.png){kind=small}
The 5th annual Rip the Elwood Longboard Competition brought riders from PA, DE, MD, VA, NJ & CO to Elwood L. Crossan State Park for Downhill Racing, Uphill Push Racing, Boarder-Cross Racing, Slide Jam and Longest Slide Competitions. The weather was beautiful for skating and the stoke was high all day.
Rider Hayden Knott on the top portion of the DH race course. Photo by Suzan Knott
The event started with the Downhill Time Trial Race where each rider had 3 timed runs to see who was the fastest. The challenging course is only 4' wide with deceiving left and right turns. Hayden Knott led the Juniors Division with a time of 1:11.
The Open division was an incredibly close race. Local rider Ryan Yearsley was leading after his first and second run with a time of 1:08 and then 1:06. In the final run, Jarrid Lopez improved his time by 5 seconds and clocked in the fastest time of the day at 1:05. Aaron Gordy also improved his last run to earn a spot on the podium.
Rider Jarrid Lopez getting into position before the left crash corner. Photo Suzan Knott
Junior DH Podium. Photo by Suzan Knott
Open DH Podium. Photo by Suzan Knott
Junior DH: 1st- Hayden Knott 2nd- Nate Yager 3rd- Adam Balliet
Open DH: 1st- Jarrid Lopez 2nd- Ryan Yearsley 3rd- Aaron Gordy
Next event was the grueling Uphill Push Race from the bottom parking lot to the top of the park. It's about a half mile push uphill as fast as you can go! The race was led and won by Faceplant Boardrider Jeremy Woolsey. The race for 2nd and 3rd was tight, especially after the mid race crash where one rider stepped onto another rider's board creating a quick pile up. Ben Lohr and Aidan Klecker were side by side the rest of the way up but Ben just passed him at the finish for 2nd place.
Uphill Push Race, Jeremy in the lead, Ben in white and Aidan in Black. Photo by Suzan Knott.
Uphill Push Race: 1st- Jeremy Woolsey 2nd- Ben Lohr 3rd- Aidan Klecker
After the push race, riders took a break to refuel at the Blendlife Food Truck serving healthy smoothies, acai bowls and grill cheeses. For the first time ever we had rider on rider heats at the Boardercross Race (rather than the single rider timed runs). The course started out with airing off the kicker straight into slalom cones. After that the riders merged together around the coned course through 3 grass patch sections. After a few heats the riders were really flowing through the course.
Riders Rob Wheeler and Will Stephan preparing for landing off the 1st kickers in the BoarderCross. Photo by Suzan Knott.
Riders Cameron Roundtree (left) and Jarrid Lopez (right) in the slalom section. Photo by Suzan Knott.
Riders Rob Wheeler and Jarrid Lopez banking off the first grass patch section. Photo by Suzan Knott.
BoarderX Finals with Zach Longacre leading Will Stephan in the first grass section. Photo by Suzan Knott.
BoarderX Finals: The last section, both riders carrying a ton of speed and both opted for the grass.
Pure stoke after the BoarderX Final Run. Photo by Suzan Knott.
BoarderX: 1st- Zach Longacre 2nd- Will Stephan 3rd- Rob Wheeler
Last event of the day was the Slide Jam, which was the 2nd stop of the Faceplant Freestyle Cup. In the Juniors Division, Benny Clark and Nate Yager battled it out again. Both have two different riding styles. Benny Clark was back on par with his technical hardwheel riding, throwing seamless 360 slides and blunt slides. Nate Yager used his smooth softwheel style with some technical blunt slides and grabs.
Rider Nate Yager with a beautiful toeside blunt check. Photo by Suzan Knott
Junior Slide Podium. Photo by Suzan Knott
Junior Slide Jam: 1st- Benny Clark 2nd- Nate Yager 3rd-Adam Balliet
The Open Slide Jam was packed with talent and big names that were no stranger to the podium. Jarrid Lopez was pulling his signature lady killer slides along with some meaty blunt checks and manuals. New rider Will Stephan had the most flow, power and speed in each of his runs, stomping big 360 shove its and going for a massive 360 off the money booter. Max Alessandri was back to his form after coming off a broken foot a few months ago. He landed 360 airs off two kickers and spun both frontside and backside while mixing it up inbetween with incredible technical tricks and slides.
Rider Jarrid Lopez with a proper toe blunt. Photo by Suzan Knott
Rider Will Stphan mid air during a speedy 360 shov. Photo by Suzan Knott
Max Alessandri whipping around a frontside 360. Photo by Suzan Knott
Open Slide Jam: 1st- Max Alessandri 2nd- Will Stephan 3rd- Jarrid Lopez
Every year we end the event by killing our wheels with the longest slide comp. We added kick the cone to the mix this year and saw some steezy long slides.
Mark Nicolaus won longest heel and kicked the cone in the process! Photo by Suzan Knott
Longest Heel and Kick the Cone: Mark Nicolaus
Longest Toe: Will Stephan
We plan on hosting this event again in 2018 and making it a full weekend event with camping. With more time we can add more events to the Dowhill Racing like man on man heats and no foot brake/no glove down. We can also add Slalom Racing! We have one more event this year, 6th Annual (and Final) Skate the Cape Shred Festival, November 11th & 12th, 2017.