Cape Town - A local skater defied gravity to claim top spot at the inaugural Street Lines Skate Tournament in Pretoria on Saturday.
Ethan Cairns from Muizenberg was in a class of his own in the men’s division to win his first major competition.
With a total of 80 athletes competing, including 60 in the men’s division and 20 in the women’s division, the judges had their work cut out. They looked for consistency, style, use-of-park and difficulty when making their decisions.
Throughout the qualifying stages, each competitor had to do 45-second runs(to do many tricks in that time), with the best one counting as their final score. In the finals, there were a total of 15 men and six women left, and each of them had to do two 45 second runs and four tricks with the best run(any four tricks that they might not have done in their 45 second runs) and the two highest-scoring tricks will count as their final score.
Cairns said: “I went to the contest with no expectations. I wanted to skate and have fun. (However), I ended up winning the contest, (which) was really unexpected. It was good to see all the amazing skaters and watch everyone try their best.”
Cairns said he would like to skate across the world.
“I would like to travel and skate in different cities around the world and to see where skateboarding takes me. Winning this event has taught me to always have fun while skating and never take it too seriously,” he added.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s youngest representative at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Boipelo Awuah, claimed top spot in the women’s division.
“This event was probably one of my best contests ever. I had so much fun. Having so many women competing at a contest is amazing. I would love it if such events were hosted every year, that would be amazing, and it would contribute so much to skateboarding,” said the Kimberley resident.
Street Lines organiser, Ryan van der Spuy, said: “The first-ever Street Lines Skate Tournament exceeded all our expectations resulting in the biggest Joburg skate contest in recent years. This proves that the progression and excitement in the sport of skateboarding is alive and well. We are proud to be able to provide this platform for skaters to showcase their skills, and to witness the number of new faces and women competing is something special. To everyone involved in making this happen, especially the event partners, thank you. We cannot wait for the next one.”
Weekend Argus