Copenhagen Pro 2008 Day Two: Street Qualifiers and Vert

Words by Ryan Clements
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek

Kerry Getz didn't do so great during the Jam, but he was ripping in practice

Rob Gonzales - backside 360. His intro run was amazing, then he killed it in the Jam

Rob Gonzales - his nollie heels magnetize to his feet. He made this in the last seconds of the Jam

Eric Koston - switch heel with full kung fu flick

I'm a big fan of Jani Laitiala. He opened up the Jam with this switch 360 flip

Koston - nollie back heel

I don't think I've seen that one before. Cab frontside noseslide. Damn, Jani Laitiala

Renton Millar - 540 melon

Renton Millar - switch pop shuv noseslide

People were killing themselves trying to drop in on the Bowl Jam wall. This dude piled up pretty bad four times in a row

Here's another dude taking one right to the hip. Time for a new right ass cheek

The natives in my homeland of the Phillipines run full pigs on the grill like this. Yikes. I almost don't want to eat pork anymore after seeing this

Reda is all about the swine

I was quite a party scene in the back of the skatepark while the contest was going on. Check out that Euro cut. Looks like that dude has a piece of cheesecake on his head

Those pants and a jean jacket? Welcome to Copenhagen

Shots/mixers of some kind of sketchy alcohol were being served up all day. See how stingy they are with the ice? It's like gold here. I think ice is now worth more than the US dollar

Am I still at a skateboard contest? Someone hired these dancers to hang out after the Contest

Rob G, Schaefer, and DJ Wade. It's a Tuborg tornado

DJ Wade can consume twice the alcohol and smokes through his second face

Here's the Euro text message of the week. Anyone know what that says?

Here's a wide view of one end of the course. That's Danny Cerezini nosegrinding off the drop off ledge

Matt Beach, Brad Staba with emo eyes, and Eric Koston

You can tell this dude totally busted me snapping a photo of his wacky Euro gear

Terry Kennedy - switch frontside nosegrind for the masses

Adam Taylor just missed the cut by one

That's Anthony Furlong during the Qualifiers before he got hammered

Thomas Kring - frontside nosegrind

Renton has a great frontside ollie

As usual, we are drinking with children out here. They're very loose with that and there doesn't appear to be any problems with it

Rune Glifberg - indy nosebone

Rune Glifberg - wow, that's a frontside air tucked tight

Furlong didn't think he made the cut so went straight to the booze after his Qualifier run. By the time the Finals came, he was too hammered to skate and just gave up and kept drinking. Heal Hendrix is happy to be bumped up a place

Renton - kickflip tailgrab

Renton got first. Rune got second. It was another amazing Vert Contest here

Furlong gets the Take a Poop in the Finals for this bailed frontside nosegrind with beer in tow

Two more cups of coffee at two different places and they both come in a glass with no handle. Next time I get one, I'm going to ask for an oven mit so I can drink it

This is Adam Taylor's camera. He was walking home from last night and randomly found Renton Millar asleep on the streets of Copenhagen. I guess the celebrated a little too hard last night

Since this was a pro-only deal, there wasn’t an abundance of entrants. A lot of these Euro contests that you may have seen or heard about in the past have permitted pretty much anyone to enter, so that’s how they get nearly 100 participants. If you keep it only “legit pro,” then that lowers the number of skaters significantly. But we’re talking quality over quantity here…and that’s exactly what we got.

So with just over 30 competitors, we split the dudes into four-man heats. The got one, one-minute intro run and then skated in an eight-minute jam. This change of format from Tampa Pro really makes for a more interesting Contest. We then took the top 12 overall and bumped them into the Finals on Sunday.

You don’t need to see who qualified because you can see that when the Finals are posted, but here are some dudes that didn’t make the cut that I was stoked on:

• Terry Kennedy – it’s been a few years since I’ve seen Terry in real life, but even though he done growed up into a grown-ass man, he’s still as nice as ever
• Paul Shier – he didn’t land a single trick last year, but Mr. Shier made up for it this time around. Next year he’s judging
• Brad Staba – I just like his style and he’s got a great sense of humor…fun dude to be around

If you got over the skating at any point, there was some damn good food in the courtyard. The judging staff and I opted for the homemade chili. And since it was easier to get your hands on a beer than a soda, I washed it down with a cold Tuborg…because you can sure bet that the bar was open for business. Right after the Qualifiers we made our way over to the Vert.

Come on, Rob…you’ve got to admit that the Vert Contest was killer. Really. I want you to admit it right now. Stop making fun of vert skating and give these dudes some respect. They killed it and you know it. They even did flip tricks for you.

Honestly, the Vert was definitely a highlight of the weekend. Not only was the skating stellar, but the layout of Copenhagen Skatepark allows for some amazing viewing from different levels, so there are literally spectators everywhere, from the floor to ceiling. Add in 2000 free beers and you’ve got pretty much the best crowd that anyone could ask for.

We broke the 13 competitors into three heats where they got one, 45-second run and then skated in a free-for-all, 10-minute jam. The top five from that went into a Finals with again a 45-second run, but this time they got a 15-minute jam. It went off! Here’s the breakdown:

• 13th – $200 - Juergen Horrwarth – if it was a style-only Contest, Juergen would have taken 1st. But the ripper from Berlin had a tough time staying on his board, so it didn’t work out. Hopefully we’re doing a Contest in Berlin next year…let’s make it happen!
• 12th – $200 - Nathan Beck – from what I recall, this was Renton’s boy from Oz and he had a nice fs invert
• 11th – $200 - Thomas Kring – local ripper who we’ve been friends with for a very long time. Basically because of Thomas we are here in CPH. Thanks, Man
• 10th – $500 – Christiano Mateus – one of the many Brazilian vert rippers that I haven’t seen around in a while
• 9th – $600 – Thomas Madsen – another local from Denmark that REALLY had the crowd pulling for him. I’m sure Thomas has to work a real job and all that, but he’s still got some skills on the vert
• 8th – $700 – Alex Perelson – he doesn’t talk too much, but he made a damn nice showing on his first international trip without his folks. He’s going to Prague from here with host Neal Hendrix. Note: Best trick of the entire Contest was done by Alex…the illest fs flip lien melon ever
• 7th – $800 – Nicky Guerrero – I’m going to say that Nicky is pushing mid-40’s, but who cares when you’re still doing inverts over the channel, sad plants, and 7’ alley-oop airs? I’m a fan
• 6th – $900 – Adam Taylor – Adam is going over 8’ on his airs and he’s still got little-kid-legs. When he beefs up a bit this kid is going to be unstoppable. He’s got class and kept his mouth shut, but I know that he wanted to be in the Finals
• 5th – $1000 – Anthony Furlong – too many cervezas before the Finals put Furly out of commission, so he just hung out on the deck with a Budweiser in hand, heckling his fellow finalists
• 4th – $1500 – Marcelo Kosake – I’ve neven seen this dude before, but apparently he’s from Brazil and let me tell you, he gives it 100% and gets hyped on a loud crowd
• 3rd – $2000 – Neal Hendrix – he said to me on this trip, “You know I love a good excuse to travel.” Neal excels in a jam because he’s so damn consistent and he’s one of the guys out there that truly knows how to have fun with skateboarding
• 2nd – $3000 – Rune Glifberg – as his wife, Queen of the Vikings, watched the Contest from the highest perch in the building, Rune gave it his all, ending with an 11’ fs air to ring the bell, but there was no stopping Renton
• 1st – $500 – Renton Millar – coming all the way from Australia, he wanted to get the most out of this trip…and he sure did. I can’t believe that he can do 360 flips and kickflip 5-0’s so consistently on vert. Add in huge bs ollies and Madonna’s with some nosegrab 540’s and you have a winner

By the time we got out of the Park it was after 10pm. Add up the time that it took to get back to the hotel and then some dinner, and it was nearly 2am when I hit the sack…very late for me, but most hardcore partiers stayed out ‘til sunrise.