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Smooth Skating

Joelle MilholmGlenwood Springs, CO Colorado
Post Independent/Kara K. Pearson
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CARBONDALE – As the Mountain Madness Skateboard Competition pipe best trick event was coming to a close on Saturday, a winner still hadn’t emerged. The participants had laid down some good tricks, but no one had really stood out. That’s when 17-year-old Glenwood skateboarder Jordan Wood pulled out a front side air with a finger flip on the lip of the pipe, drawing cheers from the audience and his fellow skaters to take the title with only seconds remaining in the event.”I have to come up with a name for that one,” Wood said of the trick. “I have been playing with that one for some time now. That is the first time I have really committed to it. If there was any time to do it, that was it.”Wood also came away with a win in the advanced division pipe jam session as well as taking second in the street course jam session in the same division. Saturday’s event was the fourth year the event has been held at North Face Skate Park and it is Wood’s favorite.”This is the only one I care about,” said Wood, who’s been skateboarding for 10 years. “I didn’t go to any other ones this year, I just couldn’t get around to it. I made sure I could make it out to this one.”

Josh Stomp skated his way to a title in the best trick competition on the street course, outshining other boarders on the rails. Jordan Gross took first place in the beginners street course/pipe jam session, Evan Tooley earned top honors in the intermediate division and Fred Ables won the advanced street course competition.There was a lot of action in the sponsored rider jam session, which saw seven riders from Denver to Carbondale periodically dropping in and out of the pipe. In the 15-minute endurance event, they showed off as much of their skill as possible, only stopping to take a breather every once in a while. Longmont’s Alex Brunelle came away as the winner, Otto Pflanz placed second and Carbondale’s Chad Simon took third. Simon, a 36-year-old skater who has been at the sport for almost 25 years, helped build the skate park, which was finished in 2004.The park has become a huge part of many people’s lives, including Wood’s.”This thing is life changing,” Wood said. “This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.”

It’s been three years since the skate park’s construction was finished, and Simon enjoys seeing it hold competitions like Mountain Madness.”It’s good to see all the kids skating because they are all rippers now,” said Simon, who will begin construction on a new skate park in Snowmass this upcoming spring. “They are all getting better and better every time I see them.”


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