Maryhill Showdown at The Loops 2016 (EVENT RECAP)

Words: Khaleeq Alfred Photos: Khaleeq Alfred, Jake Grove & Joe Carlson

This past weekend, June 21st-25th, brought an oldie but goodie back. Maryhill returned to us this year as Showdown at the Loops, organized by the Maryhill Ratz and headed by Deano. The usual Luge, Open, Woman’s, Juniors, and masters divisions were ran, with the addition of an uphill push race and inline skating, all taking place on the 24th and 25th.

While the event was small in attendance, with only 90 riders and a handful of volunteers, it still consisted of tight and fast skating. The 2 mile long classic located in Goldendale, WA started off with two days of freeriding, then the third day held timed qualifying runs, and the fourth day head to head racing to secure a spot for the final day of racing. The top riders in every division proceeded to race for the cash purse on the finals day.

Rolling into the Showdown this year was both exciting and shocking. Maryhill is a downhill dream course packed with good buddies and chill vibes. You can never not have a rad time at this spot. However, what came as a surprise to me once I was out of the van, is that the layout of the tent village had changed; there was very little taking place compared to the previous year’s festival, and the event had a much mellower feeling. Dean and the ratz started from scratch this year, but still managed to pull in the attraction and love all over again; the turnout was small but impactful.

As most regular racers and spectators know, Maryhill’s heat is no joke. The scorching weather heats up the track and really forces the riders to push themselves. Oddly, we were graced with cool temperature this year. While the weather was in the racers favor, heats were still stacked and tight with powerful competitors. With close racing and the drive to win, this event maintained its competitive reputation. That said, the event held few controversial heats as compared to last year’s, and those that were addressed were worked out and racing was kept clean.

The showdown at the Loops drew a total of around 90 riders, 68 of which participated in the open division. Frank Williams pulled the win in Luge and Emily Pross came back to lock in her win streak in the women’s division. With three riders crashing in the last turn in the Junior’s final, Knox Heslop took the win. After 4 rounds of racing in the open division and every heat stacked with amazing riders, the Brazilians dominated to podium with Max Ballesteros in first place.

All in all, showdown at the Loops lived up to be a rad event and well organized. We were stoked to make it out to the loops once again and this event definitely carries the potential to grow and evolve in the years to come.

Results:

Junior’s

1. Knox Heslop

2. Niky Matousek

3. Dylan Shrimpton

Woman’s

1. Emily Pross

2. Victoria Waddington

3. Candy Dungan

Open

1. Max Ballesteros

2. Thiago Gomes Lessa

3. Carlos Paixão

Thank You’s:

The Maryhill Ratz would like to give thanks: “Thank you to all of the skaters from around the world! Thank you to all of the volunteers that helped during the race!

Thank you to this year’s sponsors: Moonshine Mfg, Bustin Boards, The Polyboards Project, The City of Goldendale, Ronin Trucks, Sector 9, Daddies Board Shop, Loaded Longboards, Goldendale Chamber of Commerce, Rider Approved Designs, The Ponderosa Motel, Orangatang Wheels, The Skate School and The Maryhill Museum of Art.

We cannot do this without your support.

Thank you to Bustin Boards for bringing a 2×4- winner takes all- event to the race! That was quite a sight to see people riding a 2×4 down Maryhill! Huge Thank you to the media… Thanks for the rad shots!

Thanks to Dawn, Robin, Carole, and ‘IDF man’ Colin for running the “business” part of the Showdown! The event started on time and finished on time due to all of your hard work!

The biggest Thanks go out to the Ratz crew! I don’t even know how to express the proper amount of gratitude I have! This crew of men and woman put out hay, watched corners, cleaned the course, put of “fires” (Figuratively and not literally), and ran the event when the Leader took a fall and broke his hip! There is so much more that this Ratz Crew did that I have a hard time remembering it all!

Brendon, Randy, Chris, Bradley, Nate, Jon-Erik, JD, Eric, Cody, Joanna, Marc, Tad, Dennis, all of the hay crew on Friday of the Freeride, all of the corner watchers from the Freeride! Mark, Karen, Don, Paul, and Cheryl- our EMT’s that watch out for all of us! Miles Long- you are the “Corporate” man of this crew! Events just work better while you are around! The Perkins Clan- Noel, Andrew, Nick, Alex, and Mama Andi!!! You kept the events going with all of your passion and strength!!! Without the 5 of you, these events would not run smooth! A huge Thank You to the crew that showed up on Saturday night to begin taking down the course and Sunday to finish cleaning the hill!

And finally… Dean Ozuna!!! What kind of Thank You is enough to say to you for allowing all skaters out to Maryhill for Safe and fun events! I don’t want to get too mushy on you so THANKS!”

-Ali of the Maryhill Ratz