Between Eurocana Summer Camp and their visit to the UK, Steve and Mike had
a chance to session at local Hans "Puttis" Jacobbson's ramp in Sweden.
(Abake) "Tarmo stalls a handplant
(Below) McGill presses up into a layback air. Photos by Caballero.
increasingly impossible move. Not one line between, in or
over the shallow and deep bowls was left to waste and
several new ones were discovered in this final display of
110% aggression and sheer skill. At one point the cheers
gave way to one long collective gasp as Stevie somehow held
an outrageously contorted stalled handplant for what seemed
like several seconds before neatly flipping into his next
equally bio trick. Then, he launched into a lip to lip string of
five (or was it six?) quite massive aerials building up to one
surely all of five feet above the concrete-totally devastating!
The final run of the evening was left to Mike and he
wrapped things up absolutely perfectly with a quite flawless
succession of radical backside and frontside airs (pulled way.
way out from the edge), inverts, rock 'n' roll variations, stalls
and a whole range of dazzling footwork combinations on the
lip. The crowd, very obviously now picking up and fully
appreciating the finer points of the action, reserved their
biggest cheer for Mike when, following a wipe trying the same
move on his previous run, he pulled off an immaculate
fingertip to fingertip maximum extension handplant to wind up
his run and the demo.
The show was over, but even after the final applause for the
demo team, few in the crowd appeared interested in leaving
The park remained packed with throngs of people. They
could be overheard re-living with superlative piled on
superlative what they had just experienced and obviously
wanted to stay and savor, for a bit longer, the atmosphere of
what had become a very special occasion. One well-traveled
visiting skater probably echoed the feelings of a great many
others when, after considering his words with some
deliberation, he pronounced that this has been, without any
doubt, the most memorable day in my whole life."
Unfortunately things had to end. When planning Stevie and
Mike's visit, we, in a moment of supreme generosity, had the
idea of organizing some time for our guests to do a bit of
skating in England for the benefit of skaters south of the
border. This meant forfeiting a whole day's skating in
Scotland for the long trip south-very frustrating. So it was
farewell to Livingston, back to Edinburgh (for a celebration
Pekinese banquet at midnight) and a few hours shut-eye
before we departed Scotland early next morning.
ENGLAND
We hit London during its early evening traffic snarl-up to
find it cold after the glorious warmth of Scotland. It was dull
and overcast as well, with rain a possibility, and since it also
gets dark earlier down there in the summer we wasted no
time in making our way (via a quick halt at a MacDonald's) to
the local pride and joy-the Crystal Palace timber halfpipe
where a crowd of skaters were engaged in the usual heavy
sessioning so fashionable in the south.
Despite being changed and ready to go, it was quite a while
before Stevie and Mike managed to grab the runs they
needed to warm up and check the terrain. It would have been
unrealistic, considering the much smaller crowd and
limitations of a halfpipe, to expect a repeat of the previous
night's magic, but every time S. and M. got a feel of the timber
under their heels they gave of their best and soon dominated
the "competition" with samples from the repertoire we had
enjoyed at Livingston. Fortunately the English Sboard
Assoc. had managed to wire up some lights and so extend
the session till after dark when the runs became increasingly
radical and spectacular as Mike and Stevie were at last able
to demonstrate with successive individual runs and a
marvelous doubles just exactly how they had gained their
reputation as two of the foremost skateboarders in the world.
Next day there was time only for a brief sortie to King's
Road (Stevie was keen to get a hold of several pairs of
creepers!) before rushing them to the airport, a fond farewell,
and waving them off on their British Caledonian flight-
appropriately maintaining the Scottish connection (Caledonia
being the ancient name for Scotland) all the way to California.
Haste ye back!
-Dee & lain Urquhart
Scottish Skateboard Assoc.
Thanks for bringing out a totally skating mag Keep up the
good work! Well here in Britain at the moment things are all
go. Parks are being renovated and reopened and halfpipes
are going up everywhere. We have our own bolt together
halfpipe and regularly visit a park in Scotland, called Rock N'
Roll, at Livingston Newton, which is about 130 miles from us
The pictures enclosed I took of Mike McGill and Stevie
Caballero at the demo they did at Livingston a few days ago.
They sessioned at the park for two days before the demo and
got good media coverage. Mike McGill got an interview for
TV: also the skating was shown on two peak time news
shows. The demo was done with some of the best vert four
and eight-wheel skaters from Scotland. The crowd was
estimated at 1,000 plus. Skaters travelled from England,
Switzerland, Germany, Norway, and Italy to skate and watch
the action Everyone was blown away by Mike and Stevie
They ripped the main bowl and the crowd loved it. Doubles
were done and Stevie blew minds with bio airs, handplants,
and his Caballerial. As did Mike with his inverts, fast lines, and
aggressive style. Both of them gave some flawless routines
packed with amazing moves, and had the crowd shouting for
more!!! They made a great few days for everyone and
attracted fantastic interest! Thanks to the USA, Stevie and
Mike, and everyone involved
We are making a skate mag here at the moment, and I will
send you one when it's ready. Keep the mag coming to
Britain
Michael O'Brien
European Cup
Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear
ENGLAND
Before I tell you about the European Cup which was held
at Crystal Palace, let me explain how the European
Competition scene is run. There are two European competi
tions a year. One is the European Cup and the other is the
European Championship.
The countries that usually enter these competitions are
France, England, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Sweden.
Scotland, Belgium and sometimes Holland. Different teams
are strong at different events, examples: Sweden is good at
freestyle and halfpipe, England is good at freestyle, pipe and
slalom, and France is good at slalom and freestyle.
Now, back to the competition held on the 14th and 15th of
August. The events were high and long jump, slalom (straight
and giant), halfpipe and freestyle,
SATURDAY
In the halfpipe those who stood out were Claus Grabke (W
Germany), Danny Webster (England), and Neil Danns
(England), doing tricks such as straight-armed handplants,
Andrects, foot plant to axle stalls, etc. One country missing
unfortunately was Sweden. In the freestyle, those who
seemed to be in the top notch were Pierre Andre (France),
Peter (Mongoloid) Reintges, Shane (add a trick) Rouse, and
one of Sweden's top freestylers, Martin (polka dot) Willners
The standard in these two events is on par with the U.S.
One good example is Per Welinder, who won the 1981
European Cup and championship.
SUNDAY
The high and long jump events were run but no records
were broken even though the current world high jump
champion, Trevor Baxtor, was there.
In the slalom event, they ran the giant and straight in the
afternoon. England came out on top and France a close
second with the likes of Pierre Andre (France), Martin
Sweeney (England), Chris Linford (England), and Jose
Dematos (France). A new event to European competition
was roller-skating. There wasn't a good turnout but the
standard was still high. Andy Peters (England) came out the
winner.
After the presentation of the medals, everyone made their
trek across the sea to their various countries
Shane Rouse-England freestyle champ Trevor Baxter-World record high-jumper.
Claus Grabke from W. Germany at Crystal Palace
RESULTS EUROPEAN CUP
Freestyle
1st Peter Reintges W. Germany
2nd Shane Rouse
3rd Pierre Andre
Halfpipe
England
France
1st Danny Webster England
2nd Claus Grabke
3rd Neil Danz
High Jump
1st Trevor Baxter
Long Jump
1st Trevor Baxter
Slalom
1st Chris Linford
England
2nd Don't Know
France
3rd Jose Dematos
France
Glant Slalom
1st Martin Sweeney England
2nd Pierre Andre
France
W. Germany
3rd Jose Dematos
France
England
Roller-Skate Halfpipe
1st Andy Peerless
England
England
2nd Don't Know
Holland
3rd Chris Linford
England
England
TEAM TROPHY-ENGLAND
5
15
Story by Shane Rouse
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