Venice Lyon Slappy Challenge 2017 Recap
As far as slappy spots go, it doesn’t really get any better than Jérémie Daclin’s beloved Venice Lyon. For one, it’s on a hill, so if you start your line with enough speed you can get away with doing quite a few tricks without pushing. Ideal if you’re a bit lazy. Then, it’s round, so you can ride into grinds without feeling like you have to wallride up the side of the curb. Ideal if you’re not-so-lazy and aren’t used to getting into tricks without ollieing. On top of this there’s tons of space on both sides if you fancy switching lanes with pop over tricks, some propped up DIY bits if you’re feeling ballsy and a beautiful view of the Rhône as you’re cruising down. But even with all this the best thing about it is still just how it goes. For almost two years now Jérémie has been lubing it up with Salba Sauce and coating it with wax at every session, to the point where you can virtually slide or grind forever it you get the balance right (as demonstrated by Didrik Galasso).
Anyway for the second year running Jérémie and his gang decided to put their dream spot to good use by inviting slappy lovers from around Europe to spend a Saturday honing their skills in Lyon. €1500 were offered up by Nike SB for longest slides and grinds as well as for the best tricks, lines, slams and pretty much anything that impressed Vincent Bressol and his astute panel of judges. Special mentions go to Didrik Galasso for sliding twice as far as everyone else, HDV wildcard Enzo for making it back to the plaza in one piece and Le Voxx for putting up with such an excitable horde of skateboarders once it got dark. All in all a banging second edition with the only downside being that we still don’t know if there’s anyone out there able to skate the place as well as Jérémie… I guess we’ll have to wait and see what next year brings!
Quote of the weekend: “This isn’t real money! I won this shit doing slappies!” – Kyron Davis halfway through burning the day’s earnings that evening at the bar.
Thumbnail image: Rémy Taveira shot by Maxime Verret.
Edit: Will Miles
Results
- Longest board slide : Didrik Galasso 28 metres
- Longest 50-50 : Kyron Davis 13 metres
- Best lines: Bastien Marlin and Bastien Marlin
- Best manny combo: Bastien Regester
- Best Slam: Enzo
- Best kicker trick: Kyron Davis, k-grind to five-o
- Best nose slide combo : Robin Bolian, nose slide to back lip
- Best nose slide combo : Guillaume Colucci, nose slide switch five-o to krooked grind
- Overall 3rd: Bastien Marlin
- Overall 2nd: Kyron Davis
- Overall winner: Deedz
