The entry numbers were up again this year and more interstate and international friends and competitors flew in to the Gold Coast for the fourth year of BOWLZILLA Gold Coast and its first year as the ASF National Park Skating Championships. Every single one of them wanted nothing less than a full running of the competition to not only have their shot but support and cheer on their mates. Skateboarding is more about community than the individual win and that was well and truly on display all week.
Yeah Girl worked with BOWLZILLA again to ensure the highest paid Equality-in-Skateboarding event in Australia for the second year running. The growing interest in skating in the Olympics is all well and good but wider community benefits away from the rings is where the real benefits are being seen from this new platform for skateboarding.
Councillor McDonald and Gold Coast City Council saw their investment pay dividends for the local community this year in exceptional ways with more out of state and international visitors and competitors. The local benefits of BOWLZILLA Gold Coast are now being banked on each year as an annual occurrence by the local community and the skaters are being welcomed in to experience more of the awesome Gold Coast lifestyle with many repeating the same thing – we ay not go home from this event next year.
Tourism & Events Queensland support in helping amplify the fantastic contributions skateboarding makes to the Gold Coast and Queensland are raising wider awareness, interest and audience which is having a snowball effect on all parts of BOWLZILLA Gold Coast. Inclusion of BOWLZILLA on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar had more people turning up to all of the events this year.
This year’s BOWLZILLA Gold Coast festival had larger attendance across all events and more sponsors helping make everyone happy. The week started with a Women’s learn to ride clinic, then a welcoming party with video part premieres by Shaun Boucher and Zane Hetherington at Beach Burrito Company, the comp ran Saturday event though there was torrential rain which meant only the Open and Women’s divisions could run, Dive In the official after party at Beach Burrito company was full but not the wild affair it was supposed to be as everyone was back to the park on Sunday morning for the 16 & Unders and the Pabst Masters divisions.
“The community spirit in skateboarding is one of the most rewarding parts of all of this. There was no better display of it than this weekend. We had bigger spectator numbers from the beginning of the day and as soon as the rain turned up, they settled in. They stayed and willed the clouds to part. When we decided to call it, they insisted we hold on and half an hour later we managed to get the Open and Women’s divisions done and then many of them came back early the next day to support the 16 & Unders and the Masters. What the Gold Coast and the skate community provide each year for us will always make us proud at BOWLZILLA and always bring us back to the Gold Coast. Thank you everyone and see you next year!” Chad Ford; BOWLZILLA – Director.
Sponsors and prize givers for BOWLZILLA Gold Coast 2019 were: Councillor Daphne McDonald, Gold Coast City Council, Tourism & Events Queensland, Red Bull, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, One Shot Drinks, Fiik Skateboards, Yeah Girl Skateboarding, Gold Coast Skateboard Coaching, Beach Burrito Company, Goliath Distribution, Boost Mobile, John Mills, Truck Stop Skate Shop and ASF.
The placings for BOWLZILLA Gold Coast 2019 are;
YEAH GIRL SKATEBOARDING – WOMEN – equal cash prize purse with Open, prizes donated by Girls Skate Gold Coast, Recover Wellbeing
1 Taniah Meyers – ASF Australian Park Skating Champion 2019
2 Gracie Cochrane
3 Charlotte Heath
4 Indiana Barnard
5 Mistie Mildenhall
6 Zahra Johns
7 Aimee Massie
8 Chloe Covell
9 Tora Waldren
10 Ashlee Valle
11 Kayla Matthews
16 & UNDER – prizes donated by GoPro, Goliath, Boost Mobile, Fiik Skateboards, Vans
1 Gui Khury
2 Ash Wilcomes – ASF Australian Park Skating Champion 2019
3 Noah Bardas
4 Mitchell Bullard
5 Niwa Shewry
6 Jackson Donnini
7 Zane Hetherington
8 Joshua Godward
9 Jaylen Jones
10 Freddie Arnold
11 TJ Lewis
12 Jake Thatcher
13 Tom Enwright
14 Harvey Campbell
15 Lukas Byers
16 Nakula Boag
17 Calan Dixon
18 Oscar Robson
19 Lewis Oatley
20 Kalani Salussolia
21 Kai Gould
22 Jack Lewis
23 Charlie Holland
PABST MASTERS – prize money from Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, special book prize by John Mills
1 Ian Davidson – ASF Australian Park Skating Champion 2019
2 Nick Heppenstall
3 John Gray
4 Chris Enwright
5 Justin Leslight
6 Simon Dixon
7 Brian Jacobsen
8 Iain Watt
9 Tony Chavez
OPEN
1 Shaun Boucher
2 Keegan Palmer – ASF Australian Park Skating Champion 2019
3 Jakob Robinson
4 Kieran Woolley
5 Louis Durand
6 George Richards
7 Marley Rae
8 Sam Windhorst
9 Dylan Donnini
10 Max Bardas
11 Louis Newman
12 Barry Taniwha
13 Alessandro Ferreri
14 Jesse Noonan
15 Ethen Mannix
16 John Peewee Dickenson
17 Arina Rahman
18 Bowman Hansen
19 Tynan Williams
20 Kobe Graff
21 Jett De Haan
22 Bryce MacKean
23 Nate Brider