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Vans Slam City Jam XI
First stop of Vans Triple Crown of Skateboarding goes to 11 in Vancouver, B.C.
by Brooke Geery
Even the guys were jealous of Vanessa Torres's backside lipslide in the final jam, which was just one of the many sick tricks she pulled to take home first place and $2,000 at Vancouver, British Columbia's Slam City Jam. In its 11th year, Slam City is still attracting the best of the best in skateboarding. And on the girls' side of things, the turnout has never been better.
The contest was held April 30 through May 2 in BC Place, a downtown Vancouver football stadium. But the football jocks were replaced with skateboarders, including some 30 female competitors (not to mention 160 guys, the most ever at Slam.) The location was different from the past few years, but it is not the first time BC Place has hosted Slam; the contest was held there before moving to the PNE.
As always, the girls were kept waiting until the final day of competition to ride, but at least they got to go early Sunday morning...oh, wait, not sure that's a good thing. The girls vert jam, featuring eight riders, was already well underway when the previous night's partiers started to stagger in for the day. But the empty seats didn't dissuade the girls from throwing down. Mimi Knoop was destroying the ramp with frontside and backside inverts. Holly Lyon's huge methods were a true spectacle, and Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins, the youngest competitor on vert, was going for kickflip Indies. Eleven years into it, Cara Beth Burnside's strong, consistent skating earned her first place.
With 20 girls divided into two qualifying heats, the street action began with the semifinals. The skaters were each given two runs on the street course, with the top eight scores advancing to the final jam. This year's setup had a little bit of everything. "I liked [the course] -- it was a lot different that usual, it was a little smaller, but it was really fun," Lauren Perkins said.
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