War of the Thistles 2018 report

After battling the “Beast from the East” and having to cancel a War of the Thistles (WOTT) weekend for the first time in its 14 year history, Skateboard Scotland managed to run one of the best WOTT events for the last few years. There was a great turn out from all over the UK and the level of skateboarding was off the chart. The inaugural Girls Jam also happened at Dumbarton during the second leg which was a great new addition to the event. Anyway, here is the write up:

Aberdeen’s Transition Extreme Day One 5th May 2018

As always (apart from Beast from the East weekend with 3 foot of snow obviously) the sun was shining for the annual trip up to Aberdeen. This was good for most of the Skateboard Scotland Board who got a chance to sample the new Newport skatepark built by one of the main event sponsors Concreate Skateparks. It’s a real fun wee park and is just over the water from Dundee. Well worth a trip! Go find it!

The Jam kicked off with the usual kids comp. This saw The Shaw twins battle shoogely truck master from Inverness Mat Wood. Take note of these kids names because they are bound to be coming up through the ranks shortly. The show down took place in the street section and all the kids showed how rad they were at skating the rails.

Next up the big kids (sponsored riders) in the street area. With Jordan Sharkey having returned to try and defend one his half of the sword which he won from the year before, he dished out a complete beating to the rail with backside Nose blunt slides, nose grinds and kickflip back lips to name a few. Alex Halford also got into the mix along some of the Manchester crew who had been driven up by the trooper Eddie Belvedere. The slam of the weekend went to Charlie who got fully taken out by Baillie. Go and check out the footage. A proper gnarly backflip. Thankfully they were both alright.

ON to the Miniramp. Everyone loves the miniramp session and this year saw the best trick on the oververt pocket go to Alex Halford. 50 quid for a complete barrage of mind bending tricks including a massive backside air which he had no right to pull back in. People were going real big in and the likes of Baillie, Big Ron, Colin Adam and Sharkey fleeced the Skateboard Scotland coffers dry.

Next up we were onto the finale in the big bowl. These always brings the best out of people and it even brought attendance from Felix from Huddersfield. You don’t have a UK skate event without Felix in attendance. Great to have you back up for the event Man! In the bowl Colin Adam was showing his abilities and battling Baillie, Saul, Sam from Manchester and Alex Halford.

In the end Alex beat everyone hands down and absolutely smashed the bowl. Alex’s vert background definitely helped him to the win after having gone into orbit out of the bowl on multiple occasions. He earned 150 Scottish pounds for his troubles along with the first half of the sword. Day one down and onto Dumbarton for day 2.

Aberdeen Results

Schralper:

Alex Halford

U17:

Lachlan Shaw
Matthew Wood
Geordie Shaw
Oliver Ulivi
Airan MacKenzie

Thanks to Stuart Taylor for the photos and Cameron Stuart for the video.

Dumbarton’s Unit 23 Day Two 6^th of May 2018

Day two of WOTT 2018 saw the first ever girls jam in the street section. This was rad to see and even better to see the quality level being so high. Marieme blagged a lift through from the other side of the country and blasted around into 2^nd place. 1^st went to Nikki Tang who I’d never seen skate before. She impressed the judges with various tricks down the stair set.

The under 17s brought out the battle of the twins again. This time they placed first and second! Max Moran did loads of funny quirky stuff and earned himself fourth place.

For the Sponsored street jam Skateboard Scotland ran two separate best trick comps down each side of the street section. First up with the big rail side and second was down the kinked hubba section. Competition was hot and everyone was trying to get in on the mix. Eddie’s Manchester Crew where killing the rail as was Sharkey. Stand out tricks from the street section where Sharkey’s tricks down the kinked section. He made both a treflip and hardfilp look like nothing. Beautiful.

The comp then moved into Hall 1 which contains the tranny section. This has proven to be rad wee session over the last few years and it didn’t fail to disappoint this year either. Euan Lawson came through from Edinburgh to fully commit to the session without a care for his body. Rad to watch all of his various pull back varieties. Burrows even got in the mix in this section and made a rad 360 early grab over the hip. Sharkey got technical on the lip and Big Ron and Alex Halford showed us what fun doubles can be.

Last up was the big bowl. This is a hard bowl to skate due to the lines being super tight. Colin and Alex went real big and Alex cleared up the last of the cash with a never seen backside transfer over everything and into the vert wall! Gnarly. Sharkey won the Schralpher award on Day 2 due the number of ridiculously technical tricks that he landed throughout the day. Hopefully he’ll try for the hat trick next year.

A massive thanks must go out to all of or sponsors, especially all of the sponsors who dug deep and provided some cold hard Cash to help cover the Energy drink gap this year. Massively appreciated. Sponsors as follows: