In an effort to research event atmosphere for the upcoming Birthday party for FBM, and celebratory hotdog eating contest, I went to an event hosted by Vans BMX, at the 52nd annual East Coast Surf Championship in Virginia Beach.
Dennis Mccoy, his wife Parridy, and Jerry Badders, along with a serious crew of Vans Affiliated athletes put on a great show, including a vert ramp demo, I got to witness Rickey Mosely and a woman in the same spider print stretch pants, and a park contest with 20 world class riders invited to compete to a serious amount of cash. By all accounts, Vans seems to do right by their riders,and help share some of what’s awesome about BMX with an otherwise numb audience.
It was great to see riders, supporting their sponsors, and vice versa, in a mellow, friendly event that got people generally stoked, minus one moment, when a rider, unhappy with the qualifying results, balked at boycotting riding in the finals, because he was unhappy that one of his team mates qualified better than he thought he should have. It was a despicable display of spoiled selfish behavior, and poor sportsmanship. He went on to win, in an aggressive vengeful riding style. His runs were filled with dialed tricks, big air, and seemingly less than warm reception from onlookers, sensing his demeanor. My only hope is that the Hot Dog eating contest see’s some friendlier laid back competition. In stark contrast, the second place rider in the event, shared his bike with his younger brother, who’s bike had issues, during his first ever Pro contest. That was rad, and they both rode with smiles.
Shout outs to all the riders at the ECSC that set a good example for BMX, by being positive, appreciating the efforts of the event organizers, and putting on a good show, we are lucky the venue wasn’t set up with a razor scooter demo, or something awful like that, in wake of some of the lame shit some BMXer’s put on display.
