The Empire Shakedown!
The Empire Shakedown, which went down on March 19, 2005 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, may as well have been called The Claim Down. Before dropping in on the course, each rider had to claim which trick he was going to stomp.
The Mega Gnarly Kicker was actually just a meager 20-foot Woo-Tang booter, measuring about 50 feet in distance to a pretty nice flat landing. Ouch! It makes my back and knee ache just thinking about it. Anyway, after the gargantuan kicker, came the rail course at the bottom of Mt. Saint Sauveur, which was quite impressive, since they tried to provide a little bit of street style into it.
Check it out: The rail course was built on an 18-staircase with three obstacles. On the left, built out of concrete, was a down-flat-down ledge. Yes, the ledge was made of concrete blocks with wax melted on top, which was kinda crazy! In the middle was a nice flat bar metal handrail measuring around 30 feet.
Oh, and by the way, after the qualifying round, a few local skaters decided to put on a little rail session just to show some of the snowboarders how it's really done. Yeah, no shame here...we all know skaters can be "crazy". Anyway, on the far right was a nice flat ledge with a marble top to a 10-foot drop. Everyone was hyped, the weather was perfect, and the riding was amazing.
Benji Ritchie, Tyler Lepore and Kevin Sansalone represented with style and grace. Standout performances were provided by Canadian ripper and ThirtyTwo representer Matt Dano, who nabbed 1st place, and Morgan Parker (also representing ThirtyTwo) who claimed 3rd. Matt pulled off a backside 900 to a nice front board on the marble ledge. Or was it a switch 9? Either way, it was dope! Congratulations Matt and Morgan!
Also thanks to everybody for representing ThirtyTwo. This was a great event to experience. The Canadians pulled it off again with amazing support. The ThirtyTwo bangers stood out from the crowd, and everyone loved it. Big shout outs go out to Garret Louie at Timebomb, Dave Birnie, Matieu, Alex, Dan, Mike D, the riders, and the rest of the Timebomb crew! Thanks again, guys, for all your continued support. Looking forward to next year's extravaganza! Merci beaucoup!
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