Media dump #1 - the photographening

Hi all! here's the first dump of all the facebook media you've been posting - you guys have been posting your media up and here's the first load - there's a lot so it'll be split across 2 posts, just remember to ask permission and credit photographers!
And in no particular order:

Shove-it mag Facebook album #1

Chris Drewery Photography Facebook album

Shaun Bradley Walker's facebook album

Jack Patten Photography Facebook album

Cristina's Facebook album (2nd of 2 i think)

Will Edgecombe's Saturday album

Ian Richardson's Facebook album

Judy Clifton's Facebook album

Judy's Album, part 2 (ie Sunday)

Nearthecoast.com's photos

More to come over the next few days, innit!

The Big Thank You!

I posted a brief list on Facebook but here's the big one!

Firstly, thank you to all the riders, last weekend was freaking awesome (as proved by the buzz on the days, and by the mass of awesome media showing you all having a rad time), and I'm still riding on the stoke. You all rode fantastically, were patient during racing, and made everything go smoothly for each other and for us folks trying to herd you around the venue. Your attendance makes these events possible. Looking forward to seeing you all again in July!

Second: The organisers and the volunteers! thanks guys for helping us out: you know who you are, you all got some rad stuff from the event, and plenty of gratitiude. Normally we need about 8-10 volunteers across the course of the weekend, with perks ranging from drinks and a sarnie to the whole weekend free (!) alongside some merch.

Third:

• Hargreaves Scout Camp - thanks for letting us stay (thanks campers for keeping it tidy) 
• St John's Ambulance for patching you guys up when you decinded to hug the ground at high speed
• And of course, Redbridge Cycle Centre for being so accommodating of all us dirty skaters! Cheers again guys!

Fourth: Sponsors!

Thanks to everyone who put swag into the pot, turned up with demo boards and helped out by turning up with shops. In no specific order:

• One Tree Boards - Fantastic boards for top podium places, hours of love and paint made three gorgeous boards and a load of sweet tees and sticker packs - watch out for more in the future
• Arbor - Late in the game but showing up with a ton of demo boards, offering up gloves wheels copies of grade and posters, a big thanks to Lyndsay for sorting us out!
• Longboards UK - Not only has the London based shop sorted us out with three sets of wheels, 2 sets of trucks and 1 set of bearings, but helped DAS Industries buy the two manual pads you saw on the hill. Expect more variants of them in the future: we're going to try making them into flatbanks for g-turns next time!
• Mindless Longboards - you saw me riding around on one of their boards (pintails for life!), and they chucked us a pile of wheels, bearings and trucks (in quantities of 3,2,2), with a couple of bits that you'll see crop up inn other DAS events in the future.
• Kryptonics put some wheels up for testing on the slide hill - stateside riders use both the blue and greens for freeride. We saw wheels going to riders across all disciplines
• BTR put forward some coins so that everyone at the campsite could have a bit of a picnic. Nice one!
• Seismic - Providing Slalom race spreadsheets every time, Dan at Seismic keeps the UKSSA on track and stops them from bickering about that final 0.01 seconds.
• Octane Sport - Supporting Slalom and Sliding, sweet wheels, a G&S board and some threads made their way out to some lucky riders. Octane also provided timing gear and ramps to complete the slalom ensemble, alongside running the octane mobile shop!
• Grip Shack - Grip went into the prize pot, but inundated with gear, we saved it up for go skateboard day (Notts Edition), and future DAS Stuff
• Newton's shred chucked in some wheels and a complete D-Street board for the 1st place in the open category.Attending with their shop and plenty of wares and advice, it was great to catch up with the guys.
• Thrill mag support all DAS events through free ads in the mag (sadly no longer in print) and soon to be free ads on the website! keep checking back for news on the UK scene
• Dangerous Decks unfortunately couldn't attend, but Pete Davies, repping dangerous luge tech and the UK open Lunge championships came along, and made some sweet racing happen, with a trophy taken by a brand new street luger to Hog Hill
  

Aaaaaand I think that's it! Please check out all the sponsors on facebook, and help them help us. 

Fifth: Keep that media coming! Media dumps coming sooooon!

Sixth: See you in 6 weeks(ish for the Summer Swine Stomp!

Peace, love and skateboarding,

Timmy :)

Sponsor Spotlight: Newton's and Octane

There'll be two shops on site this weekend: Michael Stride's long-standing scene-supporting skate store Octane Sport and Newton's Shred, with Alex and Kami gunning it around the country to hang out with mates and skate hills on the latest gear.

Octane Sport

Rooted in the history of UK slalom, octane sport has been around possibly the longest of any uk longboard store, Octane sponsor at least the slalom and regularly chuck prizes in for all kinds of activities,alongside keeping the ramps safe and maintaining the timing gear Michael built himself. The shop contains a fantastic range of gear - everything from flatland freestyle and old skool pool boards through to the latest offerings from the big brands. If you need something, Octane probably has it or something similar; for those of you out there looking for roger bros visors for your bell drop helmets, this is the shop to check out. There's always discounts on the weekend, so bring some cash!

Newton's Shred
With a more focused range of products, Newton's boasts the fact it's had its riders test pretty much everything it sells; an active downhill division means that all the products get a thrashing. Alex spends his Saturday afternoon getting groms up to speed in the famous crystal palace park. Alex and the shop have been involved from the beginning of the downhill element of Hog Hill, over five years ago! Both Alex and Kami's passion for downhill and freeride are contagious, go have a chat and see what they've got, or have a punt at the downhill races and win some of the swag they're putting in.

Campsite

Please remember to take a look through the campsite rules just here: http://crackling2015.blogspot.co.uk/p/accopmmodation.html
The site is a Scout Camp and we should respect their regulations accordingly. This includes the NO ALCOHOL rule. Aaaarghhh!

For those of you who've been before, you know that it's a great place to stay, is pretty close to the race site and there's a Miller and Carter pub about a mile and a half out back (Aldborough Road North, Ilford, IG2 7TD).

We very much want to keep the site manager happy because we'll be back here again in July for the Summer Swine Stomp!

Registration Alert

Online sign-up will close on the evening of Wednesday 20th May, but don't worry, you can still turn up and pay on the day.

Folks who have prepaid will be able to jump the queue at Registration.

Do check out our sponsors and hit the coffee shop if the registration queue is looking a bit too long!

Sponsor Spotlight: Kryptonics

Kryptonics

There's been some criticism of Kryptonics recently: They don't wear out fast enough, they don't flat spot. Apparently this is what goes for criticism in the world of wheels. Well, I'm sorry if your reasonably priced wheels last longer, cost less and perform better over time than their competitors!

Not only are they so robust people complain about them, Kryptonics have been developing a new, white formula. This is mystical stuff happening here (read: years of applied materials science and rider input), and rumours are they're better than your current red/green/blue offerings (I assume they mean a better all round wheel rather than one that cores instantly), and that we'll have a set of them as a prize before the year's out! Watch this space for those elusive white ones!

Meanwhile on the weekend, UK ambassador Rob Ashby will have a set of blues and a set of greens for you guys to try to ruin! How's that for for a challenge!

Sponsor Spotlight: Dangerous Decks

Dangerous decks will be presiding over a number of things at the Crackling: Mini Motos, as ever, will be present, armed and lethal and The IFCRA (international freeride cake racing association) will be presiding over Round One of the Hog Hill Buttboard 2015 championships. The ever elusive cage-luger/street-fighter (I think I got that right) Will Stephenson is still working away in his secret dangerous lab, so check out what they've got to offer, and support another UK-made longboard brand!

Sponsor Spotlight: Pavel Skates

Pavel Website 

Pavel have for a long time made slalom boards. When longboarding was in its rennaisance in the late 90's and early 00's it was still hacking at trees with flint compared to Pavel, standing among them like that obelisk in 2001: a space oddessy. These boards have used composites for a long time, and use them fantastically well - ultra light weight boards with a high strength high quality carbon fibre skin make these board look and feel amazing, if maybe a bit short for dancing! Once again, check out the slalom side of things to see these beautiful boards in action on the hill; they also make pool, park street and more recently downhill boards. check out the website for the later; if you want tog et hold of them in the UK, the shop to talk to is Octane Sport -  check out their slalom colab:

Check out Octane sport for photos of the shape and concave
and to get a better look at the shiny carbon fibre!

Sponsor Spotlight: BTR Leathers

BTR on FB. Clicky, likey.

Ras at BTR has long been a helper in the UK scene, a catalyst shouting “Engorilee!!” at us as we chase round corners. Although we're still working out if there'll be any BTR prizes, Ras's leathers deserve a mention, as a UK skate company making it happen. Ras' leathers are now worn by most of the UK riders who ride big hills or internationally, so if you're thinking of going fast check him out!

Ras will be helping around the track and generally encouraging you to best yourselves, so go say hi if you see him about

Ras looks like this, enthusiastic!

Sponsor Spotlight: Longboards UK

http://www.longboardsuk.com/

Longboards UK still maintain one of the best-stocked physical shops in London when it comes to boards, and an enviable range online to accompany it. With a branch in Brighton they cover two of the UK's longboarding hotspots. They sell a huge range of boards, from budget beginner offerings all the way up to the top end freeride machines, and are always there to help you find something in your price range. They're an ace shop to stop by and say hi to and always well stocked with bearings and hardware (and street decks fr those of you interested). A lot of impulse buys have become active longboarders because of the physical shops. Kudos guys for keeping the physical stores and weathering them through a tough recession, and thanks for sponsoring us again this year! 

PS: they also sell slacklines for those of you who want to up your balance, and cocktail flairing stuff for those who want to worsen it!

A snapshot of their website - check it out. I'm pretty sure that's not all the brands the stock.

Sponner Spotlight: Thrill Magazine

www.thrillmagazine.com for the website, check out your local WH Smiths/longboard stockist for a physical copy

Thrill Magazine have supported Hog Hill events (and the scene as a whole) with both advertising/coverage for Hog Hill and physical support since Thrill's inception 10 issues or 3 years back. Thanks to them, the Hog Hill events reach a much bigger crowd, bringing the community closer together and catching all those stragglers who might not otherwise get stuck into the UK scene. Thrill spend their time covering UK events, keeping you guys updated on products and happenings, and being there to document the growing UK scene, and importantly, supporting those who push to grow it. They also feature content created by you, whether it be instagrams (#thrillmag or #thrillmagazine), drawings, crew features, articles or anything else you want to send in (opinion, comments, cakes, but not chip shop reviews; Skateboard phil may get angry ;) ) F'rexample check out this edit from last year's Swanage sessions. Get involved like thrill has and help push your local scene!

Sponsor Spotlight: Slide Perfect

Slideperfect

Slide Perfect had a successful debut last year, selling something like 30 sets of wheels over the course of a single Hog Hill event after their launch over the summer. This year they're back again with the next iteration of unique wheels pioneered by Bodhi and his team of dedicated riders. There's not much more to say about these wheels – if you haven't heard of them yet, you will probably get to try a set (if not win some) at the Crackling. They grip, they slide, they perform with the best of the big name brands and you'll be supporting another UK longboard company when you get a set.  

Bodhi does some skating. Photo nicked from his website.

Sponsor Spotlight: One Tree Longboards

It's difficult to mention One Tree Longboards without mentioning the Greenwich Groms. The two go hand in hand, One Tree with a seemingly endless supply of custom painted decks, and a voracious pack of shredders both representing and consuming them. One Tree Boards are dedicated to getting those custom pieces of art out to shredders around the UK for a very reasonable price, stoking the scene on good quality hand painted decks. Watch out for the custom graphics for the Crackling – the boards for Fumble in the valley were awesome, I can't wait to see what they come up with for us!

Check them out on Facebook:

One Tree Longboards

Return of: Fumble boards by One Tree. Photo nicked from Tom Cambell

Sponsor Spotlight: Mindless longboards

Mindless longboards

Haraka 66mm wheels. Green is the fastest colour.

Mindless longboards have provided us with a ton of talisman trucks, voodoo bearings and a variety of wheels over the last few years – voodoo bearings being the UK's cheapest readily-available built-ins and a mainstay of a lot of riders. Talisman trucks see the use of a ball pivot, meaning none of that pivot cup mashing from your street skating days alongside a precision of turn not seen with the low price you can't get much better for an all-round RKP. Also, if you want a wheel for your town cruiser or shredder that'll grip anything I recommend anything in 66mm 78a – their Mojo formula on a wheel this small means it eats roughness rather than slowing you down.

Mindless have been working hard with well known rider and genuine rad dude James Allen, who's been representing regularly at the Hog Hill events and helping push some up-to-date shapes; every time you look back at the Mindless website there's a new something, either a fantastically priced new shape in their classic range or their brand new "black edition" lakota DT board. We'll definitely be seeing some Mindless gear appearing in our prize pots, hopefully we'll see some of the Mindless team ripping it up on the day!

Mindless Nyoka - reminiscent of the DK Penguin, but much cheaper!
Freestyle anything and everything.

Sponsor Spotlight - Seismic Skate Systems

Dan Gesmer, Founder of Seismic Skate Systems, has been a supporter of the Hog Hill racing scene since it's inception in 2008.

For the finest Slide, Slalom, Dance, Downhill, LDP, Freeride, Ramp, Bowl and Street product - Dan's your man:

http://www.seismicskate.com/

Subscribe to the Seismic Youtube Channel and see how far you can stretch his kit:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEACPux4vDA4EoRunj3XNMQ

Our mission is to use the most advanced materials and engineering technologies to radically enhance the riding experience of everyone who wants to skate, however they choose to do it – all at an affordable price. We want to broaden the technical and stylistic potentials of all skateboarders, and to make skateboards accessible as tools of transportation and self-expression to the widest possible audience.

Hog Hill Events 2015 Poster

Thrill Magazine's Video Review of The Crackling 2014

For those of you who don't know what goes on, take a quick look at this:

Thanks to the Team at Thrill Magazine for this film

Mindless Longboards review of The Crackling 2014

http://www.mindlesslongboards.com/mindless-longboards-the-crackling-review-james-allen/

Our man James Allen was at The Crackling this weekend. He sent over this writeup:

"The Crackling was a great weekend. We arrived Saturday afternoon with high hopes for the weather to stay nice, as the track was drying and there was little to no rain in sight. So straight away I picked a spot to park my stuff, and joined the queue of other eager skaters ready to sign up, pay up, pad up and skate. 

After setting up my board and getting ready, I went for a few freeride runs to familiarise myself with the smooth but grippy terrain we were to be skating for the weekend. I had a couple of good warm up runs, skating with a few familiar faces, and meeting new ones, which is the good thing about these events, meeting people and and skating with pals. But just as everyone had warmed up and was having fun, Hog Hill lived up to its reputation and it started to hail/rain, and didn't stop for at least 2 hours, leaving most people sat inside chatting and eating. A few others embraced the weather and skated the hill anyway, making the most of their time at the hill. 

As the day drew to a close, people packed their things and readied themselves for the campsite and the night ahead. I however had the luxury of staying with a couple of pals in a fantastic "Motorcottage" which included a comfortable and dry bed, and a cooked meal to end the day right.

The next morning we woke early to get ourselves up to the hill, ready to set ourselves up for a full day of skating, with full confidence in the weatherman telling us we had a full day of sunshine.

The day started with freeriding, letting those who had signed up to race, practice a few more runs before the racing commenced. Meanwhile, the slalom enthusiasts were setting up and doing their thing but the majority of the action was concentrated on the GS hill where the Slide Jam was being held.

All the skaters, myself included, crowded around Jorge as he bellowed his rules through the megaphone, and generally getting us all stoked, laughing and ready to have fun. As the Jam went on, I noticed the skill of some of the guys was incredible, not only making it tough for everyone up against them, but also for the judges to pick the winners. I felt privileged to be chosen among the 10 finalists, and as we each took our final runs, the crowds cheered and the judges picked their five favourite guys, and they deserved it with such awesome skating. Well done dudes! 

After having such a great time on the slide hill, more fun was to be had elsewhere, as we swapped our slide wheels for something with a bit more grip, some headed over to the slalom cones and some to the race hill where the racing was about to begin. I was feeling nervous, since it was my first race, so I drank a whole can of Red Bull right before my heat, which probably wasn't a good idea, but I thought it would help with the nerves. A number of races had gone by, and I was feeling good and ready for my next heat, having done better than I'd expected in my previous two. We lined up, and on go we pushed, and it was a good start for me as I was toward the front of the pack, but as soon as we hit the chicane, another racer and I collided sending us both flying off our boards and then those knocking off the other skaters, leaving just the leader of the pack headed for an easy win. We all got up to race for the finishing line, except the guy I had collided with as he had an injury and unfortunately couldn't finish. Get well soon buddy!

The races carried on for the rest of the afternoon, with minimal injuries thankfully, but lots more fun as the racing dwindled down to the finals with a fast and intense last race to please everybody.

The end of the day consisted of the crazy Mini Moto races, which unfortunately I missed because I forgot to sign up, and then everybody's favourite part, the PRIZES!! Which included lots of scrambling of goodies and the rewards for the winners of the day. These included prizes from Mindless Longboards, Newton's Shred, Octane Sport and so many others.

All in all it was an amazing weekend for everyone.

A BIG thanks goes out to all those involved with putting the event on and

I hope to see you all again soon.

Stay Rad!"

Below are a few pictures of James in action! 

MRM Photography | Photographer

MRM Photography | Photographer

MRM Photography | Photographer

Natasha Dawson | Photographer

Sam Holding | Photographer