The Rundown - 13th Cardiff Plaza Comp 2023
MikeAnother year, another Plaza Comp done 'n' dusted, another bangin' Harry Deane edit with a 90s dance anthem soundtrack. The 13th did not disappoint.
The sun was shining, the heat was up, the suncream was being lathered. It seemed like summer had shown it's face again and provided all the key ingredients for another great Plaza Comp. Despite a few early audio hiccups due to our resident DJ and AV guru, Al Power, being stuck in Greece (would it really be a Plaza Comp without something going wrong?), everyone refused to be discouraged and our 13th annual Plaza comp was well underway with legends of all shapes and sizes making the final preparations for their runs.
We kicked things off with the Under 16's, who were being judged under the watchful eyes of the resident Plaza locals, the Richards family, including Ru, Jojo and rad dad Ed. With Ru stating he wanted to see bigspins, Louis pulled out a few to take home first place. Something which was particularly rad this year was how many girls were keen to enter, and how they all wanted to skate with the boys as well as having their own contest. Super stoked on this, maybe soon enough we'll have fully integrated comps. Big up the girls!
Stand outs in the Over 16's included Skateboard Academy Sam tearing the park up with his usual marathon lines, before tweaking his ankle in the final run but still managing to pull off a boardslide down the rail after the fact. What a trooper, heal up Sam! Ashley pulled the casual bangers while Dan brought some tech with unconventional style. And of course, the people champ Hemmy got involved and brought the biggest cheers.
Doing away with the jam format for the sponsored, saw us break a 12 times tradition and gave everyone a solo run to attack the plaza. Too many good things to remember (partly due to having already consumed a fair few alcoholic beverages by this time), although Gabe's frontside flip over the quarter hip would be pretty hard to forget. Unsurprisingly though, reigning CSC SOTY, Jack Branch, still managed to take home the gold medal. Now that's what you call a winner.
As always we want to say a massive thank you to everyone who made it down on the day (especially this year when there was so many other bangin' events on!), it always gets us hyped seeing the Cardiff and South Wales skate scene come together. We also want to shout out the Richards family, Bumo and Ian Fernando for filling in as judges, Reuben Mulenga for the bangin' photos (you can check out more on his website) and all the lovely sponsors who donated prizes: Carve Wicked, Caffeine and Krooks, Ace, New Balance Numeric, The National Skateboard Co, Rock Solid, Shiner, Thrasher, Skateboard Cafe, Wayward Wheels, Spit and Sawdust, GX1000, Independent Trucks, Bacareto and The Skateboarder's Companion.
That's enough from us though, you can check out the full results below.
Results
Under 16's
3rd - Elliot Smith
2nd - Meg
1st - Louis Clarke
Girls
3rd - Lowri-Mai
2nd - Lona Gordon
1st - Meg
Over 16's
3rd - Ashley
2nd - Dan John
1st - Sam Horler
Sponsored
3rd - Bummo
2nd - Gabe Gorman
1st - Jack Branch
That's enough chit-chat though. Head to the shop to buy the latest clothing and skateboard decks from CSC. Or, find out more about the latest Cardiff skateboard events on the CSC Blog. Safe.
