3rd Lair's 3rd Annual TOP SHOP Contest

Words by Jason Rothmeyer
Photos by Mark Muller

Seth McCullum - bs smith to fakie

Eddie Kochendorfer - Best Trick winner

Kyle Terbush - bs tail big-spin

Marissa Del Santo - kickflip front board

3rd Lair Skatepark in Minneapolis (Damn Am host, remember?) recently held their 3rd Annual TOP SHOP Contest. Here's how it works: Each shop enters five am team riders. Three skate on the first day and two skate on the last day. Their scores are combined and the shop with the most points wins the $$$.

This year they had 26 shops come to skate. Lots of local, Midwest shops from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois were in attendance, but also some serious travelers came from Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and even some from a shop in Cali. Local pros Steve Nesser, Seth McCallum, and Chad Benson were skating and hanging out, cheering on their Fobia brethren.

Fobia had won the previous two years and are always the favorite in any contest with their heavy hitters like Jamiel Norparwar and Nate Compher. Probably the biggest surprise of the weekend was Marissa Del Santo from RQ Boardshop. This chick came out of nowhere to destroy everyone with the 3rd highest score of the weekend. Her run was all hammers - backlip the big rail, kickflip shifty up the step-up, kickflip front board on flat bar, and kickflip melon over the box, all with no bails. Vanessa Torres watch out. Hell, Koston watch out. All right, that's a bit far fetched, but she still ripped.

Another bright spot on the course was Kyle Terbush. Anytime a white guy with cornrows hits the course, people take notice. He was ripping and had the best single trick - back tail big-spin on the step-up box. Nate Compher did a switch back smith on the huge barrier (Kenny A. back noseblunt in the Chocolate video).

When it was all tabulated up, the local team from 3rd Lair took home the 1st place prize. Since all the scores are added together, if just one of your team members blows it in their run, you drop a few spots. All of the 3rd Lair guys had solid runs, allowing them to take top honors.

After the Shop Contest, a Best Trick was held on the big, Triton-style barrier off the bank. Good stuff included Jeff Amendala's front big-spin boardslide and Hurvey Haskins' kickflip back tail fakie, but Eddie Kochendorfer took it all with a heelflip back 5-0.

I'll be back up there in two months for the Damn Am, which take place June 10-12.

1. 3rd Lair (Golden Valley, MN) $850.00
2. Fobia (Minneapolis, MN) $500.00
3. Bad Boyz Toys (Chicago, IL) $350.00
4. Cal Surf (Minneapolis, MN) $150.00
5. Warp Skatepark/MB Boardshop (Woodstock, IL) $100.00

Jason Rothmeyer