Saturday's qualifying runs are over and, as I type this, most everyone from today's contest is off to see Wu Tang's Raekwon and Ghostface tear up some mics in Ybor City. But before I go put my party hat on, let me tell you a little bit about some of the more interesting things I saw today.
The usual suspects were killing the course here in Tampa: Paul Rodriguez was smooth and consistent as usual and qualified first while his girl and newly born baby watched from the sidelines. Peter Ramondetta was killing it; his Smith grinds down the park's legit handrail looked better than anyone else's. Chad Bartie had powerful, flawless runs that used the whole course. And, in his rookie pro performance, a shirtless and stoked Torey Pudwill lit up the park with tech-gnar bangers all over the place. That kid just keeps blowing minds with every new thing he does.
Two personal favs from today's comp (who we'll be seeing more of in the semi's and finals tomorrow) were
Keegan Sauder and Pete Eldridge.
Keegan was fast, powerful and consistent. His raw ability is coupled with a completely fun and humble demeanor that we don't see enough of these days. When Keegan found out he'd qualified second, he was a perfect mix of stoked and shocked.
Pete Eldridge made the cut for the semis with the powerful skating and pure command of switch skills that he's been running for days. It's good to see Pete getting the support and recognition he deserves.
Off the course, Tampa was busy being Tampa. It really is like no other place on earth. I had the
pleasure of catching up with Mark Appleyard just after he'd had an impromptu padless vert session.
Antwuan Dixon got a new tat or two before getting fairly rowdy in the afternoon. He was later asked to leave the event.
It was also a lot of fun to duck into the Skatepark of Tampa's back building which houses the kiddie course, miniramp and bowl. Between their heats, you could find Eric Koston, Danny Fuenzalida and Nick Dompierre staying limber sessioning the kiddie obstacles or pumping through the bowl.
With the massive amount of talent at this comp, tomorrow's semis and finals should be ones for the books.