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Shut Up and Skate – UK Independent Vert Series hits Southsea

UK Independent Vert Series brings the noise to Southsea

Last weekend saw the UK Independent Vert Series hold Round 3 of this year’s contest series at the spiritual home of vertical skateboarding on the South Coast, namely Southsea skatepark.
Southsea was also celebrating its 40th anniversary over the same weekend, with events held across the park by local SOS Bored of Southsea to celebrate both the park’s birthday, and the recent regeneration of some of Southsea’s original concrete features courtesy of a group of dedicated locals – (see more on that via the @the_duffnell_project Instagram).
Along with Romford, Harrow, Stevenage and the slightly newer (in relative terms at least) Livingston – Southsea skatepark is a living monument to 4 decades of UK skateboarding history and is still deeply embedded into the local skate scene. If you haven’t visited the place, get your pilgrimage on as it’s so much more skateable now than it’s ever been thanks to the resurfacing and repairs conducted recently.

A quick Southsea skatepark history lesson courtesy of Iain Borden

Who better than The Donz AKA Don Brider to lead you through a bit more of Southsea’s history?

Cover photo above – George O’Neill – Invert. Photo: Stuart Bennett

Alongside holding some of the UK’s earliest street contests and playing host to demo’s from visiting US pros from its inception (including a 1991 Bones Brigade demo), Southsea’s place in the UK skateboarding history books also encompasses a series of vert contests called ‘Shut Up And Skate’, held throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s that were the brainchild of local legends and one-time Zorlac skateboards pros, the Abrook brothers.

In 2016, thanks to the King Ramps vert becoming a fixture at Southsea, the UK Vert Series heads revived the Shut Up And Skate contests with the full blessing of the Abrooks, and the event has run annually since 2016.
Last weekend saw the UK Independent Vert Series hit Southsea again and luckily for us, Stuart Bennett (follow him on Instagram @keetyuk) was on hand to capture some of what went on.
All praise to everyone involved in the UK Vert Series – beyond committed!

Unmistakable Jim Langran shapes – Seatbelt air. Photo: Stuart Bennett

Their next event, the ‘Steve Bayless Vert session’ will take place at Riverside Park, St Neots on July 29th – all the info can be found at the UK Vert Series site.

Dutch visitor Lars Stout pays homage to Steve Schneer with this frontside invert. Photo: Stuart Bennett

Now to pass the mic over to Mat Marlow and co – enjoy Stuart Bennett’s photos and get ready for St Neots on July 29th.

“A great way to help celebrate 40 years at the legendary venue! The rain held off (just), the crowd gathered and the skating was amazing from all groups.
We had 3 different judges for every group this time, proving that the skaters are keen to keep the scene together by putting something back. So thanks to Jim Langran, Noddy Rands, Alex Griffiths, Lee Blackwell, Ethan Hardiman Doody, Nicholas James Rains, Street Nowik and Leon Bennett for manning the clipboards.
Special mention to Kat Marlow for bashing the laptop for hours to keep the scores in order and let us run comps back to back.
MCs Christopher Hudson and James Threlfall kept things tightly wound and got the crowd pumped all day long.
On the platform keeping the event on film were Stu Bennett, Gavin Swaffield and Richie Styles with Elliot Mallinson doing the moving pictures.
We had another successful live stream with 50k+ viewers thanks to Brett Dye from The Skateboarding Show and EXTREME making sure there wasn’t a single kickturn missed.”

Classic frontside air. Photo: Stuart Bennett