James ‘Foz’ Foster – ollie.

Whilst shooting for Foz’s ‘Haunts’ we were trying to think of some good spots for photos but struggled to only come up with standard Leeds spots we skate all the time. Later that week Foz mentioned that he’d seen a bank in Woodhouse he wanted to skate; he’d noticed it whilst dog walking (if he’s not skating he’s generally dog walking /worshipping). So we thought we’d check it out even though it’s in a rough area of Leeds; we were desperate for some new spots to skate.

As we approached the spot we saw a group of lurkers scattered around the place, we thought the worst but carried on up to take a look anyway. When we got there we were offered to buy drugs instantly (I think every time I’ve been this spot, I’ve been offered drugs…) anyway we declined their well-spoken offer and checked out the spot.

The bank was horrible, it’s pretty much like riding down rough cobbles and you have to thread the needle between some bollards when you reach the bottom of the bank. Foz tested it out by just riding down and after nervously watching him roll away from it the lurkers applauded and were actually hyped on it. Foz then eyed up an ollie over the bollard and I was thinking it wouldn’t work because he’d get stuck in the cracks but I didn’t say anything and left him to it to see what the end result would be.

Another distracting factor about this spot is that it’s next to someone’s garden where they have their two dogs roaming outside, Foz was obviously over the moon but they would bark at any sound of a skateboard. The constant barking was annoying and it ended up stressing out the lurkers who lived in the house and they started to get agitated by us. We told them that they should just lock their dogs back in the house, which they actually did, and that was the problem solved.

I then set-up my camera gear while getting eyed up and asked all sorts of questions by the lurkers but luckily they were being alright. Foz then went straight into it. On one attempt I thought he had it but he landed in the crack and pretty much front flipped off his board but he was fine apparently. He then kept at it and eventually got the ollie over the bollard as he rolled down the bank it was pretty frantic because you thought he would get caught on something but he rolled away from it.

He most likely shouted “Yipppppieeee” as he bombed the hill afterwards.

The lurkers were stoked!