Go Skate Day 2021 (Gallery)
Little more than a week after the 20th of June, we think the whole event we organized to celebrate Intl' Go Skateboarding Day in Cyprus has already sunk in. Now, if you have time for a few words that show how appreciative we are of how the event had turned out, continue here. If you choose to skip the intro straight to the gallery to relive this year's #goskateboardingday in Nicosia, through George V's lens, we totally understand, since there is hella good footage below. Those who don't already know, will soon find out that we also show our appreciation through the work we put in our projects. In collab with our good friends at Boardhouse once again, we managed to have another succesful production. With the hype brought by the people, skaters and enthusiasts, contestants and spectators, we managed to have another succesful event.
The hard part of the story (yes, there is a hard part) is that our previous event was exactly one year ago, due to the known-to-all circumstances. One year without official skate events, but we can't say that it was not a good year for skateboarding in Cyprus. A lot of new people have started to roll and during all those days our skateboards kept us company and we were out there. Nothing kept us back from having fun with our boards, even during the pandemic. And one thing brings the other. The whole happening we are about to describe, was a big fun gathering because, as it seems, skateboarding is not just a game or a mean to pass time. We, at Stay_K, have known that all along. It makes us happy to see that more and more people are finding it out. Let the next person who discovers, in one way or another, the radness and what skateboarding has to offer (which is not such a big secret) be someone who can actually pull a couple of strings, so that this year will be even more productive and the next Go Skate Day we'll start from or end up at a new skatepark or skate-friendly plaza. Like the ones we've been hearing they want to build in Limassol and every other city. Or at Eleftherias Square, for example. Cause, unfortunately, there are always people pulling strings the opposite way. Anyway, we won't get deep into that. What matters the most is that the event had a really good outcome. People responded and took part, insane tricks went down.
One more sign of growth is that, in our competitions, young blood and girls took part, too. As a core skateboard shop, it means a lot to us. We tried to have a variety of competitions and spots, as well as prizes to go with them, for everyone. The spots included: stairs - single set and double set - gap to bank, long hubba, manual box, manual to stairs, and a bank at the skatepark. We wouldn't have been able to organize all these competitions without the support of our sponsors. Shout out to Vans, Ice Power, Sigg and Cysk8clips. Enjoy the following photos and keep an eye for more to come, meaning both the official event video and future projects. Thank you for checking the post out and huge thanks to everyone that came down to share this experience with us, supported our effort, and joined the fun.
1st Spot - Kykkos Lyceum
This school was just the spot to meet, cause of its variety of obstacles and its quantity of space. To be honest, we didn't have a particular competition plan for this first spot. But, seeing all those skaters jump the 5 stairs as soon as they arrived, as soon as the big day started, gave us the idea that it's best if the people choose where to compete. So it happened.
Some memorable tricks that went down: Christian's Double Heel, Nadiotis' Lazer and Finger Flip, Mandilas' Tailwhip. Charis Ioannou and Lefteris Demetriou, as stair guys, of course nailed a few. Charis, Nollie Varial Heel, Switch Fs Flip, Fs Bigspin. Lefteris aka Rappas, 360 Flip, Fakie Bigflip, Hospital Flip. Honorable mention: Andreas Savva's Kickflip, who's the young cousin of a tech skateboard master keeping it real in the UK right now, and Liza's Ollie. Both tricks handled real smooth.
Switch Fs Flip
Tailwhip
360 Boneless
Charging..
Pop Shove It Tailgrab
One Foot
Fs Flip & Kickflip
Ollie
360 Flip
Generations of Cy Skateboarding!
Christian got him self a Vans back pack with the Double Heelflip.
Fs 360
2nd Spot - Pa.Sy.Dy
A somewhat fresh spot where its stairs, hubbas and gaps haven't seen so many tricks to satisfy their thirst. It was the perfect opportunity to pave the way for NBDs to go down and a good choice after Kykkos' warm up session.
First obstacle was a long 5 stairs hubba and the challenge was: the first skater who grinds/slides the whole thing wins. We had two winners cause they almost landed their tricks back to back. Robbie Quinn bs noseslid the whole thing and couple of tries later Stefanos Aresti bs bordslid it. Both shredders went through the distance with their NBD tricks and took home prizes by Stay_K and Boardhouse.
After the hubba, we decided to hit the 3-space-4 double set at the back of Pa.Sy.Dy. Another spot with a lot of potential for NBDs. We also had a competition at the drop to bank just next to the double set for those who weren't in the mood for high impact stuff. There, the kickflip by young gun and Ag. Andreas skatepark hero, Dionisis, and nollie flip plus nollie heel by Stevie, stood out. At the double set you have to land on the crusty sidewalk and, as soon as you land, drop on the road. So, this makes the spot extra challenging. The boys handled it. We watched an airwalk by Nadiotis, nosegrab by Mandilas and Charis who also closed it down with a sweet varial heel.
Where's your Stay_K wax?
Bs Noseslide
Applause well deserved. NBD!
Yeah Robbie!
Stef - Bs Boardslide
Eyeing the landing like a boss.
Stef and Robbie got the goodies.
OK. Let's hit the double set now!
Ollie
Ollie
Airwalk
Hello.
Tasos skating gaps with a cracked board aka about to fuck up.
Kostis - Chill Ollie
Kickflip, close one
Greg - Out of his comfort zone, Boneless Bigspin attempt on the big gap
Charis - Varial Heelflip hammer
Yeah, we love the #tpgripart
Cheers to us!
3rd Spot - Zena Palace
Such a legendary spot, you can't skip. And its perfect manual box inside the courtyard was the one to let the guys rest a bit after the stairs and hubba annihilation. Also, due to a last minute (before sunset) inspiration of our main coordinator, Christos Y. we decided to challenge the most skillful ones on the step to 7 stairs manual box. The challenge originally was: the first one who manual to ollies the thing wins. But, since that went down really quick by more than one skaters, we continued for about half an hour there. Totally worth it. People sure didn't expect the nosemanual nollie out the 7 stairs by Tasos, who also nailed a flip to manual. Way to go for our team riders. Charis' varial heel on Pa.Sy.Dy double set and then this!
On the famous Zena's courtyard manual box, our own Tony Josephides nailed a 360 flip manual and a half-cab flip manual flip out. Damn! Stevie, nollie nosemanual flip out, easy. Rappas, fakie bigflip manual, and Nipa, manual fs bigspin out. The youngsters challenged themselves with some ollie up and fliptricks down and took home some prizes by Cysk8clips, Vans and Sigg. Shout out again to Dionisis and Andreas Savva. Keep it up boys!
Nipa performing some tech wizardy that we don't know about.
With the big @cysk8clips sticker in the center.
!@$#&^*%$#
Thanks to Ice Power and Sigg Cyprus.
Nosemanual Nollie out the 7 stairs in a few tries. What?!
4th Spot - Agios Andreas Skatepark
To end this hella fun day we chose a comfortable spot. Good lighting, fun obstacles. As soon as the sun set, the skatepark in the city center was the choice. A couple of prizes were left to give away, so we tried to make a transition contest happen. We say we tried, cause again the skaters had chosen elsewhere to perform. The final skate spot of the event was the bank, eventually. Chill session to close the competitions and a dozen tricks later we were done, skaters and organizers. It was time to call it a day. Of course, we ended up chilling there til' late, at the skatepark, having a couple of beers, finding time for our friends, letting all the crazy tricks and good moments sink in. Safe to say that all were glad of how the event had turned out. Again, thanks to all that came down it was a success. Til' the next one...
Alright. Let's go out there now, cause, don't forget, every day is a ''go skateboarding day''. Will see you out there in the streets.
Tony - 360 Flip
Ammouri - Bs Flip
Nollie 180 Lazer Flip made us dizzy plus gave Kyriakos a board.
Kyriakos A. - Ghetto Bird
Nipa's like, that's what I call a #skateevent.
Bravo Greg. A winner.
Tony Josephides - FS Wallride
Respect to the boys behind the lens.
IG: @_stay_k_ @board_house_cy @sigg_cyprus @icepower_cyprus @cysk8clips
Photography George V.
IG: @yorgo_smorgo