PHOTO OP: CLASH! LISBON EXTREME SHOW 08

DATE: October 17-19, 2008
LOCATION: Lisbon, Portugal
WORDS: Paulo Martins
PHOTOS: As credited.

The first edition of The CLASH! Lisbon Extreme Show went down in Lisbon, Portugal a few weeks ago.
The idea was to create a space that brought together all the activities, lifestyles and subcultures related to action sports in the new millennium, including skate, surf, bodyboard, kitesurf, windsurf, snowboard, parkour, BMX, music, street art and urban culture. It was a stacked weekend, with tons of events happening from start to finish, including the first Hell Track BMX Freestyle Jam.

The organization invited 15 riders to compete in a jam format that take just about two hours on each day of the event. The remainder of the time, anyone with a BMX bike was welcome to ride the course. It was definitely not a classically structured comp by any stretch of the imagination. It also allowed time for all of the uninvited riders in attendance to ride the course, and I can definitely say that a lot of good stuff went down throughout the weekend.

In the end, the jam commenced among a friendly “contest” atmosphere, with everyone together, ahving fun and laughing. There were 15 riders technically competing, but they were also having fun doing it. And in the end, Xavier Ortega (Spain) took first, Daniel Serra (Portugal) too second, and Ruben Alcantara (Spain) took third. The prize money was divided slightly different from the norm as well. The 15 riders divided the purse, with specific prizes for different categories, such as best trick over the jump box, best trick done, best trick on the wall, best hip trick, the best trick on the spine, etc.

Despite occasional rain showers, the weekend was a huge success, and I can only look forward to next year’s Clash! Lisbon Extreme Show, not to mention the Hell Track Jam…