Sunny Skate Series: A New Skate Festival With High Ambitions
A brand new Skateboarding Festival is coming to the Sunshine Coast. With ambitions set high this festival aims to attract riders from all over the nation and beyond for 2 days of street and bowl competitions, live music, food trucks and festival vibes on the foreshore of Alexandra Headland. Not just once, but four times every year.
Sunny Coast skateboard legend numero uno, Mat ‘Chiggy’ Chigwidden is the main man behind it all so we hit him up for an interview about the visionary, upcoming Sunny Skate Series.
Hey Chiggy, thanks for giving us a run down of this new event series you’ve been working on
Yeah, I'm super excited about this and am super stoked to share everything with you about it. It's going to be a good time for sure!
We’re super excited for this too! Tell us a bit about the ‘series’ format
Alright, so each Sunny Skate Series will be over 3 days and will be a lot like a festival that will include a lot more than just competing. We hope to attract riders from all over the nation and beyond, as there will be wild cards for bigger contests as well as a cash prize pool and lots of prizes to be won. First one will hit the Sunny Coast by the end of July.
Can’t wait. And how was the idea for Sunny Skate Series born?
The idea was born not long after I mentioned to event manager Josh Allen (from Event Generals) one day that there is a lot of need for major contests here on the coast. I explained that I would like to offer something to our community that the participants could potentially build a pathway and benefit from.
There are so many sports out there where individuals or teams can express themselves, train for something and put it into action every weekend. Whether it be a soccer team, cricket team and even surf board rider’s clubs….all these sports share common ground where they have a platform to compete and develop their sport along the way.
Skateboarding has always been a sport you can ‘just do’ and skate pretty much wherever you want, when you want. But when it comes to competition, it really does lack in opportunities. Being a skateboard coach, I see kids come and go all the time and I just wish there was something to keep the talented ones motivated and involved. That is why the Sunny Skate Series was created and why there are four events a year, not just one. We really hope this is the start of something and we can turn some groms into future olympians.
Building that pathway for local talent sounds great. Will the competition give points towards qualification for other bigger comps?
Yes, there will be wild cards for Rumble on the Reef and potentially other contests down the track.
Who’s involved in making this event happen?
Event Generals’ director Josh Allen, myself and our epic sponsors are making this happen. The council is involved and is supporting this also.
And can we expect the event to take place at Alex every time?
We are of the understanding that they will all be at Alex at this point in time. However, we do aim to have a series at another particular part — that is on the horizon.
As far as the comps go, what are the plans?
We’ll have a bowl comp, street comp and best trick comp. We’ll have Under 9, Under 12, Under 15 — there will be female divisions in all the groups for both bowl and street. And then we’ll have Mens, Womens and Masters as well.
That’s solid. But it sounds like this event is much more than a skate comp, right?
Yep, we are all about having fun! It is still early stages but we aim to have a bar, food trucks, music, activation zones and lots more.
So sick! And Chiggy, we kinda know you’re a Sunny Coast patriot, but tell us: why a skate comp on the coast?
Because there is nothing else like it and the Sunny Coast is the best! We have beautiful skateparks and lots talent as well.
You sure do. Thanks Chiggy! We can’t wait to see your ideas and ambitions come to life
Yeah, same. Anytime legends. Oh, one last thing. There are very limited spots available, so we do recommend registering online now to secure a spot. The first event will be epic so don’t miss out.
