Hogtober - James Allen 2014

As the majority of you guys and girls know, Hogtober fest has just been and gone!

Our rider James Allen was there and gave us his account of what took place over the weekend!

"My weekend at Hogtober was excellent, as always! 

The Saturday started with an early rise and wet looking skies, but this was expected due to weather reports showing storms, and it wouldn't be a hog hill event without one wet day anyway. So we packed the car, full to the brim with longboards, helmets and waterproofs, and hit the road!

Much to our surprise, after a 3 hour drive and 2 coffee stops, we arrived at the Redbridge Cycling Center to find a pretty much dry hill, and lots of friendly faces to greet us. 

After doing the rounds and greeting all the other skaters it was time to sign up, limber up and skate!

There is always plenty going on whichever hill you head too, there was slalom taking place in the usual spot, a bit of freestyle on the flat top, and freeride/downhill going through the main run.


 Knowing that Jorge's slide jam was starting in just over an hour, I took my new short techslide board proto, (thanks guys) and headed over to the GS/slide hill to start skating and having some fun!!

Before I knew it Jorge was back on the mic, announcing the start of the slide jam, with the main rule of play nice and have a good time. I felt privileged to be skating with so many talented people, there were just over 50 skaters, each with their own style, and all so good at what they do. So after 45 minutes of skate time we were dwindled down to just 10 riders, who had to take it in turns to take their last 3 runs and impress the judges. I was fortunate enough to be skating amongst the finalists, and had a blast doing so. After our final runs, the judges got together and discussed between themselves their favourite skaters, not releasing the identities of the winners until the prize giving, the next day. 

Post by James Lindner.

So the crowds dispersed, and after abit more of a chilled skate, it was time to pack up and head to the campsite.

At the campsite, the evening was filled with all things fun, there was live music from a great band, dancing from those who dared, a campfire, food, fire poi, people were drinking, and best of all, everyone was having fun.

The next morning was another early one, and even though some people may have felt a bit more tender than others, we were all happy to see the sun was shining. Eager to get on the hill and do a skate, everybody packed up and set sail.

You could tell it was race day soon as you looked down and saw everyone had equipped their big, fast, grippy wheels ready to roll. I had decided to give racing a miss this time around, and concentrated on getting as many fun runs in as i could, before the main hill was closed off for racing. I had a few good pack runs with pals, working on lines, tucking, getting through the chicane as fast as I could and generally having fun and improving myself ready for next time, which I have told myself I will race haha. 

Once again, throughout the day there was plenty going on wherever I looked, giant slalom looking fast, luge looking scary, mini moto looking dangerous, and the racing which was exciting and so rad to see everybody giving their all and having a good time.

After everything was done and finished, there was only one thing left to do, the prize giving. Everyone was cheering on all those that had placed and won something, including myself, which was a surprise, i managed to place 3rd in the slide jam, despite all the other excellent skaters, so thank you judges and all for that. Everyone had pictures taken, prizes and special hogtober tankards in hand, and even a few scrambles which sent everyone wild.

So player to player, it was another great weekend for everyone. 

Special thanks to Timmy for putting it on, everyone else who helped, all the sponsors and especially Mindless Longboards for helping me personally have the best time ever!

Be excellent to each other!"

#jamesallen

A rad weekend was had by all, thank you to the photographers!
(please contact us if you want to be credited)
And a special thanks to James for the time and effort writing this review.

Till next year!