Words and Photos Jenna Selby
Ladies Skateboard Series kicked off its 2011 Phoenix Night Contest at Manchester’s Central Park at the weekend. The comp itself was timetabled to start at 7pm but because many of us had to travel quite a distance to get there, we thought it best to make a skate-day of it.
Driving up from the south was Lucy Adams, Helen Lovelee, Harriet Sheppard and myself. We decided a good meeting point to hook up with the Midlands travellers – Emma Richardson and Georgie Winter – would be Stoke Plaza. After her previous direction giving of – “drive out of the city centre, do an Alley Oop and then you’ll find my house…” we perhaps should have been slightly more wary about Emma’s instructions on how to find the park!! On this occasion she told us to “follow the pottery signs and turn right at the tree”
Obviously not understanding the cryptic messages correctly and Stoke being somewhat famous for it’s pottery – with pretty much all the tourist signs having the word on them – we did the inevitable and ended up at an actual pottery factory. Consultation of Lucy’s trusty iPhone for directions seemed a better bet and 5 Minutes later we arrived at the park. Although we’d set off on a beautiful sunny day, as seems typical when you travel to that particular Plaza, the dark clouds overhead were threatening heavy rain. In the end though it held off and we managed to get a few hours rolling time in.
After a quick ice-lolly stop (a must on any skate trip!) we made our way over to Manchester. By this time the heavens really had opened so we decided to forgo the 2nd stop at Platt Fields Skate Park and head straight to Central. The comp itself wasn’t due to start for a further hour, so the takeaway around the corner provided shelter and some good food to fill in the time. 7pm finally came and we made our way back over to the park. The layout of which has been slightly changed (for the better) since last year with new additions including a driveway with rail and hubba in the far corner. Over the next hour the girls got their legs warmed up again as well as taking time out to consume some good LSS cupcakes!
The comp kicked off about 8.30pm. Following on from last years format, entrants competed in pairs and the overall top 6 riders then had two single runs in the final. In all there were 12 competitors. In practice Helena Long had been landing a variety of tricks including a tre over the hip and a nollie inward heel off the ledge but unfortunately when it came to her turn to compete her skate legs didn’t want to work for her. Georgie Winter on the other hand consistently landed her flips up the gap and over the hip but it turned out not to be quite enough to secure a place in the final. The six who did qualify were Lucy Adams, Helen Lovelee, Emma Richardson, Lois Pendlebury, Stef Nurding and Danielle Mellor.
Individual runs of two minutes then followed. Stef landed a backside flip on the quarter and a flip to fakie on the bank. Dani a front rock and nollie bigspin on quarter and a schweet 5.0 fakie. Lois landed a solid tailslide transfer, a front lip on the quarter and a fs 50.50 shuv out on the block. Emma threw down trick after trick including a front 5.0 and back smith revert on the quarter and a kickflip and 180 up the gap. Rogue’s Helen Lovelee landed a fs 50.50, front rock and backside disasters on the 6-foot quarter. A trick she then tried on the huge quarter, landed but just couldn’t hold at the bottom. Yet again though it was Lucy Adams who dominated the contest with consistent runs including a front board and a feeble 180 on the rail, noseslide down the hubba and a frontside flip and switch 180 up the gap.
Well done to all the winners and also to the other ladies who competed – Harriet Sheppard, Emily Russell, Sam Bruce and Lucinda. Next stop UK Skate Champs: 22nd – 23rd October, XC Hemel Hempstead.
Winners:
1st – Lucy Adams
2nd – Lois Pendlebury
3rd – Danielle Mellor
4th – Emma Richardson
5th – Helen Lovelee
