Just out of  Rotorua is  little town called Ngongotaha…
A little town with an amazing community and a dope skate park!

It all started with an awesome lady named Layla, the owner of the local vid store Movie Time inviting the Alta crew to run one of there famous Skate Clinics and to host Ngongotaha’s first ever Skateboarding competition.

The turn out was amazing!
Never have I seen so many people from a community amping on skateboarding. Skaters came from near and far to take part in the all day event.

For the Clinic the Skaters were broken up into there skill levels, each taking an area of the park to get some one on one coaching from Alta and  és‘ staff and team riders. Everyone was pumped and just ready to get into it.

The beginners chomping at the bit to learn “kick-flips!” the intermediates just wanting to shred the ledges, and the advanced crew talking about something called a “negro flip” ???
As the concentration levels at the clinic went down the registrations for the comp went up. Everyone was eager to put there new skills to the test.

The competition had 3 divisions, 13 & Under, 16 & Under, and an Open. Each of the divisions were packed out! So many kids of all skate levels, just getting in there and giving it a go. And that’s what it’s all about! FUN! Even a few ladies got down for a roll or two.

MC’d by Alta’s very own Matty P and Judged by Harris, Kayle and Kurt from és Shoes the comp went by without a hitch. The sun was beating down and the crowd was stoked managing to stay hooked all the way through the event until prize giving.

All in all a freakin’ sick day. The winner on the day was definitely Skateboarding…

plus these guys.

13 & Under 
1st: Jarrod
(Guitar from Super Liquor, Deck from Alta and a T  from és)
2nd: Kalem
(Fishing Rod from Houghton’s Hardware and a T  from és)
3rd: Cole
($50 from Village Sports Bar)

16 & Under
1st: Sean
(Cell phone and $50 credit from NGO Ocean Seafoods and Movie Time, Deck from Alta and a T  from és)
2nd: Donovan
($100 to spend at Coin Save, $50 cash from Essence Cafe and a T  from és)
3rd: Luke
(Mad Man DVD Pack and a T  from és)

Open
1st: Nic
(A Pair of és Shoes, Deck from Alta and $100 from NGO Fish Supply)
2nd: Tahuri
(Bean Bag from Super Liquor, $50 from Brakes Butchery and a T  from és)
3rd: Red
($30 voucher from Fat Dog Cafe and a $20 Voucher from Serious Fun)

This event had more sponsors than you can shake a Skate deck at. Most of which were within the local Ngongotaha community. We were super stoked with the whole event and it couldn’t have happened without the support of all the sponsors, so a huge thank you goes out to them, support these businesses because they’re the ones supporting Skateboarding in New Zealand.

ALTA, Movie Time, és Shoes, NGO Ocean Seafoods, Biz Marketing, Fat Dog Cafe, Serious Fun, Coin Save, Damels Traffic Man, Brakes Butchery, Essence Cafe, NGO Fish Supply, Village Sports Bar, Super Liquor and Houghton’s Hardware

Thanks Ngongotaha, see you again soon!
Peace.

Rory J & Matty P

Heres the result. You all be the judge and drop us some comments.

This shot is of the novice group of kids aged 5+ learning the basics.

Jamie helping one of the girls that turned up. Lucia was a “never-ever” when she turned up. At the end of the two hour session she was skating the small inclines!

Yes you DO need a Mega-phone when talking to this many groms…even this close!

The Boy’s showed the blow-ins how we do it Aotearoa style. Mike Bancroft was going huge and pretty much skated full pace the whole time, while Tim Schmidt held it down on the ledge.

The Foundation Team had a break so everyone could have a skate. Corey Duffel gave tips and humorous comentary from the sideline.

Them came the free stuff! One of the decks must have been extra special because it caused a solid 15 minute rumble.

All in all a great day and a great demo.
Thanks heaps to the Foundation Team and the boys at Irrom Dist for putting on a great show. See you next year?

Check out the Foundation Website for the full story on there Pilage and Plunder Down Under Tour.
Foundation – Pilage and Plunder Down Under

If you wanna check the full story including bands and other antics click here

Corban from Remain had barely finished tightening the final bolt setting up Mini Ramp in Alta Newmarket when the first bunch of Groms turned up. Not often you see three so well dressed gommets ready to drop in.

Couple of these kids could skate pretty good!

Word must have spread pretty fast. Not long after these kids got the agressive toot from a car pulled up outside, another crew rolled in. This crew had one kid who could skate and a couple that couldnt but were very keen to give it a go. Lucky for them Rory was in store and as always happy to stoke the groms out, he got on the job. Dished out some advice and a couple of demos and these groms were giving it a go, with varying success.

Note the concentration!

Couple of bruised knees went down but I am sure when we next throw the ramps up these guys will be back. If you wanna see the full story on why these ramps were in store check Bands and Mini Ramp

PROGRESSION!!

Free Snarlers and Redbull for every skater was the order of the day. Mr Sweeney from Redbull Special Op’shooked up with the Alta Crew and headed to the new Queenstown Skate Park. And what a cracker it was…absolute blue-bird.

Local Sam Hanna rippin on the Pyramid.

And we went till the sun went down…pumping Metallica from the Redbull Hummer.

Oh…to all those kids under 13 who we didn’t serve Redbull to…we saw how many sausages you had!

Hey Crew.

Word just to hand that there is a comp on at the Reefton Park. Rough details below with more info to posted when it comes to hand.

Saturday November 1^st 2008

Entry forms available now

No entries on the day

Contact details for an entry form below

Phone: 03 7327 006

Dave got up to some suspicious behaviour in the window…

….Deen threw on a XXL Lower shirt…

…and Sam , well he just turned up in his dam fine truck!!

Blasted couple of k’s up the road to Upland Rd bowl just to check it out. Boys took it pretty cruzy , kinda a warm up, apart from Andys endless 30+ attempts at one trick, never quite stomped, but he is guarantying next time.

Then we rocked down to AKL Art Gallery, stairs where a bit slippery but boys had bit of a go at it and found few other ways to entertain themselves

And where was Sam this whole time?… well bein the all round nice guy that he is he was surrounded by grommets as he helped them with some repairs!