SAVE THE DATE: BOWLZILLA Gold Coast 2024

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast Skating on Cloud Nine

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is celebrating nine years of ripping this February 24th. Friends, family and fans are all rolling in for Australia’s biggest week of Park Skating. The Australian Skateboarding Federation National Park Skating Championships will be bigger and better than ever.

A week of skating in Australia’s favourite destination has already got skaters near and far getting their crew together and booking travel. The ninth annual skating festival on the Gold Coast is full up with; Learn To Ride clinics, Art Shows, workshops, Music, Parties, Food and the Competition. BOWLZILLA Gold Coast will be riding high on Cloud 9 this year.

The main event at BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is the Australian Skateboarding Federation’s National Park Skating championships for 2024. With inclusive divisions across all ages, abilities and sexes, the cross pollination of generations and styles ensures the greatest week of skating in Australia. Maintaining the largest Equality in Skateboarding event in Australia with equal prize purse across the Open and Women’s divisions is just one of the key ingredients making the celebrations such a success. Adding in the Open prize purse, cash for the Masters and prizes for the 16 & Under Amateur division, almost everyone goes home with something awesome.

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is supported by Experience Gold Coast and the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar. Promoting the celebration to a much wider audience is incredibly important in bringing greater awareness and better support for our community. We’re showing the best of friend’s skating to the world and encouraging them to come and be part of it all.

The City of Gold Coast have backed skating since forever and are continuously proactive in working with skaters to find ways of supporting them and encouraging their successes. It is not just the fact they have more skateparks per capita than anywhere else in the country but how they have supported the women’s skate scene with previous successes such as the workshops, activations and art shows, the many and varied skate events that have been both funded and supported across ages, styles and levels of expertise and also the grass roots opportunities they provide by working with Gold Coast Skateboard Coaching and so many others in the community. All of this comes to a culmination in the festivities that are BOWLZILLA Gold Coast every year.

“The Gold Coast’s star continues to shine with fantastic events like BOWLZILLA back for 2024,” said Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate.

“I welcome the international competitors to the city as they battle with Australia's top skateboarders at Elanora and urge locals to get involved in the week-long expo which supports BOWLZILLA, offering free skate sessions and seminars from the pros."

Chad Ford; BOWLZILLA – Director: “Our focus each and every year has always been the excuse to gather or friends and family from near and far and celebrate their talents and share all the best our community has to offer. Grinding into our ninth year on the Gold Coast is no small feat and we are looking forward to stepping up to the challenge of ensuring this year will be our biggest and best yet. Our friends and family are the greatest and we invite you all to come and celebrate them with us at this year’s BOWLZILLA Gold Coast!

21st February: Girl’s Learn To Ride Clinic – Tugun Skatepark

22nd February: SALKZILLA

23rd February: Gold Coast Grill – local hosted BBQ skate session

24th February: BOWLZILLA™ Gold Coast, Australia’s; National Park Skating Championships

24th February: Dive In – official after party – Rattlesnake Motel

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast High Flying

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast 25/02/2023 – Elanora Skatepark

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is bringing back the biggest high flying ride to adventure on the Australian skate calendar this February. Generations of skaters will be raising the bar on good times with four wheels. The Australian Skateboarding Federation National Park Skating Championships will be bigger and better than ever.

The annual week of skating festivities on the Gold Coast have a packed line up this year of Learn To Ride clinics, Art Shows, workshops, Music, Parties, Food and the Competition. Good times at BOWLZILLA Gold Coast are going to be bigger, richer and more raucous.

The eighth year of BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is capped by the Australian Skateboarding Federation’s National Park Skating championships for 2023. With divisions across all ages, abilities and sexes, the goal has always been to stage the most inclusive week of skating in Australia to inspire everyone to have all the fun. A source of pride is that it is the largest Equality in Skateboarding event in Australia with equal prize purse across the Open and Women divisions. It also has a huge prize pool for the 16 & Unders and prize money for the Masters.

BOWLZILLA is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar. Their support helps promote the festival to a much wider audience and helps to show how participation in the skating community continues to grow each year. It helps show off the best of skating to the world and encourages them to come and be part of it all.

Gold Coast City Council have done fantastic things for skateboarding and also the local community through skating for decades. The number of facilities they have built, skate schools they support and events like BOWLZILLA Gold Coast that they encourage, has ensured the Gold Coast has the best skate scene in Australia. It also has benefits for the wider community with lifestyle and business opportunities. New world class facilities in the coming years heading toward the Olympics will only serve to cement this legacy.

“Another day and another national championship on display in our city,’’ said Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate.

“This tournament is more than just high-level action from Australia’s best skaters. It combines with a four-day celebration of skate culture courtesy of the BOWLZILLA festival. Congratulations to Major Events Gold Coast and event owners for bringing the action to our coast in February.’’

Chad Ford; BOWLZILLA – Director: “We grow and develop every year to represent our community and provide them the best platform to enjoy, share, celebrate and skate the hell out of all the best skate spots on the Gold Coast. The whole focus of BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is about the great generations of skaters that make up our family. We have many exciting announcements to come in the New Year about the biggest week of Australian skating in 2023. Start making your travel plans. We’ll meet you at the bowl.”

BOWLZILLA stands on the shoulders of giants and we strive in all we do to acknowledge the influential skaters and scene that came before us; Patti McGee, Tony Alva, Lora Thornhill, Jay Adams, Adrian Jones, Grant “Biff” Murdoch, Dog Town, Steve Alba, Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, Pearl Jam, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Hellmen, Glen E. Friedman, Thrasher, Independent, The Bones Brigade, The Beastie Boys, Lance Mountain, Chris Miller, Cara Beth Burnside and Tony Hawk. The new guard of Poppy Olsen, Keegan Palmer, Taniah Meyers, Grant Taylor, Lizzie Armanto, Danny Leon, Nicole Hause, Rune Glifberg, Omar Hassan, Bucky Lasek, Jack Fardell and Pedro Barros, would not be here without this heritage. BOWLZILLA™ acknowledges and celebrates this with plans to build on the past and write a bright and energetic future.

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast – Boarders Open

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast 2022 is going to be the biggest skating celebration of the year. With the newly opened borders there will be skaters coming from far and wide. The Australian Skateboarding Federation are ensuring the National Park Skating Championships will be bigger and better than ever.

2022 is already shaping up to be amazing and the annual week of skating festivities on the Gold Coast is going to put it over the top. With a packed line up of Learn To Ride clinics, Art Shows, workshops, Music, Parties, Food and the Competition, everyone is guaranteed a good time at BOWLZILLA Gold Coast.

ASF are again ensuring Australian skating is properly supported with the seventh annual BOWLZILLA Gold Coast National Park Skating Championships. The biggest competition of the year in Australia has nurtured Olympic champions like Keegan Palmer, Poppy Olsen and Kieran Woolley, along with underground legends like Shaun Boucher, Aimee Massie, Nixen Osborne and Shanae Collins. With divisions across all ages, abilities and sexes, the goal has always been to get everyone together to inspire each other and have all the fun. A source of pride is that it is the largest Equality in Skateboarding event in Australia with equal prize purse across the Open and Women divisions. It also has a huge prize pool for the 16 & Unders and prize money for the Masters.

It is important to skateboarding and BOWLZILLA, that ASF competitions are run by members of the skateboarding community across Australia as a collaborative effort, and ASF are stoked to have BOWLZILLA as the peak National Park Skating event for 2022 with all its fantastic partners and amazing festival events.

Once again back is the incredible; Yeah Girl. Their support of BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is invaluable each year. They kick the week off with a women’s Learn to Ride clinic, continue the awesomeness with workshops and art shows, ensure the Equality in Skateboarding prize purse is funded and finish off the celebration with curation of the Dive In after party.

"Yeah Girl was established to help promote and support the amazing talents of the international women’s skate community. We do this through our art shows, workshops, learn to ride sessions, advocating and support. BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is the perfect partner for us because they have always worked hard to ensure an equal platform for all skaters. They were the first international competition to have a woman as head judge for the entire competition and they are the largest Equality-in-Skateboarding competition in Australia. What we really love about BOWLZILLA is that it brings the skate community together and fosters great sports(wo)manship and camaraderie. BOWLZILLA regular Poppy Olsen was a prime example of this during the Women’s Park Finals at the Olympic Games when she lifted Japanese skater Misugu onto her shoulders in a show of support after she fell in her final run. This is what Yeah Girl stands for and BOWLZILLA Gold Coast supports.” Sarah Huston – Yeah Girl

Tourism and Sport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said events like BOWLZILLA were important to the Palaszczuk Government’s Economic Recovery Plan for the Gold Coast.

“Events bring competitors and spectators to the Gold Coast which benefits local jobs, accommodation and transport providers, as well as restaurants and cafés,” Mr Hinchliffe said.

That’s why in 2022 we’re backing events that make a sound contribution to the Gold Coast’s visitor economy.

“Learn to ride clinics at BOWLZILLA 2022 are a terrific way to get immersed in Australian skate culture.”

BOWLZILLA is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar. Their support helps promote the festival to a much wider audience and helps to show how participation in the skating community continues to grow each year. It helps show off the best of skating to the world and encourages them to come and be part of it all.

Gold Coast City Council have done fantastic things for skateboarding and also the local community through skating for decades. The number of facilities they have built, skate schools they support and events like BOWLZILLA Gold Coast that they encourage, has ensured the Gold Coast has the best skate scene in Australia. It also has benefits for the wider community with lifestyle and business opportunities. New world class facilities in the coming years heading toward the Olympics will only serve to cement this legacy.

“Broadening our annual events calendar has never been more important,’’ said Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate.

“BOWLZILLA fits that bill perfectly as it attracts the best skaters from the country for a week-long program of workshops, shows, exhibitions and competitions.

“I applaud organisers and look forward to visiting Elanora in March for the action.’’

Chad Ford; BOWLZILLA – Director: “Seven years in and we’re just getting started with BOWLZILLA Gold Coast. When we began all those years ago the goal was to create a reliable, fun, entertaining gathering to show off our friends and family’s amazing talents and get everyone together once a year to catch up and celebrate. We have grown beyond that to become the biggest skateboard festival in the country, set international standards with equality in skateboarding with our prize purse and staffing, nurtured the local kids into becoming the current biggest sporting event finalists and gold medalists and most importantly become the dependable community gathering we had hoped we could be. None of this would have been possible without the foresight and investment made by Gold Coast City Council which provided the base for us to build upon and then the support from Major Events Gold Coast and Tourism & Events Queensland which has enabled us to support and promote the talents of our amazing community and of course the skaters and our friends and family that have driven it all from the outset. Everything is free and everyone is welcome to come and join us for the week to celebrate.”

All photos by Sarah Huston for Yeah Girl

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast – Lifting Boarders

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast was the last international professional skateboard competition of 2020 before the world closed down. It will be the largest competition of the New Year lifting boarder’s spirits around the country. Once again the ASF National Park Skating Championships will be back to bring the cheer.

With such a crazy year behind us, there are high expectations for 2021 and what it will bring. BOWLZILLA Gold Coast will be do its part in bringing back the positive with the festival hosting; art, music, learn to ride clinics, food, parties and of course the competition.

For the sixth year BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is the ASF National Park Skating Championships, which makes it the peak ASF park skating competition in Australia, with the highest prize money in Australia. The competition has equal prize purse across Yeah Girl Women’s and Dickies Open, the largest Masters prize purse in Australasia and an oversupply of prizes for 16 & Unders.

The BOWLZILLA Gold Coast festival is about the gathering of Australia’s skateboarding community for a week on the Gold Coast, which is the best skate community in Australia, to celebrate all that makes them great, art, music, food, friends, community and skating.

The main show, the competition is the Australian Skateboarding Federation’s biggest Park Competition of the year for them and the Nation. ASF competitions are run by members of the skateboarding community across Australia as a collaborative effort, and the ASF are stoked to have BOWLZILLA as the peak national park event for 2021 with all its fantastic partners and amazing festival events.

Global powerhouse Yeah Girl started on the Gold Coast and has grown to an international platform showcasing the many varied and awesome abilities of womxn’s skateboarding. They have supported BOWLZILLA since inception and work together every year to ensure the highest paid Equality-in-Skateboarding event in Australia and that it continues to support the ever-growing womxn’s skateboard community on its path to the largest international competitive stage.

"Yeah Girl began as a way to give voice and spirit to the ever growing and evolving womxn's skate community. Working with BOWLZILLA Gold Coast was a no-brainer — they have always tried to find ways to further develop their understanding and support of the womxn's skate scene. At the first BOWLZILLA Gold Coast in 2016, Shari Duffy became the first woman to judge an international skateboard competition and has since taken on the role of Head Judge. The competition itself, having the largest Equality-In-Skateboarding prize purse in Australia, and the many other things done during the festival and behind the scenes every year in planning, help promote the best of our community on the largest stage available in Australia.” Sarah Huston – Yeah Girl

The only reason BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is even possible is because of the foresight of the Gold Coast City Council. They have provided the support and the platform for what is the Nation’s best skateboard community. What they continue to do each year with building more skateparks and providing more learn to ride clinics and the supporting of events which help rally and showcase the community is beyond compare in Australia. BOWLZILLA Gold Coast being the largest event of its kind in Australia is testament to the great work GCCC has done so far.

“Our city is expanding its major events calendar, actively seeking out new format events to attract national interest in the coast,’’ said Mayor Tom Tate.

“You only have to say the word BOWLZILLA to make you want to hear more. Blending cool music with epic skate bowl skills, great food and world-class competition is the perfect recipe for a great event.

“I wish organisers and competitors every success with the program and look forward to the thousands of social media selfies being shared across the globe.’’

Major Events Gold Coast CEO Jan McCormick:

"I’m thrilled to see BOWLZILLA hit the Gold Coast once again in 2021. The action-packed event is an iconic feature in our city’s sporting events calendar. I look forward to welcoming the competitors, their families and the spectators to another memorable National Championships.”

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar. TEQ’s support helps promote BOWLZILLA Gold Coast and attract friends and family from far and wide, not just for the week of the festival but throughout the entire year. Being part of the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar helps show off the best of us to the world and encourages them to come and be part of it all.

The BOWLZILLA Gold Coast festival is coming back for a sixth year! The week of fun on and off the board returns with a womxn’s learn to ride clinic with Yeah Girl and Gold Coast Skateboard Coaching, Beach Burrito Company is the night-time venue for the week for art, food and parties, there are several local hosted barbecues at some of the best skateparks in Australia and it is all wrapped around the biggest comp of the year in Australia at Elanora skatepark.

“This year BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is dedicated to the far too many we have lost in our community over the last year, especially Australian legend Grant “Biff” Murdoch. We realise how lucky we are to still be perpetuating our Peter Pan Complex with this festival and will do everything we can to lift the spirits of our community with a fantastic week on the Gold Coast. Our job is to spread joy and inspire and we will make sure there are equally high doses of both. We thank all of our supporters for assisting us in continuing the stoke that is BOWLZILLA Gold Coast. We are an Open Boarders event, so everyone with a positive attitude is welcome to come join us at our free week of skating celebration.” Chad Ford; BOWLZILLA – Director.

BOWLZILLA stands on the shoulders of giants and we strive in all we do to acknowledge the influential skaters and scene that came before us; Patti McGee, Tony Alva, Lora Thornhill, Jay Adams, Adrian Jones, Grant “Biff” Murdoch, Dog Town, Steve Alba, Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, Pearl Jam, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Hellmen, Glen E. Friedman, Thrasher, Independent, The Bones Brigade, The Beastie Boys, Lance Mountain, Chris Miller, Cara Beth Burnside and Tony Hawk. The new guard of Poppy Olsen, Keegan Palmer, Taniah Meyers, Grant Taylor, Lizzie Armanto, Danny Leon, Nicole Hause, Rune Glifberg, Omar Hassan, Bucky Lasek, Jack Fardell and Pedro Barros, would not be here without this heritage. BOWLZILLA™ acknowledges and celebrates this with plans to build on the past and write a bright and energetic future.

Dates:

13th March 2021

Event info: TBC – information coming soon

9th March: Yeah Girl x Gold Coast Skateboard Coaching – Girl’s Learn To Ride Clinic – Tugun Skatepark, Boyd St, Tugun 4224

10th March: Gold Coast Grill – local hosted BBQ skate session – more to come

11th March: Tic Taco art exhibition / video premier – Beach Burrito Company; The Strand Shop 25/26, 72-80 Marine Parade, Coolangatta 4225 Ph: (07) 5536 4192

12th March: Gold Coast Grill – local hosted BBQ skate session – more to come

13th March: BOWLZILLA™ Gold Coast, Australia’s; National Park Skating Championships – 1 Pines Lane, Elanora QLD 4221

13th March: Dive In – official after party – Beach Burrito Company; The Strand Shop 25/26, 72-80 Marine Parade, Coolangatta 4225 Ph: (07) 5536 4192

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BOWLZILLA Gold Coast carving out the future

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is the biggest skateboard festival this year for Australia. Everyone is gathering on the Gold Coast for a week of celebrating our friend’s talents with art, music and skating. BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is the ASF National Park Skating Championships.

Five years in and BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is just getting started. This year’s festival is celebrating all the great talents of the skateboarding community with art, music, learn to ride clinics, food, parties and of course the competition.

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is the ASF National Park Skating Championships which makes it the peak ASF park skating competition in Australia, with the highest prize money in Australia.

The Australian Skateboarding Federation competitions are run by members of the skateboarding community across Australia as a collaborative effort, and the ASF are stoked to have BOWLZILLA as the peak national park event for 2020 with all its fantastic partners and amazing festival events.

Yeah Girl started on the Gold Coast and has grown to an international platform showcasing the many varied and awesome abilities of women’s skateboarding. BOWLZILLA is fortunate to be able to work with Yeah Girl every year to ensure the highest paid Equality-in-Skateboarding event in Australia and that it continues to support the ever-growing women’s skateboard community on its path to the largest international competitive stage.

"Yeah Girl was started as a way of showcasing the talents of our friends both on and off their skateboards. Being able to work with BOWLZILLA Gold Coast year in and year out to continue to offer a platform that not only celebrates but gives voice to womxn in skateboarding is an honour. The fact that Yeah Girl started on the Gold Coast and we get to come back here every year and be part of the largest Equality in Skateboarding event in Australia makes all the hard work to get here that much more special. This fifth year of BOWLZILLA Gold Coast is going to be the best one yet.” Sarah Huston – Yeah Girl

BOWLZILLA Gold Coast would not be possible without the vision and support of Gold Coast City Council. Their continued investment over the years has been visionary in not just building the skatepark but looking for ways to ensure it continues to grow with the community and be able to be utilised as the best platform in Australia for events of this type. Having BOWLZILLA Gold Coast continue to be the largest event of its kind in Australia is a case study in how supporting skateboarding in the rights ways pays dividends for the whole community.

A City of Gold Coast spokesperson said:

“We’re proud of the investment, development and support we have given the skateboard community over the years. Many people say they are surprised by how big skateboarding is becoming with its entry into the Olympic Games and also how much the Gold Coast benefits from it. We are not surprised. In all the years of working with skateboarders it is apparent how hard working and civic minded they are. For relatively small investments in skateboarding compared to other activities the on-flow benefits to the community are so much bigger. Knowing that local riders like Keegan Palmer and community focused organisations like Yeah Girl have gone on to such international acclaim proves to everyone how worthwhile our investment in BOWLZILLA Gold Coast has been. We look forward to many more years of increased benefit for all.”

The growth of BOWLZILLA Gold Coast each year to be the biggest skateboard festival in Australia is only possible from having the support of others. The Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland help to amplify all the awesomeness by featuring it on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar, worth $880m to the state’s economy in 2020.

For the fifth year of the BOWLZILLA Gold Coast festival it will have all the usual full week of fun on and off the board. It all gets rolling with a girl’s learn to ride clinic with Yeah Girl and Gold Coast Skateboard Coaching, Beach Burrito Company is the night time venue for the week for art, food and parties, there are several local hosted barbecues at some of the best skateparks in Australia and it is all wrapped around the biggest comp of the year in Australia at Elanora skatepark.

“Five years into BOWLZILLA Gold Coast, wow! Being able to build a platform that is of the community it comes from and that showcases the best of our friend’s creativity on and off their boards has been the reward and continues to be the drive. The point of the competition at BOWLZILLA is not the placings but the camaraderie, inspiration, good times and opportunity it provides. If people come to BOWLZILLA with too serious an attitude they stick out like sore thumbs. Our goal is to promote and elevate the great and fun parts of the skateboarding lifestyle. Come have fun with us and celebrate how awesome our friends are!” Chad Ford; BOWLZILLA – Director.

Dates:

14th March 2019

Event info:

10th March: Yeah Girl x Gold Coast Skateboard Coaching – Girl’s Learn To Ride Clinic – Tugun Skatepark, Boyd St, Tugun 4224

11th March: Gold Coast Grill – local hosted BBQ skate session – more to come

12th March: Tic Taco art exhibition – Beach Burrito Company; The Strand Shop 25/26, 72-80 Marine Parade, Coolangatta

13th March: Gold Coast Grill – local hosted BBQ skate session – more to come

14th March: BOWLZILLA™ Gold Coast, Australia’s; National Park Skating Championships – 1 Pines Lane, Elanora QLD 4221

14th March: Dive In – official after party – Beach Burrito Company; The Strand Shop 25/26, 72-80 Marine Parade, Coolangatta 4225 Ph:

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Filmed content:

 BOWLZILLA Gold Coast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBEV_W0yB78