It was the hottest day of the year so far in London on Saturday, a fact that was obviously sat at the back of my mind as I pulled out of Paddington station on the train, rapidly making my way to the destination of the day: Swindon. As I was leaving the city, Manhead kindly text me to inform me that it was hammering it down in Bristol so I should probably prepare for the worst weather-wise. Not quite what I was expecting. Luckily when we arrived, as with the town itself, the weather was exactly midway between London and Bristol – not boiling hot, but not raining at least. Which is almost ideal when you take into account spending a whole afternoon at an indoor skatepark – a heatwave definitely isn’t called for.

Element Skateboards very own Ross McGouran had made the same Paddington to Swindon train journey earlier in the day and was on hand to help judge the event, James Threlfall had a firm grasp on the microphone, a solid crew of known and unknown heads were in town and ready to get stuck into the ATB Skate Warehouse layout, so we were just about set; Element ‘Make it Count’ had returned to the UK for another year and now it was time for all present to battle it out for the top spot on the podium and the all expenses paid trip to the ‘Make it Count’ European finals in Bilbao that came with it.

Jordan Sharkey ultimately went home with the proverbial gold, and you’ll see why once you reach the footage at the bottom of this article.

A big thanks to everyone at Element and ATB Skate Warehouse for making this happen, and extended props to everyone who came down and got involved – rulers one and all.

Photography by Chris Johnson.