War of the Thistles 2019 report

Skateboard Scotland have been running the War of the Thistles for 19 years now! This year we were fortunate enough to be able to secure a sponsorship agreement with Vans so there was more money than usual to give out to the riders that made it to the event. A total of 4 grand was available to be won over the weekend and sponsored riders from all around the UK came to try and land tricks for cash prizes.

This year the venues were the favorite WOTT venue of Transition Skatepark in Aberdeen on Saturday 4th and then Unit 23 Skatepark in Dumbarton on Sunday the 5th.

This years event was brought to you with the kind support of a bunch of sponsors. Without these guys the event would not happen so mad props to them and go and show them support!

Skateboard Scotland, Vans, Concreate Skateparks, Focus, Clan, Pieute, Transition Skatepark, Bawbags, Knatchbull, We are 1 of 100 t-shirts, Unit 23 Skatepark, Keen, Forty, Re-ply, Fundamental, No Comply, Ninety-One Death, North, Ecosie, Edinburgh Local, EMB Dopezine, Santa Cruz, Independent, Ozzys, Wolfbeard, Doric, Oakley, Life Sized Clothing, Sqwash, ESP, Homework and Pyramid.

Day 1: Transition Skatepark, Aberdeen

Transition has been used every year for WOTT and is always a rad day with the nicest bowl in the country. After the kid and girl comps we kicked off with a street Jam as usual, where we witnessed the Frankie Show. This kid from Inverness is amazing and pulled all sorts of ridiculous flip tricks like double nollie heels (which actually looked good) and 360 flips turning with it to name a few. Keep an eye on him as I believe he’s going to Berrics soon after Steve Berra phoned his mum to sort it out. Mini ramp was up next and local Neil Kellas was killing it, along with Chris Baillie and Alex Halford who together sessioned the oververt pocket hard. It was proper sick to watch. We also enjoyed Baillie’s crazy board shuffling tricks jumping on other people’s boards in ways that only he can think of. Finally we moved onto the bowl jam. To say that Alex Halford skated well in the bowl is pretty much the understatement of the century. He absolutely smashed it and once again took one day of the thistles trophy home. Pretty sure that he has walked away with one half of the trophy every year for at least 5 years. Props to getting up to the event consistently Alex! He also got a massive cheque for 300 quid courtesy of Vans.

Day 2: Unit 23, Dumbarton

We kicked off day 2 with the kids and girls comps. The girls comp had a rad turnout. It’s great to see more and more girls getting into skateboarding. For the cash for tricks section of the event we kicked off in the street area with best tricks down the newly tweaked hubba. Eddie Belvedere was all over the street section making things like a nose manual along the whole hubba and some gnarly hand rail tricks. Tom Shimmin even came out of hiding and made some tricks which was good to see. Next up we moved through to hall 2 were everyone’s favorite mosher dropper decided to put himself through another near death experience. Ewan Lawson is a proper nutter and managed to pull in a nose blunt from the rafters to pretty much flat bottom and he earned himself 50 quid for his troubles. Go and find it on Insta as it has to be seen to be believed. We finished off with the bowl jam which was really fun to watch as usual. In the end of the day Eddie skated rad across all the different parts of the park and finished up the winner of the second part of the sword, well deserved considering that he drove all the way from Cornwall to get in on the session. He is a proper trooper and he was well stoked to get the cheque from Vans for 300 quid to add to the rest of this winnings.

If you want to check out the various tricks went down you should have been there! Failing that check out the videos below.

See you all next year for the 20^th Anniversary!