Big Push

Here's a little piece that James Harris wrote after his big push mission last summer. This is pretty late in going up, but it's a great piece. Plus it's something other then the Emersons Green skatepark.

What do you get when you put an Irishman, a Scottsman, two Welshmen and five Englishmen together? The answer, the Shiner Big Push team 2010.

This 9-day extravaganza started off on a high, literally. What I mean by this is a very traumatic event that involved two police officers, two stashes of a pungent green substance and 9 extremely troubled skateboarders. This part of the story is an extremely long one, so if you’d like to know more, ask me in person sometime as I don’t want to turn this jolly little article into a chunky block of paper.

Being that I am a born and bred Britstolian, I am used to the many wonders that Bristol has to offer to the skateboard scene. Grey, rough surfaces and the odd bit of smooth terrain cover our horizon and challenge and encourage us to make the most out of what we have been given. This indeed is the case for our humble city, but what about other cities, their scenes and their spots? This Big Push tour allowed us to experience all three.

Edinburgh, hands down has the best skatepark I have ever been to. Bowls big enough to hold all the scooter kids in the UK, a street section that gets the thumbs up from the all terrain vehicle, Dan Wileman and gaps big enough to suit the mighty pop of Stu Graham.

From the eyes of a filmer, skateparks aren’t the most attractive thing to capture on tape, but this park is an exception. It makes you feel like you have been teleported to one of the many gigantic American parks that clutter the video players of the World Wide Web, therefore, it looks OK.

Sunderland is a must for anyone looking for a legitimate, bust-free street plaza. The wavy ledges, low block amphitheatre and road gaps could be referred to as heavenly, and brought us a few full tapes worth of amazing footage. I think we spent a good few hours there, and the only reason we left was because rain stopped play. After all, we were still in England!

Liverpool is another city that sticks in my head. Being the home to one of the friendliest people in the world, Dave Mackey and home to some of the most attractive looking spots you could ever wish to stumble upon. The Sayers stair set is one spot that has imprinted itself in my head; this is all thanks to a certain Barney Page, whom most of you will know as a ridiculously talented skateboarder. Barney popped in a different direction to anyone else on this stair set, claiming one of the many NBD’s from the tour.

Manchester, Newcastle and Livingston are also three cities that have a lot to offer in terms of interesting and challenging skate spots and skateparks, particularly Livingston, home to the legendary skatepark that has seen more coverage than Ian Beale’s chip shop.

If I continue to babble on like this, I will have given away all of our spots from the tour, leaving you with the opportunity to completely destroy all of them and put our wood pushing to shame. Therefore, I feel that it is time to call it a day.

I hope this article has watered your taste buds and that you crave to see with your own eyes what I have described here. If the answer is yes, log onto the nearest Internet supply and visit www.sidewalkmag.com, then search for Shiner Big Push 2010, which should be viewable by the time you read this.  Enjoy!