Saturday's dual-lane Tight Slalom race will be on the "Turkish Pavilion" hill at Tower Grove Park. It's an S-shaped street with a mellow slope but plenty of speed. Sunday's races will also be at Tower Grove. We’ll also have our usual Friday late-afternoon fun session (not a race, just a session for those who are interested) for anyone who just wants to meet up and hang out.
All races on both days will use a standard start ramp, but those who need it will be allowed a limited push start.
FRIDAY, MAY 22, we have two things going on:
1. An afternoon/evening outlaw session at "Spot 2," a mellow hill near the east end of Tower Grove Park. Single lane, no timer, just for fun. To work out the kinks after your travel or just hang out, stop by any time after 5:30 p.m. 2. If you'd rather ride some transition, the Kingshighway Bridge is less than a mile away, and the Peter Mathews Memorial Skate Garden (built by local skaters with help from Team Pain 'crete gurus) is maybe 1.5 miles away.
View of Friday hill (from top):
SATURDAY, MAY 23, we plan a dual-lane 68-cone race. Cone spacing will be tight-ish, between 6 and 7 feet.
NOTE: The race hill is NOT steep. This race will reward anyone who can generate his/her own speed. So practice your pumping skills, cuz you’re gonna use them!
Here’s a brief video of what the hill at Tower Grove looks like:
SUNDAY, MAY 24, will be single-lane GS and single-lane Hybrid. Courses will emphasize speed and fun--makeable for newbies, challenging for experts to go fast on. In each race, you’ll get a minimum of three runs; the combined times of each racer’s two fastest runs will be used to determine the winner.
TIMING Trackmate timing system, using RANDOM beep for dual-lane racing.
AMENITIES Free food for racers on both Saturday and Sunday!
As in the past couple of years, we'll have a DIY food spread where you can make your own PB&J sammich, or grab a donut, a banana or other fresh fruit, ice water or Gatorade-type drinks. On Sunday every racer will get their choice of wrap (turkey, roast beef or veggie), hand-prepared by "Dagger Kitchens, Inc.," i.e., Laura Graf, Mary Hessler Goad or some combination of the above, plus chips and/or other munchies.
We'll have a portable restroom (with sink) at top of course, plus public restroom about 300 yards away; plenty of shade from the park's many trees; event-only pavilion with picnic tables and water pump 50 yards from top of the course.
PARKING
At Tower Grove, there's room for about 8-10 cars near the barricades at the top of the course, and there's plenty more room to park on South East Drive, just on the other side of Central Cross Drive. See map for details.
SURFACE Decent asphalt, good runout at the bottom--no footbraking required.
CASH PRIZES & SWAG Top three Pro finishers in each event will win CA$H money as follows: 1st place: At least $200.00 2nd place: At least $100.00 3rd place: At least $50.00
Top three OVERALL*** finishers in each division will receive a custom trophy, handmade by one of the Daggers. And of course we will have numerous other prizes from many amazing companies that support slalom and other forms of skateboarding – and maybe even a surprise or two. Stay tuned...
***OVERALL placing (total of both Saturday and Sunday) will be calculated by official ISSA rules, which assign a point value to each racer’s placing. Note: We're working on creating an automatic calculation of the overall results so we don't end up finishing in the dark. (D'oh!)
LODGING The "bad" news: There is no "official" race hotel. The good news: There are plenty of other hotels in and around the area, including the following:
Only a couple of miles from Tower Grove Park is Red Roof Inn. About $89/night.
The Pear Tree Inn in Fenton About 10 miles west of Tower Grove Park, but it's a quick 10 miles, straight in on I-44.
One other option: You can often get a really nice hotel within 5 miles of the park for less than $100 on Priceline or Hotwire. Just specify downtown or Union Station as the area.
Finally, a small number of racers may be able to find a place to stay with one of the Daggers. If finding a place to crash will make the difference between coming and not coming, let us know, and we'll try to work something out.
WEATHER In the event of the "R" word, we have three options: 1) Cancel the race (nooooooo!) 2) Race anyway (rain or shine), or 3) Move the race to an "undisclosed location" somewhere out of the rain.
In the race organizers' opinion, Option #1 just totally sucks; Option #2 is pretty darn unworkable, so it's not REALLY an option. Which leaves us with Option #3: If we get dumped on, we will attempt to move the race either to a parking garage downtown (location TBA) - or, more likely, to the Kingshighway skatepark (still going!) about a mile away, where we would set up a course through the flat areas of the skatepark. It would result in a much different race than at Tower Grove, but we’d give it a shot. No guarantees, though.
If we get just a little rain, we may be able to dry the course with some help from Mother Nature--and a propane torch, as shown in this photo of the one and only Clifton Jennings:
OTHER STUFF
Free T-shirt for every racer!
Free BBQ immediately after SATURDAY's race. All you'll have to do is walk over to the Turkish Pavilion, sit down and chow down!
Once again, Char-Master Goad will be holding it down on the grill.
Location of awards ceremony after Sunday’s race TBA. Turkish Pavilion
Assorted images from previous years:
2012
2011
2011 trophy
2010 Deron “D-Ron” Rehma. Photo: Scott Spaeth
Paul Price and Chris Doan. Photo: Kevin Kissel
David Tolley (almost) gets a trim from his son Evan.
2009 "Best Beef" trophy with its owner, Tom Mangelsdorf
2008 2008 trophies
2007 2007 trophy
2006 2006 trophies
Plus other cool stuff – stay tuned!
1st Place Finisher:
Jason Yerke
2nd Place Finisher:
Joseph Kyle Smith
3rd Place Finisher:
Lou Statman
Overall Results:
OVERALL PLACING
Name
GS Placing
GS Points
TS Placing
TS Points
Hybrid Placing
Hybrid Points
TOTAL POINTS
1
Jason Yerke
3
160
1
200
2
180
540
2
Joseph Kyle Smith
2
180
5
145
1
200
525
3
Lou Statman
1
200
12
122
3
160
482
4
Steve Pederson
5
145
2
180
6
140
465
5
Jonathan Harms
4
150
3
160
4
150
460
6
Oshean Lehrmann
10
126
4
150
8
132
408
7
Keenan Thompson
9
129
7
136
7
136
401
8
Alex Kwiecinski
7
136
14
118
5
145
399
9
Lynn Kramer
6
140
9
129
13
120
389
10
Derek Yerke
13
120
6
140
10
126
386
11
Nate Favero
8
132
24
107
9
129
368
12
Orion Lehrmann
14
118
8
132
16
115
365
13
Brad Burnell
12
122
16
115
12
122
359
14
Marcos Soulsby-Monroy
11
124
15
116
14
118
358
15
Paul Graf
16
115
10
126
15
116
357
16
Chris Favero
15
116
17
114
11
124
354
17
Jeremy Coffman
23
108
11
124
18
113
345
18
Noah Ellison
17
114
13
120
25
106
340
19
Jeff Goad
20
111
21
110
19
112
333
20
David Tolley
19
112
20
111
23
108
331
21
Dennis Blevins
24
107
25
106
17
114
327
22
Kevin Stallings
25
106
18
113
24
107
326
23
Ricky Byrd
21
110
26
105
20
111
326
24
Steven Lewis
26
105
23
108
21
110
323
25
David McCampbell
18
113
28
103
26
105
321
26
Jeremy Jones
31
100
22
109
22
109
318
27
Eddy Martinez
32
99
19
112
30
101
312
28
Kyle Fields
27
104
32
99
28
103
306
29
Scott Kamins
30
101
27
104
31
100
305
30
Glenn Bukowsky
28
103
33
98
27
104
305
31
Reuben Wielms
33
98
29
102
32
99
299
32
Brenden Cerney
22
109
36
95
37
94
298
33
Russel Cantor
29
102
37
94
29
102
298
34
Anton McCampbell
34
97
30
101
33
98
296
35
Aliera Soulsby-Monroy
37
94
31
100
34
97
291
36
Sasha Goad
36
95
34
97
35
96
288
37
Atom Blanford
35
96
35
96
36
95
287
Registered Contestants (27) -- Slalom St. Louis the 13th!
Name
Home City
Classes
Sponsors
Bio
Comment
Date Submitted
1.
Jonathan Harms
Saint Louis, MO
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
JBH/PG
Co-organizer, sometime announcer/timer/ publicist/troubleshooter, chief bottle washer, an' I also help run da flower shop
Come for the STL-style pizza and toasted ravioli, stay for the slalom race
4/30/2015 5:47:16 PM
2.
Aliera Soulsby-Monroy
Somewhere in Texas
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
The feeling of speed
I'm just a Punk
My dad is Disavowed
5/2/2015 9:13:57 PM
3.
Ro gue
Hell TX
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
Like there is sponsors!!!!
Not much to say, I'm just a skater.
Disavowed
5/2/2015 9:18:45 PM
4.
Alex Kwiecinski
Lansing, MI
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
Bees Knees Boards, Action Board Sports
Terrified of Ferris wheels on roofs, but not skateboards.
I might be a lot smaller than you, but not a lot slower. I'm 9yrs old
Anyone up for a game of skate? I'll have my boards and I don't like to sit around doing nothing. Hit me up.
5/17/2015 3:01:42 PM
20.
Derek Yerke
Lansing, MI
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
Go Green Longboarding and Bees Knees Skathletics. For life!
thinner, younger, faster, and better looking version of that Jay guy
sleeping in a van down by the river
5/18/2015 5:06:58 PM
21.
Ricky Byrd
Madison, Mississippi
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
Radikal Trucks, Pleasure Tool Bearings, RKR!
I haven't raced since 2007... Yeah, so qualifying is a win. Road Kill Racing! MSGRS!
Keystone Light... Always smooth... Ain't no doubt. Thanks Daggers!
5/18/2015 7:23:19 PM
22.
Joseph Kyle Smith
Ashland, Ky
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
HOSS, Don't Trip, Sk8kings
Let's skate!!😁😁
5/19/2015 4:52:47 AM
23.
Atom Blanford
St. Louis, MO
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
No Coast Skateboards
3rd grader, skateboarder and ventriloquism enthusiast.
5/19/2015 9:31:11 AM
24.
Oshean Lehrmann
Carlsbad,CA
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
SK8kings Axe Army and The Grind Skate Shop
Been riding for a few years now. Owe my success to my Coaches Lynn Krammer, Richy Carrasco, Pat Brickner, Chris Yandel (RIP). Owe my parents for support.
Little hand says its time to rock and roll.
5/20/2015 7:48:07 AM
25.
Orion Lehrmann
Carlsbad,CA
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
SK8kings Axe Army and The Grind Skate Shop
Love Slalom. Thanks to my coaches, Lynn Krammer, Richy Carrasco, Pat Brickner, and Chris Yandel (Who we miss at our weekly practices). Oh, I shape and compete on my own surfboards.
Red is the fastest color.
5/20/2015 7:57:10 AM
26.
jeremy jones
MO
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
Need some
Skate!
Stoked
5/22/2015 5:07:35 PM
27.
Noah Ellison
Winthrop Harbor, IL
Giant Slalom, Hybrid Slalom, Tight Slalom
State Line Skate Design, Thanestore, Nevada Decks, Mercury Bearings
