DIY Riot 2023 | Vans X TITUS present "The Final Chapter?!?"

It was the first and perhaps wildest thunderstorm to hit Germany of 2023. Shorts, old shoes and a rain jacket was the clothing of choice for the first 3 shredders to arrive at the Münster train station at 2am Friday for this year's DIY Riot. Fresh off a 10 hour train ride from Copenhagen was Dannie Carlson, Sören Noe and Takeshi Kageyama.

Straight off an intense best trick win at the CPH Open, now on to tranquil Münster! Mad respect to the guys as we were especially proud to have such top-class riders present for the event. Things fired up even more the next day when Lenni Janssen, Deo Katunga, Tim Zom, Jeroen Bruggeman and some other transition destroyers showed up - Very nice!

One after the other, skaters showed up and since their accommodation is located right near our place, this became something like a “hub” for the next 48 hours. The DIY Riot started as always as a “kick off event” for the Vainstream Festival the following day. Accordingly, the event drew in quite a massive crowd of people to the parking lot bowl.

The contest layout was pretty similar to recent years. First, a bit of “cash for tricks” to get everyone warmed up. Next up, a special challenge with a “45 Years of Titus Hexagon Box” mounted on the lip of the shallow end of the bowl. The pictures show pretty well what went down -  A lot of gnarly tricks! But, the real icing on the cake came out of nowhere from Lenni Janssen with a kickflip backside tailslide! I dare say that he may not have intended to slide the trick, but the sloping box helped him hold a sick back tail straight into a well deserved victory on the obstacle.

The event continued with the infamous barrel jump - Known as a crowd favorite every year. By the nature of the event, some gnarly slams are certainly possible. Chris Hoeve especially proved this to be the case when he pretty much scared the shit out of the paramedics on-site. He tore the skin on both his palms and it looked a bit like he had broken both forearms. However, the 6 (!) paramedics went a bit wild using all their equipment on him (including a rolling stretcher…) and he had to fight vehemently for them not to take him to the hospital. Next year, we may need to provide a bit more of a briefing to the medical staff. Skateboarding is not like soccer! In the end, Deo, Antoni and Chris jumped 10 barrels. Deo had actually done an 11th - but unfortunately slipped away. Nevertheless, 10 barrels was insane and the guys shared the win together!

The Death Race was won by Jason Lijnzaat with an unbelievable 8.06 seconds, a time that others couldn't even come close to. This man just knows how to shred a bowl with speed! Then it was time for the final event - The "Grave Digger Challenge"! Since it was supposed to be the last DIY Riot in THIS Bowl, we had to go out with a bang. What could be more badass than getting a digger to tear down the bowl during the contest?! We first drove the bucket over the spine kicker and then tore down a channel to fly over. What can I say, it worked exactly as planned, even though in retrospect I'm surprised no one did a backside tailslide on the bucket! Regardless, Tim Zom's frontside nosegrind pop out made the crowd go totally wild.

After the (literal) destruction, the spectacle finally came to a close. The greatest possible thanks go to all the skaters, some of whom made really crazy long journeys to attend, the audience, and of course to all the other people involved behind the scenes! Thanks to Stefan, the excavator driver from Nottuln, who maneuvered the beast so masterfully! Next year, we’ll be back with something new to do things bigger and better as always on the Vainstream Festival weekend.