s design.
Contest day, 12pm. Registration desk. Out of nowhere a decent line of people emerges. Everyone wants to register as a participant, pay the admission fee, buy an official contest shirt, ask a question, have a chat or simply say hello.
At 1pm the girls are eventually allowed to enter the skate park and what follows can only be described by ‘an incredibly fabulous contest day’.
The judges – Anna Groß, Gienna Giese and Kim Wibbelt – are busy for sure, after all there’s 22 participants. This time, Mack McKelton comperes not only in German and English but also in French.
French competitor Hélené Gérard, our exchange rider from ‘Chicks on Wheels Contest’ in Toulouse, achieved the third place in the street contest with a Crooked-Grind, a Fakie 360 Flip und a solid BS Boardslide down the big handrail. Keet Oldenbeuving, a mere ten years old girl from the Netherlands and by far our youngest competitor, delivered solid Heelflips, Kickflips, BS Boardslides und a huge Ollie down the small stair set (which is still bigger than her). That’s how and why she made second place.
It was, however, another rider from the Netherlands, Iris Besseling, who achieved first place with stay-on-runs, smooth Ollies, Nollies, 50/50s, Liptricks and Ollies from the beginners’ area into the first transition and, following that, down the big stair set. Kudos! – And that’s it for street.
The bowl contest made one thing clear from the beginning: the girls did not come to surrender! Giving up easily was not an option. Silvia Serret presented Grinds so long we could have a lunch break in the meantime. Going Fakie across the whole corner or doing a Transfer over a 2 meter gab into the nearby mini ramp was not a problem for her either. Sarah de Laet presented her signature move, the Boneless to Tail and also landed a Kickflip to 50/50 later. Hélené Gérard broke one of her rips about a month before SMT. But still she insisted on going big, and due to that she had to take some pretty harsh impacts. Every time she fell and her glasses went flying, you could tell from her face that she was utterly in pain. And then she got up with that facial expression of ‘Right, now I’m angry!’ and landed that damn Early Grab, that 360 and even that Blunt to Flip. No pain, no gain: second place.
Involuntarily, 15 years old Máite Steenhoud from Belgium took several closer looks at the bowl’s flat, as well. Still, she delivered some pretty rad old-school flair with Smith-Grinds, Grabs and Airs until, sadly, that FS Smith Grind over the door frame blew her off the board. A well-deserved first place, and the crowd got wild!
At the CHICKS ON WHEELS contest Hélené Gérard won a flight to Berlin to attend SMT; and in return the best German competitor of SMT 2015, Amelie Tiedeken, will be going to France for the COLLECTIF FILLES tour in 2016. What a unique exchange program and what a pleasant surprise for Amelie when publicly announced; actually, she had to sit down as she learned about our little present. So, mission accomplished!
The event is over. The last remaining visitors are browsing through our ‘Girls’ Skateboarding History’ exhibition. Outside of the ‘Skatehalle’, the girls are having food and drinks, exchanging addresses and phone numbers, making skate appointments for the next day, or simply processing the contest. From a hidden corner we keep watching and joyfully looking forward to 2016.
Results
*** STREET ***
01. Iris Besseling (NL) 81
02. Keet Oldenbeuving (NL) 78
03. Hélené Gérard (FR) 60
04. Petra Hrasova (CZ) 58
Sanne van Lindner (NL) 58
06. Sarah de Laet (BE) 53
07. Amelie Tiedeken (DE) 48
08. Indy Makkinje (NL) 44
09. Silvia Serret March (ES) 41
10. Luzie Ahrens (DE) 38
11. Pascalle Jansen (NL) 35
12. Susan Reekiers (NL) 29
13. Marika Molewik (NL) 26
14. Dide Verkerk (NL) 20
15. Leilah Vasconcelos (DE) 15
16. Charlotte Koerts (NL) 12
17. Louise Fabre (FR) 11
18. Fleur van der Meijden (NL) 9
19. Melanie Redmer (DE) 8
20. Sezen Betaubun (NL) 9
21. Franziska Stolz (CH) 4
*** BOWL ***
1. Maité Steenhoudt (BE) 82
2. Helené Gerard (FR) 77
3. Iris Besseling (NL) 75
4. Silivia Serret March (ES) 72
5. Sarah de Laet (BE) 63
6. Keet Oldenbeuving (NL) 60
7. Franziska Stolz (CH) 32
