For over a decade now, Vans ‘Shop Riot’ has been a staple of the UK skateboarding event calendar. A lot has certainly changed in the scene since this grassroots get-together first graced Manchester’s infamous Central Skatepark way back when, but one thing that remains the same is this – skateboarders love carnage. The more unadulterated the better.
Vans Shop Riot, year after year, hammers this point home. Wether Vans intend for this to happen or not, it seems to be the way that if you choose to gather together representatives from the country’s finest skater-operated retail outlets, chaos always descends. So this year, Ollie Wright and co. decided to embrace it, not only summoning the UK’s most notable shop teams back to the Shop Riot spiritual home of Manchester for the main Graystone event on the Saturday, they threw a suitably riotous gathering at the Pumpcage (or Projekts Skatepark, if you will) on the Friday evening too. Car/train/MegaBus legs were skated off as the fading Mancunion sun slowly set, and once darkness had descended and the final straggling revellers appeared, the Death Skateboards endorsed Death Race got underway, which saw Horsey and Dan Cates attempt to maim representatives from all the landed shop teams as they darted around the park in search of the finish line. A spotlit hip and quarter session closed off the Pumpcage part of the proceedings, as Ben Powell encouraged all attendees to give their most aesthetically unpleasant tricks an airing in exchange for a turn on the loaded Blast Skates mascot piñata.
In order to appropriately prepare for the following days battle at Graystone, everyone present was ushered to the Northern Monk Refectory in order to take in The National Skateboard Co. X Vans X Vague ‘Under Revue’ tour video whilst taking down a reasonable amount of Canhead beers.
The main Shop Riot event took over Graystone Skatepark in the mid-morning, and by lunchtime the place was full to the brim with crews from literally all over the country ready to represent their local store.
The more traditional and less chaotic ‘qualifiers – semis – final’ format ensured that each shop had to keep constantly upping their game in order to progress to the next round.
Flatspot eventually came out on top and earning themselves a well deserved spot at the Vans Shop Riot European finals in Amsterdam at the end of the month click HERE for details! Here’s to another round of grassroots carnage in 2020!
The Vans Team would like to extend a special thanks to:
The Pumpcage aka Projekts Skatepark
Our Esteemed Judges
Ben Rowles – The Skateboard Physiotherapist
All of the skate shops and skateboarders who took part
Vans Shop Riot 2019 – Manchester – Video Re-cap