Competitions

After a successful year with events in Bremen, Leipzig, Bonn, and Wuppertal, the finals of Grindhouse Miniramp Masters 2011 took place on the 17th of December in Cologne, Germany. In the second year of its creation, the series was host to over 100 competitors. Skaters from all over the country attended and made the final event one to remember.

Preparing for months for one of the biggest competitions in Florida, Bladesgiving has turned out to be one of the funnest and biggest rollerblading events in the Southern United States along with the Pow-wow. And we are only in our second year! Skaters gathered from all over the country for a chance to rank up the WRS points and take home some cash and the huge trophy. Tim Franken, out of San Diego, Razors rider Wake Schepman, out of PA, Pro SSM rider Joey Chase and Razors flow Sammy Chase, out of Orlando, just to name a few. Also, coming all the way from Canada was our good friend Kevin Lapierre, who hurt his ankle warming up, and had to drop out of the contest. He made that huge trip, and our sympathies are with him, and we hope he recovers very soon.

Man, look at the size of that jump. It’s like a super-mega ramp with a gap. 900…900..1080? What is this, freeskiing? Not even close. The danger factor just got amped up one thousand times. As if you didn’t know already from what we’ve shown, if you missed out on Air FISE Marsielle, you made one of the biggest mistakes of your life. If you have been following, you already know. Either way, it means you are thirsty for bangers. So, back to that super-mega ramp. Think you have what it takes? This is a do or die situation. You don’t clear that landing and you’ll be sipping out of a tube for the next year. So, why don’t you just sit back and see what Aragon, Morales, Haffey, Godenaire, and some friends have been up to. Don’t worry, we won't tell anyone about the drool on your keyboard.

While the rolling community celebrates Chris Haffey's world record jump, more and more clips of the Air FISE are popping up on the net. Below you can view Franky Morales lacing a super clean 900 over the Mega Jump. Additionally, we discovered another clip from Romain Godenaire that reveals the real dimensions of the ramps the pros are dealing with here. However, Romain over-rotated this huge flat-spin and accidentally landed in the flat. According to Freddy White from www.frenchyfries.fr Romain is doing fine again. As soon as we have more information about his health status, we will let you know.

After a long period of building up anticipation Chris Haffey went for the big one last night at the FISE experience in Marseille. Chris Haffey took the World Record with a spectacular 30 meter long jump! It took weeks in preparation until the final moment had arrived. Being who he is Chris Haffey not only pushes the sport in creative stuntman like tricks but now has decided to leave his mark by breaking records! Check out the video here. Enjoy the madness...

In a few hours (8pm) the big show will start. Chris Haffey had his final rehearsal this afternoon. Everyone is excited for tonight! Are you ready? Come back on be-mag to find out how Chris Haffey did on the world record.

Yesterday each rider had the chance to test the FISE big air ramp, except those that didn't dare to do it. Yeah, this jump is a serious business as you can see in the pictures below. The riders kicked off the session with a 'small' gap (10 metres). Chris Haffey was kind enough to share all his Mega Jump experience with the other attendees. The riders entered the ramp one by one. Their initial fears have been quickly forgotten: Straight after landing the jump they wanted to be back in the air. Jumping a ramp like this is not an easy task: You have to be fully focussed, even the smallest mistakes aren't allowed here. After a while the riders started to feel more comfortable to this new setting and therefore their jumps got bigger and more risky. This test session made us all pretty excited for the Friday show. To be honest - the world record attempt looks really scary. Only god knows if it's possible. Stay tuned for more action tomorrow.

Photographer Stephanie Barthelmess set up a little photo booth at the X-Mas Jam in Hamburg, Germany last year. These photos are further effort of ours to make it easier for you to decide wether or not you should be attending this year's event which is going to take place this weekend. As if it even needed consideration... there is absolutely no reason not to go. Enjoy the photos!

More and more rollerbladers are entering the Air FISE venue in Marseille to check out the location. But the FISE staff is still working hard to prepare this massive course. We just have to be a bit more patient until the who's who in Rollerblading can roll on these massive ramps. Stay tuned for more updates.

The Fise Team arrived early in the morning to prepare the event venue. But what's the deal about the Air Fise event? Compared to the other Fise events the AIR FISE is not a competition, it's a show. Rollerblading plays an important part in the show. Additionally, we have an own area for wakeboarders which is a big pool set up in the Marseille Ice Ring and equipped with huge FISE ramps. On the other side of the ring there will be a new and exiting ramp set up for the rollerbladers. Brian Aragon, Franky Morales and Chris Haffey already arrived in Marseille to check out the location. French Riders Kevin Quintin, Romain Godenaire and Mathias Silhan are also on site and will enter the course today. As you might have seen on the Air Fise teaser the Air Fise will be the platform for another highlight: Chris Haffey will to try to break the world record for the longest jump. Stay tuned for further updates.

The Air FISE in Marseille is about o go down and Be-Mag will provide live-updates straight outta France. Chris Haffey already arrived in Marseille to monitor the building process for the ramps used for his world record attempt. We're expecting this to get exciting so stay tuned to Be-Mag!

Writeup byPhotography byEdit by Related links: World Rolling SeriesProyecto Sur LTDA...

Writeup byPhotography byEdit by   Related links: World Rolling SeriesProyecto Sur LTDA...

One of Europe's longest running contests, the infamous X-Mas Jam, is taking place in Hamburg Germany next weekend. We talked to organizer Jonn Rübcke to see what we can expect from this years event and also how he plans to take the whole thing even further this year. Two days, competitors from all over Europe and 3000 € in prize money. This is going to be big!

The World Rolling Series has introduced a new addition to their already successful competitive format. 'Uploaded', a online video format, allows competitors from around the world to upload their own edits in order to win prizes and points within WRS. It combines the concepts of mass generated edits over the recent years with people who want to compete in a different scope. There are those who express their riding best in front of crowds under the pressure of direct competition, which in the past have been the ones able to succeed in a competitive nature. Now, those who work best in front of the camera at their own pace have the opportunity to find competitive success where it did not exist before. WRS representatives Daniel Kinney and Kato Mateu got together with Be-Mag with the intention of answering some questions and cracking open all that is 'Uploaded.'

Skipass is the oldest contest still alive in Italy. It's a five days fair for winter sport with blading, skateboarding, ski and snowboard contests and Moto-X demos with thousands of visitors. Their main sponsor is Nissan. This year, the park was built by Vans and was not too street-like with not many lines, a bank to 3 different ledges, a manual pad with a curb in the middle and a couple ledges. At first the bladders were disappointed by the small size of this "fingerboard park". But in the end everybody had fun enjoying this indoor street session.

Jojo Jacobi is beginning to beat the drums for Winterclash 2012, which will take place at Area 51 Skatepark in Eindhoven, Netherlands, a location proven to be worthy for all that it has embraced. Be-Mag has been a media partner of Winterclash since its inception. This won't change in 2012 as we will continue to support the world's biggest rollerblading contest, covering the event live from Eindhoven, bringing you every moment in its greatest capacity. We recently sat down with founder Jojo Jacobi to get his personal thoughts and impressions on the past seven Winterclash events. What are his best memories and what are his worst? Who are the picks for Jojo's top three Winterclash competitors of all time? This and more, is what he discloses in the following article. On top of that you have a chance at winning a ticket to Winterclash 2012!

The AIL Championships were held this past weekend on Saturday November 5th 2011 at Woodward West in Tehachapi California. I have been waiting for this day since the preliminary competition held back in April, so needless to say I was uber excited to attend the event!

The “Italian Bladers Connection” was founded in the early winter months of 2011. When a group of friends was on their way to Winterclash, they figured out they had to do something about the small, but rather strong scene from Italy. They decided to put all Italian blader contests and events under the same banner. Lucas Brandi, Jason Adriani, Nicola Fiorenza, Pietro Firrincieli and Marco Valera shared their ideas which led to the creation of a layout for the championships, which turned out to be a great success.

So, this is it? The 15th and final Showdown at the Hoedown, or at least at the current location. It's been a great ride, and I agree it may be time to move on. I've managed to attend all but the first Hoedown, and every year I am impressed by not only the level of skating, but the level of community this event brings. It might start with the fact that Eisenberg's Skatepark is a family run park and Miss Vicky, Arlo's mom, is in attendance cheering on the skaters with the rest of us. Whatever it is I want to personally thank everyone who has ever been to a Hoedown be it to skate, watch, or just get drunk in the parking lot – we call it tailgating in Texas – it's been a lot of fun.

The 15th Annual Hoedown competition went down this weekend at Eisenbergs Skatepark in Plano, TX, where local hero John Sullivan took the win. Thanks to Jason Reyna, we've got some amazing pictures shot by Randy Edwards for you!