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wednesday 31st december
The most important event on the UK streetboarding calender, the UK streetboard championships, have come and gone - and it was not good news for Flipside this year....
The location for the contest was named as Revolution skatepark - in Broadstairs, Kent, of all places - so Paul, Colin (Horan, of Day One Streetboarding) and I decided to go up to Revolution - get some practise in and check out the lie of the land before the comp.
 On arrival I was slightly disheartened to find that the launch ramp was small, as I was hoping to bust out some big tricks from it...
A few large 360s and 540s later, my board was offered at the sacrificial alter - if the bar hadn't broke, it would have been my leg :oO
Moving back to my trusty backup unbreakable "Magnum" bar I carried on for the day, determined that the big quarter-to-flat could be used to boost some big hangtime - and was probably a better choice than the launchbox...
 There was an unusual super-tight quarter that I used to set-up some old-skool handplants - while Paul was wallriding it.
Colin was FS and BS boardsliding the driveway kink and a superstylish 5-0 up the loooong kink rail - tricks were set...
We left Revolution unsure that it was the best choice of venue - but at least each prepared to pull something out the bag come competition day.
Adam and I spent the next 2 weeks putting in vast amounts of effort behind the scenes at Flipside to ensure that our streetboard team were going to represent with every aid possible - and were looking forward to the big day...
We set out early on the Saturday morning, to find the weather the worst I have seen it in quite some time - the rain was torrential, with floodwater everywhere, and showing no signs of abaiting.
We got as far as Basingstoke before my car died.
2.5 hours later, having tried everything the AA man eventually got it going - the HT leads were totally shot, and the rain meant they were shorting out, so they had to be replaced. By the time we were ready, we were far too late and far too far away to even contemplate making it (although I did, many times). To say we were both gutted is the understatement of 2008...
Suffice to say that Flipside team riders Andy Garrett and Paul Nash did well - you can check the UK streetboard championship results here - thats all I 'm gonna say about that :(
So heres looking forward to a better and more successful year in 2009 - I for one am going to be skating at every opportunity, and am going to devote all my time to going bigger and further than we ever have before - both in terms of streetboarding performance and the projects Flipside undertake...
So heres to you guys - happy new year, and see you in 2009!
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