After a number of years at venues such as Wakefield’s Thornes Park skatepark, Vans Concrete Carnival, sponsored by brands including Monster Energy, Santa Cruz, Independent and Spitfire, returned in 2011 at the new XC in Hemel Hempstead, slightly later in the UK events calendar than normal. The XC houses a 5x8ft and 5x9ft concrete pool and bowl, making it the perfect venue for the contest.
Taking place over the weekend of December 3rd and 4th, the two day event finished off the series of bowl events that Vans had presented throughout the year, also including the Off the Bowl Contest in Switzerland and France’s Concrete Weekend. It featured prize money of £5,000 split across the Pro/Sponsored and Best Trick categories, plus a Werthers Original masters jam, and under 16 and over 16 comps for unsponsored types.
Some of the biggest names in skateboarding, including Eric Dressen, Jake Collins, Andy Scott and Rune Glifberg, as well as previous winners Joris Brichet and Fabio Martin, took part. Volcom skaters Glifberg and Ben Raemers battled their way through the qualifiers and semi-finals, with Raemers eventually taking first place in the pro competition, and Glifberg second.
Concrete Carnival returned to the XC in 2012 for two more days of homegrown indoor bowl shredding. The official Hold Tight Henry-produced Vans edit from the event was a must-watch, featuring skaters such as Mark Munson, Salar Kooshki, Denis Lynn, Benson, Chav Dan, Craig Questions, Sox, Ivan Federico, Bjorn Lilleson, Rob Smith, Dannie Carlsen, Alex Hallford and Sam Beckett.
