Quoting Cody Sanders:
“Oh boy, blade cup. It’s been years since I’ve been to one. Me and the crew usually pick one major event to all mob each year. Blade Cup with this year’s pick. Well, I say “the whole crew,” but usually 80% of them bail once plane tickets start being purchased. This however wasn’t the case this weekend. It was the first time I’ve seen so many of my close friends actually bite the bullet and come out to a blading event.
Even if the goal wasn’t to skate in it, just to be around it. I loved it. We talked about it all weekend, how important it was to be present at the very few moments we all have to gather en masse. What was even more impressive, was seeing some of my friends that haven’t entered a competition (in some cases, in twenty years!) participate in the event. I won’t ramble on too much about the event itself, because the video covers the most of it, but I do want to touch on a few key points that may not be too obvious.
In the middle of the event, my lens broke and I had to scramble to a camera store and buy a new one. Thank you Kirill and Labez for helping me through all of that. I ended up missing a large chunk of the veterans and pro events because of that. So yes… There’s a lot of phone clips in this one. What I was focused on this year was the Bladies event. For those of you that aren’t familiar with that term, it’s the womans event.
I was focused on it because every time I go to an event, I end up having some sort of mishap that causes me to be unable to film it. That happened at Winterclash, Franky Morales Invitational, Carriers Open, etc… So I really went out of my way to make sure that my batteries were charged and I was on schedule for once.
I wasn’t disappointed. I think the female side of our sport is really starting to ramp up. The amount of participation, level and overall vibe was super high this weekend. The pro event ended up getting rained out, which was a bit of a damper. But they did hold a bonus event the day after that coincided with the Brandon Negrete Memorial event. Which was awesome but… Somehow I didn’t get the memo that it was happening. I had made plans with my California family to meet up that Sunday, so I ended up missing it. Which I normally could have been ok with, but Mick Casals won! Man! I wish I would have been there for that. But oh well… I’m sure there’s going to be many more moments like that to look forward to.
If you’re still reading, make it a point to try and get out to an event this year. Even if you’re brand new, you don’t know anyone there, it doesn’t matter. It’s waaay too easy to make friends and feel a part of the event when you’re at these things. The more the merrier. Give yourself a reason to travel. You’re good enough. You’re not too old. Whatever it is that you’ve got in your head, don’t listen to it. Come out and be a part of rollerblading. Blading Cup was fantastic. No matter what happened, absolutely fantastic. Can’t wait to see yall at the next one”. - Cody Sanders (Jumbo-brand.com).
