Portrait by Gaston Francisco and words by Alex

Hello, yeah, luckily I got the chance to go on a DC Oz and New Zealand tour. I’ve never been south of the equator and basically used my first chance to go out there. I would have loved to attend the Awards, but these kind of travel opportunities don’t come too often, you know? Besides the rad crew, it’s got best hillbombs, nice beaches and pie.

Hmmm, yes it was. I am very thankful to my sponsors for giving me this chance. Red Bull even went over budget to do our DIY skatepark – something for the local community. Besides the two video parts, which I actually did over about two years it was a cool year travelling, living in London, going to the US, China, Morocco. Every day has been a blessing, learning new things and carrying on.

Basically, I was studying business for 4 years, and in the end chose to go for a Business Management with Marketing degree. The main reason of this choice was that the name of the degree has two parts to it; it’s like a two in one you know? I am very happy I don’t need to go sit in the library no more, it’s quite some stress thinking about upcoming exams and deadlines.

I did 3 years in Barcelona and one in London, thus living in Skateboarding capitals, [I figured] going out on missions wouldn’t be hard, and travelling either, as I had good relationships with the tutors and the school in BCN was private. Actually studying Business is as easy as eating pie if you didn’t know. I looked at it as a battle with time, where I must get the most out of it, because time goes on and you can’t stop it. So in order to pass the exams I would study as much as I could during those days.

Frontside wallride. Ph: Chami

Herculean? Ha! The real problem came when I had to pay my tuition the second year, getting a degree is expensive mate! I wrote a fairly big letter to the director of my school to get a discount in exchange for promotion. I filmed videos for my University, they printed me stickers and I got a decent size discount and could continue my student life in Barcelona. I want to thank ESEI International School, the times were rad as the school was on the top of a hill in BCN and every night would be a 15-minute hillbomb back from school. I think going to University and getting knowledge is okay, it’s just a pity it costs so much and that it sucks you into the system that sometimes forgets sharing and empathy for the other. Treat your neighbor as you’d like to be treated, I say.

Yes, my family was doing really hard financially and we were seriously considering me not finishing my studies in Barcelona. But the director of the University was a very nice fellow and I had a feeling they would accept this kind of a bartered deal. I had to do some promotional talking for the University and a little bit of downhill bombing at the very end of the video. The video is a bit embarrassing, trust me! The bottom line though is that I got 30% off the school fee and that let me continue the gorgeous Barcelona life!

I was going to finish what I started. My sponsors understood my priorities very well, they are good folks I must say. It was just tough for me to go on tours for four days where the whole thing would be 10 days or two weeks. There was not much pressure, I’d like to think, although some people would always ask for few more final bangers, you know?  I think I started filming for projects fairly early to make it on time, especially with the Element Am video.

I got an e-mail from a friend saying that I got a few nominations, I thought it was awesome that people recognised my skateboarding. You know, it just hypes me up for more knowing that people like what I do, it is good encouragement!

Regarding my victory, as I said it is an amazing encouragement for future progress and creation. I guess I can say it fuels me for more; it raises my thirst for better videoparts. Besides that it means a lot to my family and friends who have supported me along the way. I used to go on very long drives with my parents across Europe to participate in contests and events, they would come skate the spot with me kind of. It’s funny to look back at it, all the arguments I had with my stepdad… I’m certainly happy I didn’t have to win any contests to get this award.

I hope and promise that this will not make a big-headed fool out of me, we all skate for fun, remember?

Backside powerslide front shov. Ph: Chami

I think Jesus is one of Europe’s best OG skaters and as a true G he stays cool, [he’s] always got a smile on his face and lives true like a child. I’m happy he got the videopart of the year!

The idea for my awards speech was to use some of the comments from the Readers’ Choice voting page. One thing and another it never happened but we had some interesting opinions voiced online. I’m going to give you some of the excerpt from one of them and I’m asking you to answer them:

There are different people in this world, there are different interpretations of skateboarding in this world. For some it’s a contest, for some it’s a form of rebellion. For me it is creating and inspiring the youths. Does Edgar remember how it was to be young and remember first contests, battles with his mates? I see this list as a celebration of good, as something that keeps the industry on their toes. It’s a good promotion of Skateboarding I reckon, appropriate for the digital era.

I voted for Jesus Fernandez as he is an OG and after all those videoparts he’s done and we have loved to watch, he filmed another full part. There are various things that matter, people vote for the European Skater of the Year and they vote for whom they wish, whether they prefer pure shredding or long term involvement, style and motivation. It is a personal choice I guess.

Pole Jam 50-50. Ph: Chami.

The people is not stupid. This vote has been totally manipulated.

Ha ha, John is absolutely right. Latvian people have been awarded as having the loudest and most supporting fans in hockey several times. This can be applied to any other sport or voting competition. We support our people, and the web’s tendrils were vibrating high during the Readers Choice votes. Besides that I also have a few friends that are good hackers and can manipulate the system, thanks for the support!

I want to say One Love to people, remember about the other skaters next to you and support your local skatescene. Thanks for this interview!

Most of people come to Estonia by airplanes but Russians still prefer overnight trains. Here we got Gena Kakusha having his morning tea before arriving toTallinn.

One of the best things about Simple Session is free shuttle bus between the official hotel and the arena. Here we got: me( Kirill Korobkov), Samu Karvonen and Willie Makela on the bus ride.

When it comes to big airs Tim Zom knows what’s up.

Max Kruglov didn’t come to mess around. He went straight to bs noseblunt on the first warm up.

It was way too crowded on the course during the practice. All the 70 riders we re allowed to skate at the same time. It was pretty dangerous for everyone. Max Kruglov catched Manny Santiago’s board with his head.

Korahn Gayle was another victim of the chaos.

Fernando Bramsmark did a stalefish on the obstacle that was bigger than some people’s houses.

Daniel Cates came to judge. He was marked as Daniel Gates in the judges list.

Alex Mizurov saved this trick for the finals – double bs flip up the gap.

Alex Mizurov and Manny Santiago visited Estonia for the first time.

Gosha Konyshev refused to go out on Saturday night and killed it on Sunday. He got the 6^th place.

Maxim Habanec slided on this bluntslide all the way down in his run. This thingl ooked like the funnest part of the park to me. I wish I had my skateboard with for this obstacle.

Maxim Habanec and his crooked grind up in the tech section of the course.

Maxim Habanec and his noseblunt slide in the rails zone.

Samu Karvonen and Dan Cates.

Phil Zwijsen did the biggest fs 180 of the weekend.

Proper fs 5-0 grind on the round rail always looks good. I am sure Phil knows that.

Phil Zwijsen and his stalefish transfer.

Russian delegation consisted of (from left to right) Misha Poponin, Gosha Konyshev, Sergey Dubrovin (Union Skateboards team manager), Gena Kakusha, me (I was one of the judges) and Dima “Flin”. Oh yeah, I forgot about Max Kruglov who came from Saint Petersburg in shining Audi A5.He didn’t need a free bus, he came to win.

Bs bluntslide into the bank by the skater who I don’t know.

360 flip by the Portuguese guest.

Woody Hoogendijk was as good as this crail grab on the first day but he got hurt during the semi-finals warm up.

Willie Makela comes to Estonia for Simple Session every year.

Madars Apseand his signature wallie 50-50.

Gap to fs nosebluntslide that happened during the best trick jam.

Austyn Gillette was there too – bs smith grind.

If the best trick contest happened on this obstacle, Maxim Kruglov would have won it too –360-flip up and over.

Champagne in the bus.

We had few hours before the train after we checked out from the hotel on Monday and I decided to cheat the fear of heights.

I don’t know what to say here. Her hat pretty much speaks for the whole picture, Monday afternoon in Tallinn.

Reader’‘s Choice Award: Madars Apse

Skater of the Year: Madars Apse

It’s not surprising that both the industry and the Kingpin readers voted for him. He filmed two of the best parts to come out in 2012 whilst attending university in London. I can’t think of any other skater who would be capable of doing that. It usually takes pros 3 years to put out full parts , and they are rarely of this caliber. Of  course that’s without having to attend lessons or write essays.I think he’s hands down number one european skater right now, and I’m glad everyone seems to think the same. But this is only the beginning,  he’s got a long career ahead of him and I’m sure we’ll see new footage from him soon.

Here’s his part in the DC  Europe video.

Rookie of the Year: Tom Knox

2012 was obviously quite a busy year for him, he got a Sidewalk cover, a Grey cover and interview, smashed it on the Big Push as well as on every other trip he went on.

This isn’t from 2012, but I still think it’s relevant. It’s probably one of my favorite European parts ever. He seems to realise that skating good looking spots doesn’t mean you should get away with doing easier tricks.

Brand of the Year: Polar Skate Co.

Videographer of the Year: Pontus Alv

There’s not much to say for these two really. Pontus has been an inspiration on and off his board for years. When you’ve skated for Cliché or been on the same team as Scott Johnston Rob Welsh and Bobby Puleo (Mad Circle), you know how to pick a team. When you’ve created visual masterpieces such as “In search of the miraculous” , you know how to give your brand and it’s videos an appealing aesthetic. If you don’t believe me just re-watch this:

Shop of the Year: Slam City Skates, London

Slam city skates has been a legendary skateshop for years, partly because of everyone that works in the shop. The are same people that you will bump into at  Stockwell or Southbank, that support the legit brands by stocking them in the shop and help out the younger generation of skate rats. This status is also comes from the image that the team has helped build, by supporting the shop for so long.

Anyhow, this award is strongly linked to videographer of the year, because if it weren’t for Henry Edwards-Wood’s dedication, 2012 would not have been such an important year for Slam. I can’t think of any other filmer who would have had the courage and patience to take on this mammoth task. City of Rats is a well produced overview of a scene that is extremely hard to document, so well-done Henry!

Video Feature of the Year: Jesus Fernandez

He was getting quite close to Madars in the polls for Reader’s Choice European Skater of the year, and that’s undoubtably because of his section in Pretty Sweet. For obvious reasons we can’t post that part, but here’s a little edit that his fan club put together as a last call to get people to vote for him:

Cover of the Year: Soma, Issue 27

Soma took it with this controversial cover shot by Tura, but honestly, their covers are always sick. There  is a little story behind this one though, so if you are interested, head over to their site. The one Nykwen shot of Gonz wasn’t bad either…

Photographer of the Year: Marcel Veldman

If you have any doubts about why he deserves it, just pick up an copie of Fluff. This man’s a genius.

Web Edition of the Year: The DC Embassy

The guys that run this thing deserve an award just for spending so much time indoors while it’s so sunny outside!

Skate Aid Charity Award: Pura Vida

Head over to their website for more information about the charity work they are doing in Costa Rica.