RVCA Mini-Ramp Contest.

Ramp Lords.

RVCA hosted a private mini-ramp contest in October of 2006. Big Ben Schroeder won, Mark Appleyard took second, and Scotland's Stu Graham landed in third. Each was given a painting done by a RVCA artist, which in this case was art from Ben Horton, Ed Templeton, and Neck Face. The contest was organized by Jimmy Arrighi, formerly of Hellbow mini ramp fame and future owner of Eswic Clothing.

Contests aren't necessarily the be all and end all of skateboarding, but a well planned fun one can be a good thing. It's produced some entertaining and creative moments in skateboard journalism over the years, as well as more than a few stupid incidents. It's probably also for the better that extensive contest coverage has been phased out over the years. You have to remember that these used to be big time social events for skateboarders before the internet made communication much easier. A recent episode of the Mostly Skateboarding podcast and a couple things on Skate Twitter had me thinking about old contest articles. I just happened to dumb luck on two to scan for the week.

Speaking of contests, the Bills started the season off on the right note.

Michael Burnett wrote the words and took the pictures.

Thrasher - January 2007 Volume 27 Number 1