Left to right: Magnus Hanson 2nd place, Jeff Marshall 3rd place and Matt Berger 1st place.
Words and Photos: Matt MacLeod
The 2009 Damn Am took place this year at Bonsor skatepark in beautiful Burnaby, British Columbia on Saturday September 19th, after a bowl jam and high ollie contest took place on Friday September 18th. Despite rain in the early morning, it all cleared and dried up by noon, then there was nothing but blue skies.
Magnus Hanson: kickflip frontside board
The contest was set up in a jam format with 3 skaters hitting the street course at once in 7-minute heats. Skaters had to make it through the qualifying round into the semi-finals, and from the semis 12 finalists were chosen.
After every rider displaying amazing consistency and style all over the course in the finals, everyone cruised over to the 9-set area of the park for the best trick contest while the judges were left with the tough decision of filling the podium. For best trick, the skaters had to show what they had on the 9-set/rail and the gap-over-rock or trick-to-rock ride. Dallas Ives took a deserving first place throwing multiple sick tricks down the stairs, on the rail and my personal favorite: his switch frontside 360 over the rail.
Matt Berger: frontside hurricane
Last but not least came the product toss to build up suspense for the announcement of the top 3. All 12 finalists received invitations to the 16th annual Tampa Am on December 3-6 at the Skatepark of Tampa, and the top 2 skaters got some shiny new guitars, an all-expenses paid trip to Tampa Am and a direct spot in the semis at the contest.
1.Matt Berger
2.Magnus Hanson
3.Jeff Marshall
4.Brandon Del Bianco
5.Will Cristofaro
6.Arte Lew
7.Micky Papa
8.Desmond Hoostie
9.TJ Rogers
10.Will Marshall
11.Cory Wilson
12.Adam Fontaine
