The Winterclash competition has been the premiere blading event for several years running now, drawing competitors and spectators from all over the world to Area 51 skatepark in Eindhoven Netherlands. We aim to highlight some of these individual adventures that brought so many incredible characters into one location to share in our common passion of inline skating.
This time around we interviewed Brazilian OG Bruno Santa-Vital De Almeida, who has experienced numerous Winterclash events in the past and continues to impress the crowds with his incredible skating as well as his eye-catching outfits that match his colorful personality. Here is what Bruno had to say about his Winterclash experiences.
What was your first Winterclash and explain the feeling of your first Clash event?
Hi Be-mag, I am Bruno Santa from Brazil, 37 years old, I have been skating and involved with skating since 1990, which makes me inline skate longer than not in my life, it has been 30 years, funny fact. My first Winterclash was in 2007, a great memory was seeing Becci Wallace doing a disaster sweatstance on that white two level rail/box as if it was nothing, fast forward to 2011 & I managed to do my first proper blading trip and really attend the Winterclash watching all riders and riding myself! It was mind blowing! I literally cried when I thought how much I wanted be there and I couldn’t before, I looked to one side and I saw Dominik Wagner, on the other side I saw Fallon Heffernan, and few minutes later we were all talking, It was like a dream, a child’s dream coming true, there were so many good skaters in one place.
What was your favorite Winterclash event so far?
My Favorite Winterclash so far was 2017 for those facts: I won the Wildcard for the Pro comp in the HangLosers Bowl, Juninho Morais and Bobi Spassov killed it in the amateurs it was brilliant, Martin Danning had shown he was no longer a kid, Mery Munoz and Manon Derrien showed an incredible level of skating battling in that park getting on the podium and bringing the girl’s park skating to another level ever since.
What was your best memory from this year’s Winterclash event?
After many years I saw Fabiola da Silva and Jenna Downing skating centimeters from me doing a double in the park (it is on IG), I didn’t faint because I would lose that moment, second was when Montre spelled out my combo grind from the Hangloser’s SuperBowl competition and said: “You are never too old Bruno Santa!”. It made me smile!
Do you happen to have any bad memories from previous years of attending the Clash?
When I crashed with Dominik Wagner last year and took him out of the Winterclash, funny fact, I thought he would win I bet on him myself.
Who were your favorite skaters to watch at this year’s event?
My favorite skater(s) to watch at the Clash this year was Emi Parejo, she sent lots of good tricks, she put her hard work to the test there, out of the competition and in the competition too, doing technical tricks, disasters and combining lines in that park, definitely “muy buena Atleta”. And of course Diako, there are no words needed, he won it all and deserved it all, Nils Jansons has shown he is sharp and back and I like that.
What brings you back to the Winterclash each year?
Besides all the good quality blading, what brings me every year to the Winterclash is this chance to be part of this common love that unites us once a year with people from 60 + countries. This is priceless, every single face there, at least for me, is one real reason for attending the Clash next year again.
Thank you Be-Mag, for your media work. It is what keeps us going, it brings the new comers to the spotlight, keeps us OG’s up to date, and keeps the blading fire burning.
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