Flock Off Goes Off

After literally days of planning the first Macclesfield Skate Jam, “Flock off”, took place last Saturday in West Park, Macclesfield. Around 100 riders and a similar number of spectators enjoyed the good weather to spend the afternoon watching and riding in a series of fiercely fought competitions.

First up were the groms (U16) on the ramp. Three heats with the top 3 riders in each heat going through set up a great 30min final set. Reece Johnson took the top honours pulling some tricky transitions to win a limited edition Macclesfield Skate Park Deck, with Panny, Frog and Henry Sinclair following. Hayley took a highly respectable 5th as top placed girl with a flowing set with sweet transitions.

This set the stage for the seniors and local riders, Matt Grant, Mouse and Kieran Hughes were out to show that they could cut it with the visiting riders. With 10 riders on the ramp all vying to ride and show what they could do, it got a little chaotic, and at times 3 riders were trannying the ramp at once. Although the crowd were lapping the near miss skating up, the referee called the riders in to one at a time. What followed was 40mins of great ramp riding.

Matt took a beating as he tried again and again to land a blunt 360 flip out to fakie, but Kieran pulled out a really powered up set to take thrid. Eventual honours went to Effortless Dave, who with his effortless floaty style shredded the ramp with some fakie bigspins and some frontside 5-0s. Second spot went to John Bell who landed some stunning tricks including a rocket drop-in which left the crowd cheering in delight.

Next up was the grom street comp. This was in a jam format with instant prizes for riders landing nice tricks. It was pretty much mayhem in the park for half an hour and no doubt there were plenty of bruised shins the next morning from the efforts. The seniors followed, and again didn’t disappoint.

Top prize went to a nameless tuxedoed rider from Manchester who was landing huge 5ft kickflips to flat and backside kick airs off the kicker – Awesome stuff.

Next was the 4x death race. Here 4 riders raced round the suicide track, with the winner going through. 8 heats, 2 semis and a final were full of thrills and spills with riders giving it there all. Harry Shaw came in ahead of the crowd here. A high jump comp was next with the top grom reaching 3ft 2 and the seniors 3ft 8.

The day came to a close with a wall ride session on the ramp with the remaining prizes being given to those groms with the most battered and broken boards.

A top day was had by all, and everyone agreed that we should do it again next year. Reggae and hip hop were provided all day by the Gavinator Soundsystem and thanks to Hopp and Note for the prizes. Also thanks to all the riders that took part.