Gio Corea skates in the Intermediate Competition on Thursday at the Beat the Heat.--NEWS PHOTO LAUREN THOMSON
lthomson@medicinehatnews.com
Beat the Heat Skateboard Competition certainly lived up to its name this year, with temperatures soaring into the high 30s – but even that couldn’t keep energetic competitors and spectators away from Kinsmen Skate Plaza.
“The first time we did our competition, it wasn’t called Beat the Heat and it was 40 degrees out,” explained Christ Nickel, vice president of the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association. “So the next year we decided we needed to call it Beat the Heat, and here we are again, about 15 or so years later.”
The Skate Plaza and surrounding area was busy with competitors, organizers, sponsors and spectators. Many expressed their excitement at being able to be together again, with health restrictions lifted just in time.
“Yeah, we’re super hyped,” said Davie James, board member of the MHSA. “You know, skateboarding is its own subculture, so a lot of us have just missed each other. It’s just going to be nice to have that community again.”
Michaela Burgess, a member of the board for the MHSA, says she’s “most excited about just seeing guys from out of town come here and shred. It’s awesome to see out-of-towners come. And we even have a lot of our hometown boys who come home for Beat the Heat. It’s kind of like our Christmas.”
The Beat the Heat event is one of Canada’s largest amateur skateboard competitions, with organizers expecting more than 100 competitors this year. Nickel says 2019 was one of their biggest years ever, so they are hoping this first post-pandemic competition tops it.
“This is definitely the first skateboard competition in Canada in 20 months, because things have been shut down,” said Terence Kowalchuk, who has been helping organize the event for many years. “So we’ve got guys here from all over Canada; Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver. There’s some of the best skateboarders around, and it’s just a fun event, it’s kind of a party, it’s kind of a reunion where everyone knows about it and comes back. Some of these guys have been coming since day one – 16 or 17 years.”
The day included numerous competitions, with everything from U-12, 13-16-year-olds in the intermediate comp, a bowl jam, a keg jump, women’s only comp and then the open competition.
The day finished off with a best trick competition and then a fleet of city buses arrived to take competitors and spectators alike to the Stampede Grounds, where the MHSA and Cousins Skateboards hosted an indoor event, complete with local Indigenous fancy dancers, a drumming girls and an elder to perform the opening ceremonies and bless the event, explained James.
“This is an event not only to bring awareness,” said James. “But to celebrate Indigenous culture and skateboarding at the same time.”
Justin Schneider, who is new to the city, was really happy to find out about Beat the Heat.
“I absolutely love that this exists, that they’re doing things for the kids,” Schneider said. “Back when I skated in the 2000s, girls did not skateboard, and to see that being pushed now is so cool.”
Roger Bruinsma with Skateboard Canada was also in attendance, doing a live stream pay per view so anyone could check out the competition.
“It’s a great event that the Medicine Hat Skateboard Association puts on every year,” Bruinsma said. “It’s one of the best in the country.
