Rich Pearson Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 On a remarkably sunny day in November, nearly 100 different athletes from three different disciplines of extreme sports congregated in Newton Abbot for the first official Street Sports Championship.Skateboarders, BMXer’s and BikeTrials riders from all over the southwest appeared to showcase their unique talents to the highly appreciative public, and competed for the chance of taking away a piece of the significant cash prize fund.Myself and Tony Rew of the West of England Motorcycle Club and ACU were petitioned to put together a team of riders and a course for the event, being kindly granted a good 100yard long road just outside of Asda in Newton Abbot town centre.Essentially I was asked to put on a demonstration for the public, but after discussions with Tony and a few others, we decided it would be far more beneficial to run the event as an actual competition for the public to see. After two days of planning and construction, and a shed load of hard work from myself and several volunteers, Saturday dawned (a little too early for some…) with an amazingly clear sky, and 18 of the best riders from around the south west came to compete and enjoy the day.The pictures below are a few I have selected which highlight what a great day it was. Joe Seddon making easy work of the skip section... ...and yours truly on the tyre section. Matt Burge gapping his way to a win in the expert... ...and Speed Trials Champion Andy Pooley in Section 2. Ben Moore racing through the Speed Trial Course... ...and Andrei Burton taking his time on the cotten reels.and what I look like after three days with no real sleep...I am going back down to Newton Abbot before the year is out to discuss with the town councillors an event for next year, with a much wider range of riders (entry available to everyone is what I’m aiming for) and a larger course with more sections.I might also use this opportunity to highlight the event I am running in May of next year, The Trial of Wessex, a brief of which is in the news section, and hopefully the above pictures will enforce to many of the you the calibre of events we are able to run here in the south west, and make the trip down to Somerset for the May bank holiday in 2008.Also, in no particular order, I must thank Newton Abbot Town Council and their staff, Tony Rew and family, Andrei Burton, Joe Seddon, Andy Pooley, Darren McAllistair, Adam Phillips (best tractor driver EVER!), Tom Howe, Ben Moore, Jamie Stewart, Matt and Melvin Burge, Simon Abrams, Nick Hunt (what would we do without you Nick…), Fraser Concrete Supplies, Jewsons, and the rather lovely looking friend of Fiona Rew’s, whose head I almost ran over during the demo…Seriously though, I spent the best part of three days working my head off, but if it wasn’t for the hard working and determined people who were there the day before and who stuck around to clear up after (if that sounds menial, you try “clearing” around 50 tonnes of equipment by hand…) then I’d probably still be there now. You know who you are. I hope all of you who attended had a great day, and again that those of you would like to see more events like this can make it down here next year.See you in 2008 Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max-t Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Looked like a good event Rich. Is there any video footage? if so get it up a.s.a.pMax... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pengsmelly Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 It was a mental day! loved it. Some of the section where wicked. met a lot of new people and had a great day. cheers rich!can't wait for next year. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.McMillan Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 that looked and sounds really successful rich good stuff will be awesome next year, bigger and bettertom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bionic Balls Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 well done mate really getting it together in the south west... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_Tupman Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Can't belive you just ignored the Saturday night Wish I could have been there oh well i'll bring the motorbike out next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigman Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Glad to see you finaly got abit of something to be put on here, it was an awsome weekend i have to say, even though i had to retire from the comp due to my ankle being a basatrd and dieing (rode later on due to LOADS of pain killers ) When i arrived friday at around 4:30 there was still so much work to do, i got drafted onto the tractor and did my best to help the setting out (apart from dropping a skip off the forks!) There was alot of efferet put in by all the guys that were there helping that evening.The saturday, having the public watching does give you abit of a buzz when riding! But then after all that it was time to pack everything away again, once again i was sat on the tractor and gave the job of loading and towing everything back to Tony Rew's Farm, and as rich said, there was ALOT of stuff, there was 2 large trailer loads of cotton reels etc and 2 large trailers loads of tyres that had to be cleared, pluss all the pallets and skips and concrete piping etc! Once again there was alot of effort put in by all the people there helping.I have to say i realy enjoyed being part of the event and i think it realy was a good eye opener for the public to see what us guys and gals do!I want to say a big thanks to Rich and Tony for organising the event (also to Tony for giving me somewhere to sleep) and to all the guys who were there that made it an awsome day!Can't belive you just ignored the Saturday night Wish I could have been there oh well i'll bring the motorbike out next time.Do you not mean the friday night? Seriously dodgey that night..... Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteglaze Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Hi thereWell done, that looks like a great job well done. I'm new to the cyclo trials, I've been watching this forum for a while now and I have to say I take my hat off to you. Did I miss out on the pre hype to this? was it pre advertised? if so where. It would be good to know when events like this are going ahead.........Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Pearson Posted November 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Can't belive you just ignored the Saturday night Exactly how much more of it would you like me to ignore? (apart from dropping a skip off the forks!)I was hoping we could have avoided talking about that...Hi thereWell done, that looks like a great job well done. I'm new to the cyclo trials, I've been watching this forum for a while now and I have to say I take my hat off to you. Did I miss out on the pre hype to this? was it pre advertised? if so where. It would be good to know when events like this are going ahead.........PeteThank you very much, and to everyone else who has left comments.I will admit that the event not only wasn't advertised but I did a fair bit to keep it quiet. We had rather a small area to deal with and a tight schedual in which to run the categories - hence why I only invited 18 riders - so I felt that keeping the event out of the eyes of the general trials public and using it as sort of a test to see if we could do it (and we seem to have passed) would avoid a lot of unecessecery people on MSN going, "Rich! So and So said you're running a trial in Newton Abbot! Can we come?" and much more of that sort of thing.However all the events we are running next year will be (and in fact I think already are) advertised on TF's news section, with more details coming out closer to the time.Thanks again.Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishy Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Well done Rich (and everyone else ). That looked absolutely mint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIX Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 Sweet. Good work.xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 Looks like a grand day out! You were rather lucky with the weather, especially considering what it was like at Bransgore on the Sunday... Congratulations on succeeding where most people can't be arsed! You, Andrei and everyone should be very proud of what you're achieving.Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonMack Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 Nice work Rich, look forward to more south west stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash-Kennard Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 wtf i didnt know anything about this, rich if i had known id have helped out for sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.