Sunday Service in Caterham was the first stop of the 2023 UK Vert series which we covered in Issue 2. You can check out a simpler version of the article below. If you want to catch the full article, please buy Issue 2 here...
Cover Photo: Nathan Livingston. Noah Albrektsson: Maddona
Photo: Nathan Livingston. Erik Forssell: Fs Air
If you’re a Vert Skater in the UK, then Skaterham Skatepark in Surrey was the place to be on the 30th of April. The first stop of this year’s UK Vert Series went off with skaters from all over the UK and Europe flocking to the infamous ramp in the Coldstream Guards’ disused chapel to compete at the fourth edition of Sunday Service.
This year’s event saw 49 skaters across four categories partake in the competition as well as a brand-new format for the series: two 30 second runs for qualifiers and three 30 second runs followed by a ten-minute jam with the top five tricks from each skater added to their best run score for the finals. These shorter runs challenged skaters to make the most of their time and enabled them to maintain greater amplitude and speed throughout their runs as well as encouraging them to try new combinations and attempt to fit as many big tricks into the allotted time as possible. This provided the crowd with a more rapid and exciting event, thus helping to create a great atmosphere and enjoyable day for all in attendance.
Sunday Service 2023 also saw the most international field of competitors in the history of the event with 5 skaters from across Europe at the competition. These new and welcome faces were a great addition to the series, bringing new tricks and styles to the vert at Skaterham. Therefore, a big thanks to Noah Albrektsson, Erik Forssell, Ivan Kovalenko, Patrick Manfredo and Lars Stout for their awesome commitment to the series.
Photo: Nathan Livingston. Reiss Johnson: Body Jar
Another great addition to the event was Vickle Carter’s fantastic information board which displayed info about event timings and the format with the logos of series sponsors (including Vertical) bordering the display. Vertical also had a strong presence at the event with copies of issue 1 on sale and a brand-new banner up on the wall opposite the spectator area.
With all these new additions to the event, Sunday Service 2023 was always set to be a good one but as ever the standard was astounding. A few personal favorites of mine were watching both Patrick Manfredo and Kelly Turner making their first kickflip Indys on vert minutes apart during the male open jam, seeing Ruby Dolan landing her first ever 360 rock and roll on vert having been trying it for several weeks and finally George Phipp’s fakie tail stall on the edge of Adam Chadwick’s board mid axle stall was a spectacular end to the male open jam.
Photo: Nathan Livingston. Austin-Fraser Jones: Fs Grind
To conclude, this year’s Sunday Service was a great success, so thank you to the team at UK Vert Series and Skaterham Skatepark for your hard work and dedication to make this amazing competition happen. If you want to know more about the UK Vert Series, then please take a look at their website for more information on the rest of this year’s series. We are looking forward to seeing you at a UKVS competition soon!
Kelly Turner
This was Kelly’s fourth UK Vert Series competition and his first win in the Male Open category. His progression since the last series has been phenomenal having gained at least a foot on all his airs and learning several difficult tricks such as L Twists and Varials. Having never skated the ramp at Skaterham before he quickly got used to the tighter transitions, making three solid runs in the finals, and putting down a plethora of technical maneuvers in the Jam such as Kickflip Indys that he made for the first time.
Photo: Nathan Livingston. Kelly Turner: Lien Air
Patrick Manfredo
Sunday Service was Patrick’s first time in England and his first UK Vert Series competition. He has been on an absolute tear back home in Oslo over winter, having learnt many tricks such as his original “Pat” grind and more than a few Jim Langran inspired maneuvers. After qualifying in first, Patrick made several impressive runs packed with back-to-back aerials grabbing every which way and even landing his first kickflip Indy in the jam, a trick that he had been battling for months.
Photo: Nathan Livingston. Patrick Manfredo: Bs Air
Ruby Dolan
Ruby killed it at this competition! After landing her first Rock and Roll just before last year’s Mount Hawke Vert Jam, she has been systematically learning new tricks weekly such as fakie disasters and Fs 360s. It was awesome to see Ruby put together several amazing runs this contest landing her in second place in the Female Open. Even better, having been trying for weeks Ruby made her first fakie 360 rock and roll within the final few minutes of the jam. A great ending to an amazing Female Open Jam!
Photo: Nathan Livingston. Ruby Dolan: Rock Fakie
Dave Allen
Due to several injuries, UK Vert legend, Dave Allen, has been unable to compete at a UK Vert Series competition for several years. Therefore, it was great to see him back on top form for Sunday Service and a pleasure to watch as he tore the ramp apart with his seemingly bottomless bag of tricks that he spontaneously pulled out over the course of the day such as Invert Fakies, Half Cab Indy Pogos to fakie and the terrifying Blindside Fs grind to fakie grabbing Indy. Unfortunately, Dave injured his hand during the qualifiers but still put it together in the finals, earning him second place in the master’s division.
Photo: Nathan Livingston. Dave Allen: Fs Ollie
Jesse Thomas
Jesse has reached another level in his skating in which it appears he can do anything he pleases on demand. This seemingly unrivalled level of board control always makes for a spectacle as he drops in and spontaneously lands the most incredible runs featuring tech lip tricks and several other obscure maneuvers that Jesse apparently learns first go such as sweeper slides and a fully decked rock yanking back in to fakie grabbing mute. One highlight of the pro/am Jam was when on his first attempt, Jesse Indy 360’d to fakie straight into a fakie to fakie 540 on the next wall, a trick he had not done for a couple of years. He went on to make many other incredible tricks such as a Kickflip Lien 360 to fakie, certainly one of the most technical tricks of the event.
Photo: Nathan Livingston. Jesse Thomas: Gay Twist
Noah Albrektsson
This was also Noah’s first time in the UK, and he made the most of it, scoring himself his first win at a UK Vert Series competition. Noah’s endless bag of original handplant variations mixed with flip tricks made for a unique blend of Old School and New School tricks which wowed the judges over the course of his runs and the final Jam session earning himself first place. Noah also proved to be one of the most consistent skaters of the day with his knee pads receiving minimal use and the ramp being subjected to maximum awesome skateboarding. Mere minutes after the jam ran out of official time, Noah finished the session off with a spectacular scrambled egg a most rare and technical of handplants invented by UK legend Andy Scott.
Photo: Nathan Livingston. Noah Albrektsson: Fs Invert