by Daniel Becht/ Marcel Schmelzer
A world class sport where comradeship is more important than winning. Extreme sports at international level and two days of pure action could be marveled at in the nation’s capital last weekend.
The Street Session 2008 draws the balance: 6,500 visitors – twice as many as in the previous year – and a total of 15,000 fans at this year’s three sessions of the most successful series of extreme sports events in Europe. The fans were captivated by riders from more than 16 different countries and from all continents.
And the enthused fans are not exclusively from the regions around Berlin. Almost 1/3 of all visitors made a trip of over 100 kilometers, says Kirsten Hauk, spokesperson of T-Mobile X-treme Playgrounds.
The riders know of the advantages of Berlin, as well, and are glad to come to the capital. Chad Kagy, winner of this year’s BMX half pipe competition, makes a point: „This vibrant city with its incredible history never ceases to amaze me“ (Tagesspiegel, „Mein Berlin“).
The best skateboarders and BMX riders of the international lineup advanced into the finals in the two disciplines of Street and Halfpipe during the World Cup Skateboarding event yesterday and showed spectacular tricks and diversified runs.
The swedish duo Sugarplum Fairy and their fellow skatepunk countrymen „No Fun At All“ heated up the masses between the finals. And on Sunday it was finally there: The greatest punk rock band of all times, The Offspring, entered the arena. In good old festival manner, the waving masses celebrated their heroes after an abstinence from Berlin stages of 5 years, including „Self Esteem“, pogo and stage diving and shook the foundation of the Velodrom. Despite stars like „The Offspring“, the organizers are not yet considering to leave the Velodrom and move elsewhere. Kirsten Hauk sees the Velodrom as a hall of „healthy size“ for the Street Session.
While the traces of the Street Session are still being cleaned up in the Velodrom, the organizers are already turning their attention to the next round of extreme sports in 2009, when the T-Mobile Extreme Playgrounds will continue with the Dirt Session with BMX dirt jump and mountainbike slopestyle on April 19 in Duisburg and the Summer Session with wakeboard cable and BMX mini-ramp in Hamburg on August 29/30. The series will certainly be back in Berlin; planning for the Street Session 2009 has already begun. The resolution for the event series of 2009 has already been made, too: Remember to be action-sporting about it!
