The Rundown - CSC Go Skate Day 2022

Sunday saw hordes of skaters descending on Cardiff city centre for our 2022 Go Skate Day event, and it's safe to say this one was an absolute belter. Big up everyone who came down!

We started off at Central to get things rolling with a classic kicker to fence situation that was very quickly set upon by all the ravenous groms, hungry for loudspeaker props and free stickers. After warming up with the barrier tipped on its side, we had to up the ante by standing it upright, presenting a substantial obstruction to be overcome. Despite the oppressive verticality bodies were soon flying over the fence, with Lloyd and Oscar putting down some spectacular grabs before Peej shut it down with a heavy back 180.

Of course it wasn't just a hectic send-it session, we made sure to include some light-hearted games and challenges to give everyone a taste of the further silliness to come. Inspired by Neil Blender's Polarizers, we decided to flip some boards upside down and see if anyone could actually skate them. It turns out that nobody really could, but it was still funny seeing seasoned skaters stumbling about like it was their first time stepping on a board. Of course Lloyd managed to gap from the kicker into a polejam on one but that's just Lloyd.

With the Central session wrapped up, we headed on our merry way to cause a ruckus on the Hayes. Having already scoped out a suitable destination, we posted up outside Queens Arcade to hit up a never-before-skated electrical box. Nobody wasted any time getting onto it and a whole barrage of bangers had been put down before I'd even got my chilli cheese bites. The session showed no sign of slowing down though and the hammers kept coming thick and fast. Proper sick seeing so many of the young guns getting stuck in as well, shout out to Bruno for that bangin' front board.

With all the prizes gone and the electrical box decisively bested, the only place left to go was to the Center of the Universe, Bute Square. We brought down even more kickers, rails, ledges and other goodies and the sesh was on. After a bit of a jam session, the Gaffa unveiled his masterplan for a bunch of hilarious skate-related challenges.

First up, we had our take (well Keen's take, which we promptly stole) on beloved childhood game, 'Hungry, Hungry Hippos'. The challenge saw skaters teaming up in pairs and entering our makeshift ring. One member of the pair had to lie on a board while the other held their legs from outside the ring, kinda like a wheelbarrow race. A load of balls were then dropped in the ring, with the person on the board having to collect as many as possible while the other person controlled their legs. There was definitely some cheating going on and the fact Bute's on a hill didn't really help either, but it was still a good laugh.

Next up, we nicked the Valdez Challenge from the absolute GOAT skate event, Dime's Glory Challenge. We set up a ledge at the bottom of the stairs, which the daring contestants had to gap onto, before gradually moving it further away and eventually adding a rail to the end of it for the extra bit of danger. Gabe Gorman, Jacob Price, and Jojo Richards were absolutely killing it with no fear whatsoever, even daring to chuck a couple of ride-on smith grinds and boardslides on the rail as if the 50 wasn't sketch enough. That was until Gabe got absolutely bodied and we kinda had to call it a day. Fair play to Gabe though, took it like a champ!

Last but not least, we borrowed another idea from Dime: the Volcano Challenge. With the help of our trusty kickers, we set up an Evel Knievel-esque kicker-to-kicker gap over one of the Bute blocks, which we gradually made biggerer and biggerer. Jojo was killing until he took a nasty slam, and it was pretty much all left to PJ and last year's champ, Braydon, to battle it out. The boys managed to get the gap up to an absolutely ludicrous size, but Australia/Merthyr's finest, Braydon, managed to take the cake again. Will anyone ever be able to seize the crown from the reigning king of sketchy gaps? Guess we'll have to wait until next year to find out.

As always massive thank you to everyone for coming down and making it such a sick day, especially everyone who was going hard and putting it down all day - respect! We'll have the full edit online soon so keep your eyes peeled for a visual reminder of the carnage, and hopefully we'll see you all at our next event which will be our legendary Plaza Comp.

That's enough chit-chat though. Head to the shop to browse the latest skateboard decks, clothing, shoes, and more, and buy now from CSC. Or, remind yourself of some of our other events on the CSC Blog. Safe.