This June 21st, a mass of skateboarders from all over the country dominated the streets of Manila, coming to participate in the biggest skateboarding parade in celebration of this year’s Go Skateboarding day.
Usually skateboarders aren’t seen out and about, rolling through the streets and doing Ollies wherever they can but thanks to the event staged by DC Shoes Philippines, skaters had the chance to enjoy an entire day dedicated to skateboarding where at least 900 participants registered at the Quirino Grandstand where the event kicked off.
By 1 p.m., a giant horde of skateboarders were skating through the streets of Manila, making their way to the Circuit Makati grounds. Partnered with Jeep, DC upped the game by having one of their iconic, signature vehicles pull an enormous skateboard through the parade.
The excitement and fun didn’t end with just the parade. Arriving at the Mountain Dew Skatepark at Circuit Makati, the event was hosted by Bea Benedicto and veteran skate host Norwin Caluya. DC Pro athletes and skateboarding veterans Cyril Jackson, Chase Webb, and Alex Lawton were also present to demonstrate killer tricks that made everyone go wild at the skate park before the trio had a free skate session with Filipino skaters.
After the skate demo, DC’s Skateboarding Competition then commenced with DC Pro riders as the judges. Starting it off was the challenge for the Longest Gap where participants had to perform an Ollie over 10 skateboards to get to the next round. Even with only one chance to re-do an attempt, skaters fearlessly took on the challenge of flying over the skateboards without hitting any part of the boards. Through the process of elimination, only one participant emerged as the winner.
Right after was the qualifying round of the DC Invitational Competition where participants performed one minute long runs and were judged based on technicality, consistency, and creativity. By the end of the qualifying round, only eight participants were able to advance to the final round where they were computed under the same criteria. The three skaters with the highest scores were named champions of DC’s very first invitational competition and were given P50,000 cash.
Along with these other challenges were the Highest Ollie challenge, a challenge in which participants had to Ollie over a bar that’s pulled up by a foot after every round. Next was the Best Grind challenge wherein participants performed their best grind on any obstacle of choice. With judging based on technicality, consistency, creativity, and quality, the top eight participants battled for the best score that can gain only one participant the win.
Other than the live skateboarding competition, DC also announced the winners for the Skate Submit online contest during the event. Those who submitted videos of themselves skating, were judged based on technicality, consistency, creativity, and quality. The skater who submitted the best one-minute skate video on Facebook and Instagram took home prizes.
Another highlight of the event was the launch of DC x Baker skateboard’s capsule collection which had Cyril Jackson, likewise a Baker Pro rider, leading the design direction. The designs of the collection paid homage to both DC shoes’ and Baker Skateboard’s California-bred roots.
Being an event that had stirred up masses of skateboarders all over the country, DC Philippines wants to empower the local skateboarding community with its premium range of footwear and lifestyle products as well as its amazing, hell-raising stunts.
DC’s Go Skateboarding Day event was co-presented by Mountain Dew and sponsored by Grind, GoPro, 360 Production, and Dans. 2nd Opinion Magazine was also an official media partner for the event.
