Japan

Slalom Skateboarding in Japan

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John Gilmour
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Japan

Post by John Gilmour » Fri Oct 31, 2003 9:48 am

These guys deserve their own thread in the international section. Can we group all the existing Japanese threads there?
One good turn deserves another
john gilmour

Adam Trahan
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Post by Adam Trahan » Fri Oct 31, 2003 5:48 pm

That's a reasonable request...

Gareth Roe
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Slalom in Japan!

Post by Gareth Roe » Sat Nov 01, 2003 9:59 am

John and John-

Please post pictures and a race report as soon as you can! We are all eagerly awaiting to see the outcome of this event!
Hope you are both having a great time!

Sincerely-
Gareth

John Gilmour
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Japan- these guys are just as in to it as everyone else.

Post by John Gilmour » Sun Nov 02, 2003 11:26 am

No matter how far you travel... the vibe is always great. these guys over here are totally in to it.

We are at an after party now- tons of old salom videos playing- including....get this....A GS run on a steep hill in the Middle of Tokyo! They would have the street closed regularly.

Awesome bunch of guys- we have to get some World cup competition over here. I hope they will come compete on our circuit.

The race ran cleanly without a problems- excellent organization and fun.

I will come and race here again. BTW the nightlife over here is insane. I probably got 6 hours of sleep since I got here- you would never think the music scene is so killer here- but it is. Great prizes even got a Ninja bearing puller- good medals. I will race here again.

PVD's and Radikals were the top conversation pieces at this party.

results to follow.

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One good turn deserves another
john gilmour

John Kim
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Preliminary Results

Post by John Kim » Sun Nov 02, 2003 4:43 pm

I have to agree that I had a great time at the slalom race in Japan. It was at a skatepark that was built on the edge of the beach. 8 or 9 half pipes of varying sizes, a street course, large pool, two roller hockey rinks, and a kiddy pool for rollerbladers. You looked over your shoulder and there were waves within 100 yds of the skatepark. Surfers on one side. On the other side skaters, rollerbladers, and bmx riders. The place was huge and get this, they had a dedicated area for slalom (kind of like a drag strip for cyber slalom). The whole place had a very nice rythmn to it and it was a real mix of old school and new school skaters of varying skill levels.

As for results, I don't have official results yet. But for the curious, they had two classes beginner and open. John Gilmour and I both entered in the open and made it into the final 8 for the Long Span event which John Gilmour won and I took 5th. The Long Span event is 2m center to center = 6.5 ft for 50 meters. The second event was short span which was 1.6m center to center = 5 ft 3 inches for 50 meters (around 31 cones). The fastest qualifiers were finishing in the low 9 secs. John G. took 4th and I DQed both qualifying runs (4 cone DQ). Ugh... Oh well.

It was a great time with a nice awards ceremony afterwards. At the party they got a real kick out of the 3DM offset I had and the PVD & Radikal trucks that John G. rode. Most of the riders were riding flexy boards with modified Indy 101, Tracker, and old Bennet trucks. I'll post pictures for the truck geeks, because lots of riders were chopping their trucks, flipping them around, and swapping the bushings for bearings. They ended up with something like a metal Seismic without the springs. Sounds crazy, but in the super tight, they gave John G. a run for his money and I think they would have done well on Sunday at Morro Bay.

There were a few things that were different. For example they handed out a 1 page copy of the race rules during the riders meeting, announced the times and cone count after each run, had organizers who didn't race, and used starting lights like at a drag strip. But, the biggest thing was how similar the race was to the States. There was a really cool family friendly vibe, supportive environment, everyone pitched in, lots of cone head volunteers, and a home made timing system.

Anyway, I'll post photos and such when I get back to the States for the curious. It is definitely worth the trip if not for skating, then just for all the nice folks there.

John

John Gilmour
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Returned without Jet lag.

Post by John Gilmour » Tue Nov 04, 2003 2:17 pm

I'll have to say that the group of skaters over there are some of the nicest skaters to skate with. Despite language difficulties I had I had no problem integrating with the scene over there whatsoever. My feelings are that they will have no trouble integrating with our skate scenes over here. For them it may be the trip of a lifetime- something they have waited for for a long long time.

The story runs similar to the drive of many of the current 30's-40's skaters in the USA. They started slaloming in the late seventies with hopes of coming to America to compete- and then the USA slalom scene seemed to collapse just as they were almost finished preparing to compete. Slalom equipment became unavailable and some dedicated skaters stockpiled equipment- indeed many of the fibreflex vintage decks they were riding were in nearly perfect condition. Some still racing on Road Rider Henry Hester wheels. Henry Hester and John Hutson are their slalom idols and continue to be after 25 years.

My hopes is a coordinated effort to assist the Japanese skaters to become integrated with our slalom scene. I would like to see our skaters help them from the moment they get off the plane, house them, and get them to the races to the parties (These guys are drinkers!) and back on the plane home safely. I would like to see Japanese skaters with no English speaking ability feel welcome and comfortable. I do feel that some early support in the beginning will eventually lead to having a World Cup race in Japan- hopefully in Tokyo. Japan does have a governing skateboard association.

I'll also encourage the Japanese racers to post in this forum in Japanese and English- it is after all their forum. I would like to try to have bilingual skaters translate posts made in Japanese if at all possible, particularly posts pertaining to upcoming contests, and it would be nice if we could eventually post a contest schedule here in Japanese as well (John Kim?). Luckily due to the availability of super cheap last minute flights it is possible that Japanese skaters could attend some of our events even if they had as little as 2 months notice.
One good turn deserves another
john gilmour

George Gould
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Japan's Racers

Post by George Gould » Thu Nov 06, 2003 3:59 pm

Hi J & J, I think you did a great service to all in racing in Japan.

How many racers were there?

What are the courses like in comparrison?

I am stoked to say welcome to any Japanese riders that show/post here. I don't speak your language, however if you are ever in the Grand Canyon State of Arizona contact me and I will show you some hills.

John Gilmour
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Post by John Gilmour » Thu Nov 06, 2003 4:20 pm

Trying to find time to write and article about Japan.... long overdue. I think I'm going to go snowboard there this winter if possible.

JG
One good turn deserves another
john gilmour

John Kim
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Photos from Japan Race

Post by John Kim » Fri Nov 14, 2003 7:46 am

Hey all,

I just posted photos from my trip to the Japan Race. It was a great time and there were a ton of great people there. For those of you that are interested in going next year, they do have GS races as well. Just couldn't make it out there for one.

Japan Race Photos:
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/tofugalaxy@sbcglobal.net

John

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Japan Distributor

Post by Jack Smith » Fri Nov 14, 2003 6:09 pm

John K and JG,

I just received an email this morning from a Japanese distributor who is interested in selling Bahne slalom gear. I'm sure you guys were instrumental in this. Thank you!

JG,

Thank you for the incredibly moving private message, it meant a lot to me.

John Gilmour
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Post by John Gilmour » Sat May 01, 2004 12:23 am

Hey I was thinking of creating some motivation for Japanese skaters to come and compete.

The way I see it- a lot of the skaters don't have a lot of money to travel. They are riding gear that is 25 years old.

Like most skaters that get involved with slalom- at many contests almost everyone- particulary the newer skaters get some sort of prize.

It is a lot for the Japanese to come up with the airfare- these guys have been in a super recession for almost 10 years. There were a lot of wealthy Japanese guys roaming the USA in the 1980's but that all dried up in the mid 1990's. Most of these guys got into skating because it was affordable.


If we could get a few online retailers to step in (Mostly because they would benefit from it the most) and donate some high end gear - say each Online retailer kicked in one high end complete- we could offer these boards as a welcome to the International slalom scene. I figure about 3 Japanese will come to compete this year.

Everything we can do to encourage their participation would be great. And if anyone has the ability to put together some slalom footage (Any footage at all) for them to take home with them.....that would also be excellent.
One good turn deserves another
john gilmour

Jack Smith
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Gear for Japan

Post by Jack Smith » Sat May 01, 2004 6:35 am

I'll get this started by donating a complete Bahne Black Hill.

Jani Soderhall
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Post by Jani Soderhall » Sat May 01, 2004 11:45 am

John,

If you can get the word going in Japan, on your idea, I'll donate one complete deck (brand to be decided) each to the first three Japanese slalomers to participate in Paris Slalom World Cup 2004 and making the trip from Japan to get here. We'll even offer them free entry fee too!

I know one or two of them were seriously planning a trip to Europe in the mid/late 90's, but that's when interest for slalom faded, so it never happened.

I'll also donate one complete setup to any Japanese slalomer to participate in the Antibes event in September 2004

/Jani

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