From The Mag / People
Jess Lord is Good As
Auckland-based skateboarder Jess Lord on rituals, skating with your eyes closed and Drew Barrymore.
Posted 17 Sep 2023
After their debut Duckbrewe Skate Festival at Two Thumb Brewery in Christchurch last summer, Duckewe have returned with another hoppy beer collab, added three stages of music, a field full of spectators and an even wilder ramp design.
Tom Mitchell, pivot to fakie.
Duckewe Brand ran their second annual skate festival “Duckbrewe 2” inside Rolling Meadows Festival hosted at The Boneline Vineyard in North Canterbury on 30th-31st Dec 2021. This year featured a mini-ramp from 44 Ramps fitted with Gator Skins skate surface, complete with a 9-foot extension. Across this ran a 25m long street section with roll in at one end, 1/4 ramp at the other, kickers, ledges and rails between. The skate competition ran over two days with a street comp on the first, ramp comp on the second and plenty of time for jamming in between (ramp open 10 am-10 pm).
The ramp saw 25 skaters rip it up across the two days. I MC’d the event with Captain Johnny joining on day two. Nat Halliday judged the event on both days, joined by Krysta for the Men’s events and Pauly Kauri and Joesass Hill for the Women’s events. The competition took a jam format, including the highest hippie jump and highest ollie as well as a limbo contest to pull in the festival crowd.
The Duckbrewe 2 ramp at Rolling Meadows.
Jack Richardson, the owner of Duckewe Brand, says “These events are all about bringing the community together and having a good time. They provide a platform for skaters from different regions of the country to connect and showcase their talent whilst boosting the profile of skateboarding to a wider demographic. The Rolling Meadows Festival organisers, Sub180, were stoked to host the skate community this year and funded the ramp build to help make it happen. From a personal perspective; hanging out in a sunny field with a cold Duckbrewe beer, mates shredding a ramp on one side and spinning decks on the other is a little bit of paradise. We’re just happy to be amongst it and making people smile.”
Duckewe Brand will return to Rolling Meadows next summer for Duckbrewe 3 Skate Festival. Whilst they’re currently keeping quiet about what’s next, there is talk of a stair set to join as a new feature for year 3.
Bowman Hansen, lein air.
Gallery
Results
Men’s Street
1st Matt Markland
2nd Bowman Hansen
3rd Pauly Kauri
4th Isaac Allen
Women’s Street
1st Krysta Ashwell
2nd Poppy Epic
ACE Trucks Best Trick (Street)
Matt Markland — backside 360 kickflip
Men’s Ramp
1st Bowman Hansen
2nd Tom Mitchell
3rd Matt Markland
4th Joesass Hill
Women’s Ramp
1st Krysta Ashwell
2nd Amber Clyde
3rd Mikaela
4th Poppy Epic
ACE Trucks Best Trick (ramp)
Isaac Allen — big flip back tail
Highest Hippie Jump — Kerehama Milroy
Highest Ollie — Isaac Allen
Best Trick Rail — Neil Lyon
Sponsors & Credits
Rolling Meadows Festival, Sub180, 44 Ramps, Gator Skins, The Boneline, Outsiders Skate, Propaganda Streetwear & Skate, Tyanhaus, SUB:BASS, Two Thumb Brewery, Spitfire Wheels (Irrom Distribution), ACE Trucks (Collab Distribution), Odd Jobs Truck, Switch Espresso, Manual Magazine and support from Red Bull.
Photographs by Kim Wheeler.
