OSSS #1 Olliewood

April 17, 2004

Preliminary note of thanks:

April 17, 2004 was the date set for our first contest of the year.   Olliewood is Alan “Ollie” Gelfand’s private perfect skatelite bowl, all in air-conditioned rain free comfort.  HUGE thanks to Alan for letting us all play on his property!

The ramp is located in a warehouse in Hollywood Florida.  Expecting a larger number of people on the deck than the usual session more support beams were put into place under the platform.  I’m mentioning this in order to thank Alan for doing this and to thank all the guys that did the work, Mark Kugel and Steve Alltop were there sawing, screwing and pounding right up until the contest for a few days.  Larry Gelfand cooking burgers and dogs and serving drinks.  Roger “Ace” De”Whateverthespellingis” seems to pretty much be the caretaker of the ramp as well.  Dave was on hand manning the door/table as people entered signing waivers and collecting cash.  I’m sure there were many others contributing preliminary work as well and we all appreciate it greatly.  We had sponsorship contributions from Soul Trip, Paul Schmitt, MR’s Skateshop, Concrete Wave, Pleasure Tools Bearings, BC Surf Shop, and Team LSD.  It was a complete success with no injuries and everyone left happy.

This was the best and biggest turnout of all the OSSS contests to date.  We had 23 entrants in Grand Masters and 15 contestants in Masters.  The momentum from the 2003 OSSS Series has obviously caught on.  This year we changed the age groups 30-39 Masters, and 40+ Grand Masters.

The list of skaters showing up for this contest was amazing.  A few notable new faces this year: Paul Schmitt in from Cali.  Monty Nolder and John McGuigan from Gainesville.  Chris West drove farther than anyone, NC or GA, somewhere up there.  Just seeing these guys and the distance they traveled to get there was awe-inspiring.  And to be up on the platform with them once again 20+ years since the last time was an honor that won’t be forgotten.

 The doors were open from 10:00am; the contest didn’t start till 4:00pm.  The skating going down was high level.  However, at contest time it all just busted loose.  These guys were going for it hard, there was a true excitement in the air that only comes along now and then, and this was one of those contests.  Instead of a ton of words, here are some pictures and notes and the contest results.  Pictures are courtesy of Charles Lillo.  If you would like to use these pictures or buy a glossy copy of one, please buy one from him.  He is even donating the profits to the “Grind for Life” fund.

   Chris Griffiths: Big ollies and Miller Flips, all with flowing style.

Tullie Carlton, big indy airs and even bigger balls.  Pure Gnar.

Chris Guillifuse, I don't even know the name of his tricks.  Killed it.

Kurt Thuemler, going for it.  The guy has the full on surf style to boot, smooth and stylee.

Alex V.  showed up out of nowhere and ripped hard.

Robbie Weir, ex-Bones Brigader, now movie stunt-man, forgot this was 2004 and ran a near flawless 80's run of inverts, big airs and no-nonsense skating.  Also the oldest guy in the Masters..pulled into 2nd place!

Kurt Bodenshatz skates so smooth and non-sketchy that you come to expect a great run each time.  Kurt worked the bowl every possible way to earn 1st place Grand Masters.

Kelly Lynn cow-punked his way down to olliewood on his new signature model from Soul Trip.

Monty Nolder rock n roll across the hip.

Roger "Ace" DiLorenzo.

Pete Kunz, styling over the channel.

Paul Schmitt ollies the channel into 5th place.  Paul was on fire and stoked to be there. 

Alan Gelfand feeling quite at home.  Blazed into 3rd place.

Will Cox, frontside rox and big Texas plants.

Bill McGee wheelin and dealin.

Binky Conklin, AKA King of the LMC.

Chris Baucom, amazing lip tricks back to back.

Chris Conway worked the bowls smoothly.

David Bonnell, frontside airs, ollies, and switch carved the bowl.

Bruce Mason from north Florida showed control speed, flowing lines and high speed frontside cess slides.

MR (Mike Rogers) Grinds for Life..hey I had to use that line right? 

Merrick Crittenden (one of the two pickle brothers), tore it up just briefly out of his broken shoulder sling.

Rolling in, "Yours Truly" the author, coodinator, father of 3, business owner, and Skateboarder, Steve Marinak.

Contest Results:

 All photos above were contributed by CGL Photos.  Please contact them for purchasing pics.  Thanks!