This Saturday just gone saw a Southbank-based gathering of epic proportions from the International adidas team: all the guys that you wanted to see were in attendance including – Mark Gonzales, Dennis Busenitz, Silas Baxter Neal, Mark Suciu, Chewy Cannon, Benny Fairfax and a host of other three stripe rippers. The demo was furious with Mark Gonzales getting involved from the get go. Dennis Busenitz was a blur of speed as expected, and Suciu strung together lines that made small children weep (and cheer). Nearly every part of the Undercroft was sessioned and a few extra obstacles came in handy to enhance the flare (especially the picnic bench that was very well and truly sat on.) With a team this heavy it was always going to be a crowd-pleasing event, and humans of all ages received stoke for the rest of the day. When the action finally died down, everyone dispersed into the torrential rain and headed towards Mile End and the Boost The Bar competition. Was it gonna be dry? We fired up the Dark Sky app and crossed our fingers…

We arrived at Mile End to be welcomed by a brand new kicker to white bar piece, which looked perfect. However the looming clouds looked less than welcoming and the ‘Boost The Bar’ comp was rushed into action before the heavens opened. A bunch of stores from around the UK got stuck in and people began to get into the swing of things with Chris Oliver christening the sparkling new feature with a host of stunts including a text book 360 flip. As each shop battled for points and props the weather turned and the blackness descended, Neil Smith refused to sit out the torrential rain and ripped his top off a la ‘The Hulk’ and proceeded to hippy jump the bar after countless Scorpion King impressions. In order to keep things fair the competition retired to the undercover mini-ramp in to let the rained-off shops garner points. Whilst this happened event managers were manically squee-geeing the kicker-to-bar set up, which actually paid off. The sun appeared once again and ‘Boost The Bar’ kicked off into the evening. More tricks were nailed and Black Sheep were crowned the eventual winners. Uber’s were hailed via apps and the day was topped off at Parlour’s Shoreditch branch perusing some photos from the recent adidas Touring project, scarfing pizza and drinking the booze. Massive thanks go out to the adidas International team, invited skate stores, Justin Cader and Parlour skate shop. T’was a blinder…