Colony Down Underground finals: writeup & photos!

Ross D Lav just put together this short writeup over the recently ended first series of the Colony Down Underground. A great day was had by all as most have no doubt seen from the video - read on for the low-down!

On Saturday 4th July, 2009, riders from Australia, Japan and Canada emerged to the site of the famous Milton Bowls bowling alley/tennis centre for the final round of the Colony Down Underground contest series in Brisbane, Australia.

Japan's Shintaro Misawa and I prepared early, ate a decent breakfast at my girlfriends place a block away from the contestand headed down for early registration and warm up.

Arriving I was stoked to see Andrew McDermott, Mike Brandt, Leigh Waddingham, Matt Wootton and a few others setting up the venue & getting the riding surface up to top-notch quality. The vibe was relaxed but everyone was pumped and excited to get things rolling and there was a definite energy about the place.

Things got under way around 11am with the Middies class. Riders worth noting include Mike Brandt, Blake Peacock and a few new fresh faces to the scene that is always great to see. Andrew Lightbody made the trip up from Sydney with his trusty S&M Sabbath and with some smooth and con

sistent runs landed himself 4th place. 3rd went to Matt Wootton from Tasmania - this guy was fluid and a definite rider worth watching out for in the future. Shaun Jarvis, one of the creators & organisers behind the Colony Down Underground series nailed some tight combos to land 2nd place but it was Leigh Waddingham from Tasmania took out 1st for scoring high on all three judging criteria – Creativity, Difficulty and Consistency. I have to say that one of the highlights for the day was watching Leigh and Matt ride - Tasmania has proved it is a force to be reckoned with! Hopefully we'll be seeing Damon Fox back at the events soon?

After a short break it was the Advanced class up next. Event sponsor and Colony BMX owner, Clint Millar has recently returned to flatland after a lengthy absence to pull out some of his oldies but goodies – pedal dumps, no handed hitchhikers etc... it was great to see him back on it. Ben Moran from Victoria was his usual diverse and creative self earning much respect from his peers. For the Advanced finals we saw the top four battle for 1st place. Tomasz Hantke from Sydney landed 4th while the ever smiling Canadian traveller Eric Effinger worked hard with a bunch of clean and consistent combos to land 3rd - nice work mate! Shintaro qualified first with almost flawless runs and some original Shintaro switches which led to the show down between him and Simon O'Brien. This was a difficult one to judge with Simon winning by only one point! Check out Simon and Shintaros contest run for the low-down!

After the contest, everyone went back to Ronnie Rampton's place for beers and pizza around a backyard bonfire. People got happy, drunk and had a great time talking and laughing into the wee hours of the night - good vibes.

As always, there's a big thank you list involved for organising an event & series like this: Shaun Jarvis who spent many hours organising and getting everyone motivated - he's done a brilliant job and it's possible none of this would have come together if it wasn't for him. Brett Dighton and Ron Rampton for being great hosts and looking after everyone during their stay in B-town and finding the contest site. The sponsors – Clint at Colony BMX for donating such generous prizes & support, Freestyle Now, Miklav and Richard Crossley and Crossley Cycles and Bobby Carter at DiversionTV. Also a massive thanks & shout out to all the riders that travelled from across Australia & the world to attend - much repect & we look forward to having you all again for the next series!

A special thanks also has to go new Australian resident, Paul Chamberlain. Even though you were out smoking Cubans somewhere in the America's, your drive to push Flatland in Australia the last couple of years has not gone unnoticed - we wish you could have been here!!

Stay tuned for more announcements on the next Colony Down Underground series coming soon....

Photos credits: Mike Brandt & Tweekend