Kimberley’s Boipelo thrashes her way to skateboard tournament win

KIMBERLEY junior skate sensation Boipelo Awuah took top honours at the weekend when she participated in the women's section for the second instalment of the Street Lines Skate Tournament held at Pretoria’s Thrashers Park on Saturday.

Organiser Ryan van der Spuy reported that the second Street Lines Skate Tournament presented by LW Mag and Dragon Energy in association with Dickies, Garmin and GoPro saw skaters from various parts of the African continent converge to compete in the tournament that saw Moses Adams and Boipelo Awuah taking top honours in the men’s and women’s divisions respectively.

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A total of 70 skateboarders – 15 women and 55 men – battled it out in the qualifying rounds, vying for their chance to impress the judges and score enough points to make it through to the finals.

Skaters were pitted against each other in two 45-second runs per competitor with the top scoring run counting. The judges took consistency, difficulty, style and use of the park into account when making their decisions of who should advance.

Six women and 15 men ultimately made the cut and competed for their share of the R40,000 prize purse that also included Garmin Instinct 2 Smartwatches and Dickies apparel.

The finals saw each skater take part in a further two 45-second run heats before moving into four ‘Best Trick’ attempts, with the top scoring run and top three best tricks counting towards their final score.

In the women’s division, Olympian and defending Street Lines champion, Boipelo Awuah of Kimberley skated to victory once again showcasing her skill and talent throughout the skatepark.

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Her run included a Noseslide on the down rail, Backside 180 on the pyramid, Front Boardslide on the flat bar, Backside 50-50 on the ledge, Fakie Half Cab to Regular and a Crooked Grind.

Event newcomer, Rebecca Wyborn of Johannesburg, put on a brilliant challenge landing a Boardslide on the down rail, a Pop Shove-It over the hip, early Garb on the spine, a Boardslide to flat and an Ollie down the stair set to finish just behind Awuah in second place.

Natalie Bramley of Kimberley rounded off the podium in third place with a Nollie 360 Shove-It, Axel Stall, 50-50 on the ledge, 180 onto the Pyramid and a Boneless put into her run.

When asked about this year’s tournament, Awuah said, “This win means a lot to me and shows me that I’m still capable at performing at that level, and the tricks I was able to do I am very happy with. I was super excited coming into this competition and everything was how I expected it to be, great energy and atmosphere.

“Rebecca (Wyborn) impressed me a lot with her consistency, she’s still very young and I feel in the future she’ll definitely be a challenge and that’s exciting for me as well,” she added.

As the men’s finals kicked off rainfall rolled in resulting in an unsafe park to compete on. The event officials deliberated and the decision was made to call off the rest of the competition and take the earlier qualifying results as the final call for the podium finishers.

Moses Adams (Cape Town) found himself in first place after putting down an impressive qualifying run stacked with big and difficult tricks like the Nollie Crooked Grind, Flip Rock to Fakie, Switch Front Boardslide, Switch Tailslide, Tre Flip and a Switch Smith Grind.

Jamie de Villiers (KwaZulu-Natal) was on form linking together trick after trick that featured a Smith Grind, Back Lipslide on the rail, Feeble Back Lipslide, Back Tailslide, Tre Flip and a Kickflip Front Boardslide to finish in second place.

Khule Ngubane (KZN), who finished third looked to be a favourite to take the overall lead and had a good chance of doing so had the finals taken place.

Ngubane’s qualifying run included a Frontside Lipslide, Backside Lipslide, Bigspin Front Boardslide, Nollie Lipslide, Blunt to Fakie, Half Cab Flip, Feeble Back Lipslide and Bigspin Front Boardslide in his qualifying run.

Marcelino Rodrigues (Cape Town) who was solid throughout the day was awarded Skater of the Day and took home the new GoPro HERO11 Black.

Street Lines organiser, Ryan van der Spuy said, “Skateboarding is a massively growing and diverse sport in South Africa and to have so many athletes come out to compete is something we are incredibly proud of.

“Everyone stepped up their game this year resulting in an exciting and closely-fought tournament, especially in the women’s division where we saw a lot of progression. We can’t thank our event partners, the competitors and fans enough for the support and making Street Lines the premier skateboarding event it has become.”

Additional reporting: Neville Mothlabakwe