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The House Skate Comp 2017 Official edit and gallery

All hail The House Skatepark - Full edit and gallery live.

The House Skate Comp 2017 Official edit and gallery

We’re strong advocates of skate events as anyone who has paid any attention to our output over the last two decades will know – skate events are the glue that holds what remains of the ‘national skate scene’ together and they also serve as a platform for new talent to emerge and move on to bigger and better things. Additionally, they’re also a damned good laugh and an excuse to hook up with mates from across the country to skate, piss about, get boozy (if you’re old enough) and generally enjoy the straightforward good times that UK skateboarding offers to all.

This counts doubly when you’re talking about an indoor skatepark such as The House Skatepark, which has weathered the ups and downs of skateboarding’s popularity over the 20 years it has been in business whilst maintaining its position as the venue for the biggest and best skater-owned annual event in the country.
Saturday 16th September saw the 19th consecutive House Comp go down in traditional fashion with a heavy local turn out from Sheffield and the surrounding areas, plus hordes of visitors from as far away as Devon turning up to join in.

2017 also saw the addition of a female skate contest for the very first time, ably put together by Dani Gallacher of GirlsSkateUK, which upped the ante for the whole day, as well as exposing those in attendance to a fair few very young female skaters who will no doubt become mainstays of the UK scene going forwards.

MC Nathan decided not to wear a costume this year and came dressed normally which was a disappointment

Things kicked off from 12 with the younger end of the spectrum stepping up and laying down some adult-sized skating across the whole park. Special mentions have to go out to 12-year-old Tom Keatman who absolutely tore the skatepark apart with 360 ollies and kickflips over the big driveway, 50’s down the hubba, smashing the A-frame rail and a bunch more besides. A well deserved win from a kid with a bright future in skateboarding!

The 12 and Under and 16 and Under results were as follows:

12 and Under

1st Tom Keatman

2nd Will Oxspring

3rd Eddie Lowe

16 and Under

1st Joe Cordingley

2nd Logan Dell

3rd Lewis Blower

Following those two categories, we had the Over 16 comp which saw an already-limping-before-the-comp-started Will Lester emerge victorious with an array of blasted grabs over everything in sight and a switch frontside flip down the stairs for good measure, leaving the Top 3 in the Over 16’s categories looking thus:

Over 16:

1st Will Lester

2nd Jay Bex

3rd Tom Wildblood

Shaun Currie sneaks a twinkle-toed backside flip in before going outside to hassle people on camera.

Next up was the Girl’s event, which for many was one of the highlights of the day.
With a fresh crop of mini rippers mixing it up with stalwarts of the female skate scene like Dani Gallacher, Lucy Adams and Camilla Mullins, the session was frenzied and the crowd support unparalleled.
Special mentions have to go out to 9-year-old Lola T, who wowed the crowds and rock and rolled a 10 foot quarterpipe in her run, despite colliding with Dani in practice and catching a skateboard to the (luckily helmet-clad) dome. Inspiring stuff – made even more so by the obvious delight in her face on riding away down a quarterpipe four times her height to the roar of the crowd.

Judging on the attendance and crowd reaction – I think it’s fair to say that we can expect the Girl’s event to become a regular fixture at House Comps going forwards.
Big respect to all the women who got involved (scroll up to the official edit to see more from them) and get well soon vibes to Camilla Mullins who managed to mangle her knee on a tailslide just after time.

When all was said and done – the results of the first-ever Girl’s Skate event at the House were as follows:

1st Anita Arvy

2nd Freya Brooks

3rd Lola T.

Jordan Sharkey was on fire all day. Backside nosebluntslide at the end of line.

And then we come to main attraction and the one aspect of the annual House Comp that never fails to deliver – the Pro/Sponsored division.

Adam Keats up and over boardslide after 6 hours in the car.

Practice had been super hectic all day with Ben Broyd dominating the airwaves, Jordan Sharkey tossing out flip tricks over the massive driveway almost every try and Joe Hinson’s disturbing consistency draining gigabytes of phone memory from the outset. Attendance was heavy as already stated with the likes of Adam Keats and Aaron Jago making the 6 hour trip up from Devon to get involved and Sam Mason braving the megabus from Cumbria to mix it up with more locally-based heads from all over Yorkshire and the Midlands.

“You can’t rinse the Hinse!” Joe Hinson did this front blunt 8 times in a row. ADHD has its advantages.

One other notable attendee came in the form of MK legend Sean Smith who decided to mark his overdue return on the UK skate scene by turning up after 5 or 6 years in the wilderness and absolutely smashing it like he never left. Pleasure to have you back mate!

“Fuck me! Everyone’s amazing these days eh? I better enter so I can actually get a go…”
Sean Smith welcomes himself back to the fold with a front feeble.

After the semi’s it all came down to a three-man final with Myles Rushforth, Jordan Sharkey and the unstoppable Ben Broyd going head-to-head for a 5 minute jam which was, put simply, absolutely mental.
Myles cruised around throwing out straight no-complies over the barrier and impossible 5050’s on the bench ledge, Sharkey dominated the big driveway with switch frontside flips, switch hardlips and insanely boned out kickflips and Ben Broyd…well, Ben Broyd basically showed why anyone who regularly skates The House already knew he was going to win before the event started. A masterclass in full-speed style, power and grace.

Nobody was more surprised than Myles Rushforth on hearing that he’d made it into the Finals.
Straight no comply with perfect hair for Barnsley.

Jordan Sharkey has hands for feet. Switch frontside flip, every single go.

If winning the contest wasn’t enough, immediately after time was called and the judges were still working out the top 3 placings, Ben Broyd decided to give the crowds what they wanted and, accompanied by chants of “Do the Gap! Do the Gap!” successfully launched himself over the genuinely massive tranny-to-tranny gap at the end of the park to an eruption of cheering, beer cans and general hype which will be hard to match.
A fitting end to a mental day of down-home UK skateboarding madness.

Ben Broyd is a phenomenon. Tail-boned chicken wing air on a set up for a 5 foot high fastplant fakie.

And that was that. Massive respect to everyone who turned up and made The House Skate Comp 2017 the massive laugh that it was. Huge respect to Rob and all The house Skatepark crew for running a tight ship and keeping it real as ever.
We’ll pass the mic over to Rob Bannister himself for the final words.
Long live the House Skatepark! Up skater-owned!

“Massive thanks to everyone who came down today for The House Skate Comp 2017. We were loving the happy happy vibe this year, with so much positivity and phenomenal skating. Everyone pushed it from the smaller shredders to the pro/ sponsored. It was a big thrill to see our first ever Girls Comp at The House go down so perfectly, with everyone getting behind it – the high standard of the skating was a great pay-off. And what else can we say that hasn’t already been said about Ben Broyd shutting down the park by clinching the gap? (Not that the crowd gave him much choice.) Props to everyone who came down, to The House staff, to those who skated and won and those who came close, to Ben, Rye and Horsley from Sidewalk, Jonny from Vale Skatemag and all who filmed, Facebooked and Instagrammed their way through the day. We owe you. Cheers to our sponsors and to everyone who paid up and tucked into the food stall’s great offerings. We’ll let you know how much you raised for the work of SkatePal once the total’s in.

Next year The House will hit the big 20 and we’ll be celebrating in all sorts of crazy ways including the Comp, so for those of you who couldn’t make it, next year will be a biggie. For those who came down, see you next year.”

Pro / Sponsored

1st Ben Broyd

2nd Jordan Sharkey

3rd Myles Rushforth

The sponsors were Death, Heroin, Landscape, Kurb crusher, Story, Bones wheels, Bones bearings, Alien Workshop, Avit and Slugger(sort of).

Extra thanks to Joe90, Nolan and Snoop for judging. Nathan for compering. Hat, John, Matt and Ash for working it. Stella, Matt and Dani for the SkatePal food stand, Zack (panasonicyouth) for filming, Dani for sorting out the girls comp and everyone who came down.

The House Skate Comp 2017