After a nearly two-year pause on major skateboard contests, skaters in Des Moines for Dew Tour this week aren’t about to let some rain delays bring the vibe down.
“It’s just great to be back out skateboarding in the world and have a proper event going,” Rune Glifberg said after a heavy session in Men’s Park practice on Tuesday night. “Hopefully, the world is recovering, and we’ll start seeing more events in the very near future.”
Women’s Park competitor Kody Tamanaha said just being outside of Hawaii felt like a win after the way the previous year unfolded.
“It feels surreal because I haven’t traveled in over a year, and then being at a big contest all of a sudden feels even crazier,” she said. “I’m trying not to put crazy expectations on myself on top of all that. I definitely feel pressure, but I’m trying to keep it all in the back of my mind.”
Andrea Benitez, one of the first women to step up to the big Hubba ledges on the Street course in practice on Tuesday, said this feels like a go-for-it kind of week.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for this, like everyone else, and the situation’s been really difficult in Spain: we had a very strict lockdown, so it was hard to skate at all for a while. I’m so excited to be back at it that I’m feeling strong and ready to push myself.”
Tristan Rennie, currently in the #8 position vying for this week’s top-3 cut on the USA Skateboarding team’s Men’s Park squad, said the time off doesn’t seem to have dulled his competitive side.
“I skated in the USA National Championship in Vista, California, two weeks ago, and it’s crazy how quick that contest mindset comes back,” he said. This week he’s been running the numbers, and while he’s a longshot, he believes a win this week could put him back on the path to Tokyo that he started down two years ago. “Dew Tour is a big event with lots of qualification points on the line, so it’s definitely possible. The battle for those points has put an interesting new fire under everybody.”
Even with that big event ahead in the coming months, plenty of skaters here say Dew Tour itself remains a primary objective.
“I kind of bowed out of the Olympic dream and the whole points race early on, but Dew Tour is always a fun one and I’m stoked to be back in the mix to get a little taste of it,” said Men’s Park competitor Clay Kreiner. “I’m just feeling blessed to be around some good skateboarding again. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen half of these guys. It’s been way too long.”
Similarly, Women’s Street competitor Megan Guy said the win for her this week is seeing the many friends she’s made through skateboarding.
“We’re all from all over the world, and getting to a connect at an event like this after everything we’ve all been through is sick,” she said. “This contest is going to be super fun because everybody has had time to take a step back, learn some new stuff, train harder, skate harder. I think we’re going to see that in these two years away from contests, everyone has progressed and grown a lot more than people might be expecting.”
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