Germans love the Netherlands - at least all the skateboarders I know. Whether it’s the ridiculously high number of skateparks, amazing street spots, or coffee shops where you can buy more than just coffee, these are all great reasons to visit our neighboring country. Nevertheless, in sports there has always been a level of “competitiveness” between us. Well, maybe not necessarily in skateboarding, but in most other sports. While skaters seem to have a way of getting along with each regardless of where you come from, there's nothing wrong with a little good spirited rivalry on our skateboards. So on the last weekend of September 2021, we were invited to such a duel at "Skatepark de Fabriek" in Enschede!
Created by T. Gentsch |
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Germany vs The Netherlands Contest | Skatepark "De Fabriek" Enschede
Who is gonna kick whoms ass?
While just three German riders were present at the first of this contest in 2019, the event was to be lifted to new heights after a year's break from Corona. With Titus as a co-sponsor alongside the City of Enschede (Yes, in Holland, cities also donate to such events) it made sense to send a big squad of Titus riders to Holland. So, pretty much all riders from Titus Münster as well as a sizable crew of Titus Tornados and Titus Skateboards riders made their way to Enschede on Saturday morning to show the Dutch who are the better contest skaters!
After a little shopping, everyone headed to the park to get as much practice as possible. Gino and Reece immediately turned up the heat by blasting some tricks over the pyramid that others would have reserved for the best trick event. It all looked pretty good, but the Dutch grenades weren't there yet. When Jason, Bart and Bert entered the park, there was reason to be intimidated as a representative of Germany. These guys can just skate everything so well that everyone knew it was going to be a close contest
First, the six best Germans and six best Dutchmen were selected according to a typical "run format". Here, the whole thing still looked relatively balanced with seemingly every Dutchman having front noseblunt slides down the handrail on lock. Deniel Cramer surprised with a stay-on run as did Bart Wilmink, who raised the level of tricks pretty damn high. The final was contested by the three best riders of each country. On the German side were Gino Körner, Reece Knobloch and Christoph Radtke. They faced Bart Buikman, Bart Wilmink and Jason Lijnzaart.
Whether it was the pressure of the event or perhaps simply the lack of energy from such a long day of shredding - the guys hardly had a chance. Gino managed only one trick as well as Reece and Christoph who just couldn’t seem to keep up. The Dutch competition, on the other hand, put on a great show which inevitably and deservedly led to victory. Spurred on by this, Gino was able to activate his last reserves in the best trick contest and flew diagonally over the pyramid with a huge ghetto bird and big flip. Here, it became clear how much of this contest was “only on paper” when it came to competitiveness as the Dutch greatly celebrated Gino. Many thanks to Kees Jacobs from "De Fabriek" Skatepark, Mathijs Tromp and all the riders from Germany and the Netherlands who took part in this battle! But let it be known, revenge will come!