“SHAKING THINGS UP”
BOWLZILLA™ Chile 2016
16th January 2016: BOWLZILLA™ Chile was held for the first time this past weekend at Ritoque Beach and delivered big.
BOWLZILLA™ Chile Sport Music Festival is the first of its kind in South America. Having the combination of the two was brilliant in being able to give fans access to their favourite skaters and bands at the one time and each inspiring the other.
Steve Caballero was easily the busiest person at the event. He skated in the Masters heats and qualified for the final. In between he went on stage and did a guest bass appearance with Strung Out and then skated in the Masters finals and placed 2nd overall. That wasn’t enough though, he then went on stage with his best friends and their band The Faction, playing for the first time to a South American audience that has been wanting to see them since the early 80s when they formed. Steve wins BOWLZILLA Chile MVP for 2016!
Skating with Steve in the Masters was 2015 International Skateboarder’s Union Masters World Champion – Pat Ngoho. This honour gave Pat the best position to skate in during the qualifying heats; last rider in last heat. Included were riders from Brazil; Marco Cruz, Miguel Catarina, Bruno Passos, Evandro Mancha, the USA; Bill Rennie (Tristan’s dad), Chris Patton, Kevin Staab, Tony Hawk and from the UK and a close 2nd to Steve Caballero for MVP with MC duties, webcast compare and Masters competition; Sean Goff from the UK.
For most of these riders it was their first time to Chile and for the fans it was decades overdue and they showed their appreciation by screaming and shouting their support for them all day. In return the skaters gave their all. This was a brand new bowl and a new style of bowl so there was no home field advantage and it had them all working harder. Although the placings may read like a foregone conclusion, if you ask the riders they will tell you it was far from that. Because of all of this the fans got a much tighter competition. Tony Hawk won and the huge number of his dedicated fans were over the moon to see him add to his legacy of competition winnings but he fought for it.
BOWLZILLA Chile 2016 Masters results:
1 Tony Hawk
2 Steve Caballero
3 Bruno Passos
4 Pat Ngoho
5 Kevin Staab
6 Evandro Mancha
7 Chris Patton
8 Marco Cruz
9 Miguel Catarina
10 Bill Rennie
11 Sean Goff
There was a huge pro field and they came from all over to have a go at the inaugural title of BOWLZILLA Chile Pro Champion. There was a big contingent from Brazil and especially RTMF, the USA, Dominican Republic, Italy, UK, Basque Country, Argentina and the local Chileans. With no home field advantage as the bowl was finished the Sunday night before the comp and crowd favourite and 2nd placed in the 2015 ISU Pro World Bowl Series – Pedro Barros taking himself out the day before while out sightseeing with friends and family (he hit a patch of sand on his skateboard and broke his collarbone) it made the field wide open. You could have given first place to any of the top three and most would have been okay with it but in the end it came down to who utilised the whole bowl best and was closest in style to the bowl competition guidelines ISU has put out there to showcase the best bowl skating in the world.
We've all been hoping and waiting and cheering and encouraging and then finally it happened on Saturday and we couldn't be more proud of being part of Murilo Peres first major pro win. EVERYONE was stoked. He didn’t even get a chance to accept his award before he was carried off on everyone’s shoulders. We can say we were there.
1 Murilo Peres Brazil
2 Tom Schaar USA
3 Chris Russell USA
4 Tristan RennieUSA
5 Vi Kakinho Brazil
6 Trey Wood USA
7 Jono SchwannUSA
8 Kevin Kowalski USA
9 Josh Borden USA
10 Ben Hatchell USA
11 Daniel Cuervo Dominican Republic
12 Rony Gomes Brazil
13 Otavio Neto Brazil
14 Felipe Foguinho Brazil
15 Nilo Pecanha Brazil
16 Caique Silva Brazil
17 Marcello Jimenez Chile
18 Sky Siljeg USA
19 Ivan Federico Italy
20 Alex Halford UK
21 Lada Amarilla Argentina
22 Gonzalo Rodriguez Argentina
23 Patricio Perez Chile
24 Sagas Braulio Chile
25 Benjamin Perez Chile
26 Alan Young USA
27 Borja Casas Basque Country
28 Dario MataroloArgentina
29 Nacho Galo Chile
30 Lucas Rojas Argentina
BOWLZILLA is more than just skating. There is art and music and good times all round as part of the whole gathering. The week’s festivities kicked off with BOWLZILLA’s cultural event partners Love & Guts throwing an art show / welcome party for everyone in Santiago at Mall Sport. Loads of the riders showed up and had their art on display and for sale at the show with an impromptu session happening at Bowl Park skatepark and a bunch of the skaters; Renton Millar, Chris Russell, Alex Halford, Trey Wood and Sam Beckett got wet on the permanent wave set up they have there. It was a great launch and welcome.
The music side of things was huge with; Mucho Muchacho, Zaturno, Dj Rafik, Strung Out, DJ Sien, Yuksek, Gui Boratto, Gentleman, Cody Simpson, The Faction and Capital Cities playing. The music was the backdrop for the skating and once the competition was over everyone went to party and dance till last call.
The sponsors for this first year were very generous and supportive and helped bring everything together. Monster, Globe, Volcom and Movistar. Good event sponsors offer more than just a logo and a cheque and all of our sponsors this year gave more and everyone at the event benefitted from their participation.
The competition is part of the points of the International Skateboarder’s Union bowl series and it launched the ISU season for 2016. This event continued the utilisation of the ISU’s new bowl specific judging format that the riders have been wanting for a long time. It is focused on proper bowl skating with lines and use of the whole bowl being rewarded more than single tricks. The judges really embraced it and we saw many riders change their approach to the bowl. As these guidelines develop and improve so is the riders level of skating and approach.
