Bowman Hansen feeble grinds in front of a packed crowd at Wellington’s Waitangi Park Bowl.
Wellington City Council, Redhead or Dead Events, Skateboarding New Zealand and Miryoku Agency raised the Capital with the New Zealand 2019 National Park / Bowl Skating Championships with BOWLZILLA Wellington.
SBNZ made sure the New Zealand National Skateboarding Park / Bowl competition series was the best run, attended and most unexpected fun so far. The level of all parts of the festival were raised higher this year with great success.
Weather is always a factor in Wellington but nothing gets in the way of a determined skater. With the rain finally coming down after three months of unprecedented sun in Wellington and only allowing Open heats to be run at the bowl a quick decision had to be made. Manky Chops Gallery generously offered their awesome new mini ramp that was built for Manky Deck-Aid to be utilised to its fullest, and MINIZILLA was born. The Women, Masters and 16 & Unders all finished out the event riding indoors with a format change that proved incredibly fun and popular.
Taniah Meyers, fakie crooks at MINIZILLA
Manky Chops and BOWLZILLA have a fantastic partnership going back many years which is focused around ARTZILLA every year as part of the BOWLZILLA Wellington festival. This year the Manky Chops team went above and beyond with their ten-year anniversary show; Deck-Aid, which saw 100 skateboard decks painted and sculpted by as many artists especially for the exhibition, with a huge part of the proceeds going to several worthy charities. As part of this they also custom built a mini ramp which ended up saving the day and elevating the fun and comradery to unexpected levels. Congratulations Dave, Pearl and the family for all you’ve achieved and give back.
Thanks to Yeah Gnar this is the second year of BOWLZILLA Wellington being the largest Equality in Skateboarding event in New Zealand. This support has really seen the talent in the Women’s division develop exponentially. Regardless of the Olympics and whatever else lay ahead, the emerging Women’s skateboard scene is having the most positive impact on skateboarding in a long time. The fact that it is part of the whole of BOWLZILLA Wellington makes the festival that much more fun and important for the community.
The New Zealand National Champions for 2019 are; Women – Rhya Henare, 16 & Under – Rimus Henare, Pabst Masters – Steve Crump, Open – Shaun Boucher.
The interest in skateboarding is growing and that could clearly be seen by the doubling of competitors in the 16 & Unders, and larger fields for the other divisions. Pabst Blue Ribbon beer generously stepped up this year to support the Pabst Masters division and all the other sponsors and encouragers ensured a larger level of support for all the skaters and should all be thanked for the generosity: Wellington City Council, Skateboarding NZ, Manual Magazine, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, Fusion Surf / Skate, Skullcandy, Irrom Distribution, GoPro, Vans, Manky Chops, Red Bull, Redhead Or Dead Events and Miryoku Agency. Because of all of them there was NZ$12,000 in prize money and more than $2000 worth of prizes. Every competitor was over the moon to be able to benefit from the biggest prize pool in New Zealand.
“BOWLZILLA upheld its reputation of pulling a great crowd of spectators and skaters committed to having fun, in spite of the tumultuous Wellington weather this weekend! Kudos to the community for their versatility and perseverance – the future of New Zealand Skateboarding looks Bright!” Ramon Thackwell – Director, SBNZ.
There was a much larger attendance of internationals this year which really raised the excitement and energy of the locals. Jakob Robinson, Jett De Haan, Brodie Jarret, Brent Muscat, Taniah Meyers, Paula Costales, Kevin Moran, Tony Chavez, Nic Couscouris, Zane Hetherington, Dax De Haan and Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Elguera who is considered one of the greatest skateboarders of all time and Tony Hawk’s major influence.
Shaun Boucher, blunt to fakie.
“The fourth year of BOWLZILLA Wellington saw us able to offer greater support to the skaters and generate more interest and opportunity. The newly energised SBNZ board is a real game changer for what we are now able to do for our community and that was reflected in the new support from sponsors and larger attendance. Wellington is one the greatest little cities in the world and being able to work with Wellington City Council in the ways we do to create a festival like BOWLZILLA Wellington which has such great community impact is what encourages us to keep the forward motion. We’re very grateful and humbled for everyone’s support and look forward to many more years of great times for all.” Chad Ford – Director, BOWLZILLA Wellington.
BOWLZILLA started in Getxo, Spain, in September 2015 and has since built the first proper concrete bowl in Chile and run the first international professional competition in Chile, created a new format and platform for Australian skaters with BOWLZILLA Gold Coast and established the first National bowl skating titles in Wellington, New Zealand.
Stay tuned for announcements about BOWLZILLA Wellington 2020.
Mitch Jordan creeping at ARTZILLA.
2019 Bowlzilla Wellington was made possible with the support of Wellington City Council, Skateboarding NZ, Manual Magazine, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, Fusion Surf / Skate, Skullcandy, Irrom Distribution, GoPro, Vans, Manky Chops, Red Bull, Redhead Or Dead Events and Miryoku Agency.
All photos by Caleb Smith.
