UK FREESPORTS ATHLETE OF THE YEAR 2005
Bluebird winner 2005 : Jenna Downing

Congratulations to all the contenders on their nominations: Jamie Bestwick, James Reeves, Geoff Rowley, Steve Peat and Russell Winter.

This was incredibly close-run with Jenna beating the runner up, Steve Peat, by just 2 votes, taking 28% of the total votes cast.

Jenna has had a great year, including media exposure on TV and in the media. Ranked 5th in the ASA Pro Tour Street World Championships 2004 and more recently 3rd in the LG Action Sports Championships, Jenna is at the top of her sport, proving that female riders, and particularly British female skaters, can throw it down with the best international rollerbladers. Congratulations to Jenna on winning the title “UK Freesports Athlete of the Year 2005” by popular vote.

Thanks Emanuel!

Related News :
- Freesports Film of the Year 2005 : Black Market

‘I took off the back spine piece and shaved down the plastic guards that go around them, just to make the back of the skate smooth, then i rounded the toe off, so that it was one smooth line from the midsoul piece to the leather boot, instead of having that foam “bubble”, it makes the skate seem a lot smaller and it just looks all around better, plus you’re not loosing any of the padding, The way i have my skates now they are the same width and length of a size 7 UFS throne and they’re pretty light.

Oh and i shaved down the USD souls to make them smaller, I took all of the negative off, just because i don’t really do negative grinds and i shaved the back of the 2piece soul off because i like smaller souls and those are pretty big…’

- K2 sponsored roller, Mike Currier, on his custom fruit boots

Little Tom – “Follow the Dugong” – Photo: G.Amos

Brisbane, Australia’s best underground roller, ‘Little’ Tom Bartley; just dropped a crazy edit. Contains the best hucked 450 Royale of ’06.

Check it here.

FREESPORTS FILM OF THE YEAR 2005: BLACK MARKET

With the current dominance of the larger Freesports like Skateboarding, Mountain Biking and Snowboarding, it may come as a surprise to learn that having watched over 30 films across 15 different Freesports the judges have decided to present the Bluebird for Best Freesports Film 2004-5 to an Inline Skating film.

Inline Skating is not as popular as it was but often when things go underground some of the most creative work gets done. So it is with “Black Market”, a ‘Misled Media’ film with an international perspective, showing rollerblading around the world.

Doug Urquart traveled for 4 months across 8 European countries as well as coast to coast in the USA to give Black Market variety with profiles on Pro rollerbladers Brian Aragon, Julian Bah and Will Gordon; mini views of rollerbladers like Brent Hicks and Montre Livingston; and interviews with rollerblading pioneers like Arlo, TJ Webber, Chris Edwards, B-Love.

Not only is this the first High Definition rollerblading film ever made, it comes with a second DVD with the best profiles and footage from Masters of Delusions, Hashassins as well as AVM, a new Puerto Rico spot check and plenty of Bonus footage. The twin pack offers approximately 4 hours of footage in all.

But what really appealed to the judges about this film and helped it stand out from the many other Freesports films being considered was the way that an interview with Photographer Jeremy Stephenson was used to give structure and form to the film.

Read the full article | Thanks Starscream !

Discuss about it in the forums

Featuring : The Yasutoko Brothers, Marc Englehart, Marco de Santi, Fabiola da Silva, Shane Yost, Thumper Nagasako and more ! With ‘How-to’ from Eito Yasutoko, Thumper Nagasako, Marco de Santi and Shane Yost.

if you have vert footage, contact hi_focused@yahoo.com

Download the Trailer | source

Check some photos in the Skatebiz Galleries here and here

It seems that the rumors saying that Chaz Sands rolls for Razor were true, check some clips of Chaz rocking Razors at the Unit 23 Skatepark (a little edit of him skating mini ramps is availiable here)

Related News :
- Photos of Chaz Sands skating at the Hanly Forest Park
- Salomon Chaz Sands 3 Skates

btw, it seems that Franky Morales is finally riding remz skates

The japanese online mag Omocomo released his 11th issue. The good news is that the rolling mag is now availiable in japanese and english language !

Check the Issue 11 of the Omocomo Mag

thanks George for the Photo!

The Pumpii Website is hosting a new skatepark edit from the tre339 boys. (Direct Link). You can check some photos in their gallery too.

Thanks Pekka!

What is better than Base Jumping ? Base Jumping after taking some speed on rollerblades (take a look at the photo above).

Check a video of the Soul Flyers, a crazy team supported by Salomon

Cosimo Tassone got the International Skater of the Year price at the RFCC/The Game Awards.

The 20 Min Swiss Print Mag wrote an article about him, you can check the article online (in german).

20 Min is a mag you can get freely while waiting for the Train or Bus in Europe, we got the same mag in France.

“You look good you skate good”

A fun video, really worth the watch! Check the Video | thanks bamaroller2k5 !

koubis edit : this edit was already posted on the site, this is the Fruitboot Xsjado Review, so check the link if your computer wasn’t able to play back the mp4 video file correctly, like it was the case for me!

Related News :
- Xsjado Farmer FruitBoot Video Review
- Xsjado Jeff Stockwell Review