scattered building saying things like Cheese rolling factory. In the middle of the site they had a ramp set up for the FMX and close by were the dirt jumps and a mini mega ramp they had named the Goliath. Which consisted of a 10 meter rollin, big box jump and a 14 foot quarter at the end. At one side they had the main stage for the bands and a public street course, on the other were 3 or 4 rides and some typically over priced food stands. The burger I had was good though.
As you'd expect it didn't take long for the rain to come down and on the friday evening we piled into the main building for street practice. The course was set out well with something for everyone to ride and endless transfer possibilities. In a matter of minutes the course was packed with riders, preferably training the 2 jumpboxes set in a row. After practice we went to check out what terrible bands were playing on the main stage, then retired to our room at a nearby travel lodge. What! did you think I was gonna camp in the rain with a bunch of bmxers getting loose?
After recharging our batteries and lots of sugar for breakfast we headed back. Saturday was more of the same with the rain switch being flicked on and off but inbetween the showers and the who got with who last night stories, the Goliath ramp qualifying got underway. Not many riders tried out for this event and seeing some of the slams I'm not surprising. I think most of the guys who tried out were just happy enough to make it through with a clean run. But on it with super consistency was little 13 year old Nicholi Rogatkin, whipping and spinning his little 18 inch bike all over the place with the crowd going nuts. With not much to do till the street 
qualifying that evening we went to chill out in the relentless lounge that was set up for the riders. It had a bar, xbox360 consoles, an upstairs with sofa's and even a masseuse tent. Also free sandwiches and relentless for the athletes. After that we went to see some of the MX guys and listen to the announcer constantly remind us where we were, you know just in case we forgot.
So on to the street qualifying and each rider had 1 minute to strut their stuff. Not sure exactly how many guys were riding, but I wasn't the only one as it was badly organised it almost cost Dan Mcguire and Ryan Winterbotham their chance to qualify. Ryan who rode last had to deal with other people running and riding around the course during his run, not cool. But despite that you could tell that the final was going to be good tomorrow. 
First to pick up the pace was Craig Stevens who was trying to tap a thin metal pillar past a deck and backrail. Max Wood and Lima were catching serious height with style to go with it, Sam Ward was gapping all over the place and little Nicholi fired out a flipwhip over the big box landing smooth enough to whip the second. A few more highlights for me was Scott Ditchburns' no hander to icepick grind and watching Luke Towey getting tec with tricks like front peg slide to fakie to full cab to half cab barspin. But the trick of the evening had to be from Phillip Larkin with a 360 flip over the second box on his second try.
As sunday rolled around we checked out of our now ant infested hotel room due to Clarkie leaving a box of yum yums on the side and got an earlier start to the day as the street course was publicly opened for everyone to ride from 9am till 11am. It was good to have a go on the course and I didn't witness any bad collisions despite a few guys being too cool to wear their helmets. By the time we were finished riding we noticed most of the campers were packed up and ready to leave as there were no more bands playing that evening and in an even better twist the sun came out in full force and was out to stay. So the Goliath and dirt finals got the green light. 
First up was the Goliath finals with Bas Keep boosting the hell out of the 14 footer and Ronnie Surridge rolling those wild 360's over the gap that they moved back a couple more feet for the final. Nikholi wasn't looking as dialed in as the day before but 360 double whipped the gap and dabbed a foot, absolutely crazy. Sam Ward was yet again going huge but it was Scott Hamlin who took the win with a massive front flip over the gap to equally big flair way out of the coping landing completely flat bottom. How the hell he kept his feet on I haven't a clue. 
The dirt was set out as follows, rollin to first jump, then a hip to roller and a big step up for the last jump. Not to much went down on the dirt but lots of boosting and flow from the likes of Robbo with a 360 whip on the last set, Variations and trick on every jump from Dan Mcgeary and with the win was Bob Manchester with some hugh flips over the first and last jumps. 
After a long weekend it was finally time for the main event, the street finals and it did not disappoint. This time around it was set in jam format with 21 riders qualifying 8 groups of 2 or 3 riders had a 5 minute run between them. And it went off.I'll start with the youngest Del Shepherd at 12 years old, throwing a 360 double whip over the second box. Ryan Winterbotham got the biggest flair award after going way above backrail on the biggest quarter situated in the middle of the course that had been christened the elvis. Martin Tamblin 540 tapped said quarter and did a tailwhip to icepick on another super clean. Max Wood was back with hugh 360 tucks over the first box. Shaun Mccraken was on his game landing everything with precision. Shaun Haddington came out blasting with a variation I've never seen before, no foot can to seat stand tyre grab but his run was quickly ended after trying to tailwhip gap over the elvis, second go he caught the whip perfect but slammed hard into the railings and on his third go it was game over. He landed hard and his headtube
exploded breaking his bike into 2 pieces. Sam Ward came out with a hugh tuck no hander gap but ended up suffering a similar fate to Shaun after also trying to whip the elvis gap, hurting his leg. Hope those dudes are ok. Scott Ditchburn brought his street moves with an up rail to 360 and a 540 drop off. Ed Williams was stylish and pulled out an xup pass through to turndown over box number 2. In at third place was top qualifier Lima who threw down his tricks higher than anyone. Massive 360 intables, barspin to table and a clicked bunnyhop turndown clearing the whole driveway. Second place was Leon Perkins bringing an xup flair on the elvis, an alleyoop flair gapping up onto a raised shallow quarter and trying what looked like a sprocket stall on the elvis backrail, no small feat. With first place was Larry Lomoty, the guy was charging it with a onslaught of trick after trick. 360 whipped the first box, 720'd the second and 360 canadian footjamed the quarter after. Tailwhip to opposite footjam and ended his run on a tailwhip to backrail fufanu. They held a small ceremony for the winners and the top 10 riders each got a cash prize. 
Buzzing from the event and now sunburnt it was time for us to pack up and head home. Going purely on street finals I will definitely be back next year. Dirt Results: 1. Bob Manchester 2. Tom Robinson (Robbo) 3. Dan Mc geary
Goliath Results: 1. Scott Hamlin 2. Baz Keep 3. Sam Ward 4. Ronnie Surridge 5. Nicholi Rogatkin
Street Results: 1. Larry Lomoty 2. Leon Perkins 3. Lima 4. Sam Ward 5. Martin Tamblin 6. Scott Ditchburn 7. Shaun Mccraken 8. Shaun Haddington 9. Ryan Winterbotham 10. Nicholi Rogatkin
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.