The countdown to our Canada Day Skate Comp begins!

Talk to a local skateboarder for a minute and you’ll see how much dedication and hard work it takes to perfect a trick.

 

20-year-old Eric Johnson, 17-year old Noah Hutchison and 20-year old Cameron Sass spend most days in Riverdale’s Second Heaven Skate Park. Ask them why they skate. They’ve got plenty of answers.

 

“You don’t think about anything when you’re skating,” says Johnson. “You’re in your own world.”

 

“It’s an art. It’s passion,” explains Hutchison. “It’s my whole life. If I didn’t skate, I wouldn’t be who I am.”

 

“When you’re skating, you don’t think of your problems,” says Sass. “They all just go away”

 

They all agree on one thing: it’s a release. It’s trying to land a trick over and over, and failing.

 

“But as soon as you land something, all that anger, it’s just gone,” says Johnson.

 

Here at BYTE we’re thrilled to again host the Canada Day Skate Comp this holiday Monday, July 1st. It’s a day for skaters to display all their hard work and talent to the community. The event will feature musical performances by this year’s Battle of the Bands winners, Vision Quest, as well as a handful of local DJs. There will be a ton of prizes to give away from BoardStiff,  Sandors and Triple J’s, and three competitions: best run, best trick and freestyle jam.

 

“BYTE hosts the event to give back to the youth of Whitehorse, and to celebrate skateboarding, “ says Allison Furness, BYTE’s Whitehorse Outreach Coordinator.  “We are excited to see all the talent emerge and celebrate Whitehorse’s strong youth voice.”

 

Gen Beaudin is the manager of BoardStiff, one of the event’s major sponsors. She says skateboarding is one of the hardest sports she has ever done and knows every local skater deserves recognition for what they do.

 

“This is the only event in Whitehorse just for the skaters,” she said. “They make so much effort to be great at the sport, and it’s their time to shine.”

 

The competition will take place July 1st in the Second Heaven Skate Park in Riverdale. Registration is from 11:00 am to 11:45 am, with the event kicking off at noon. The day will be divided into two events: Best Run and Best Trick. Competitors will have the chance to do three, 60 second runs, for the Best Run comp with top 3 receiving prize packs. For the Trick Comp, participants will get three trick attempts from the stairs, and three trick attempts from the pyramid. The event will wrap up with a freestyle jam. We also have a line-up of DJs excited to play the event, including: MC Turmoil, Abstract Original, DJ MK Ultra, DJ TG and Kill The DJ.  This is a substance-free event.