NYCSkateboarding: August 2010

The manual obstacles for Red Bull's Manny Mania covered by tarps in a futile attempt to keep them dry during the downpour.After a robust international qualifier where Nike's Belgian rider Youness Amrani took first place and was poised to enter the Red Bull Manny Mania pro final, the contest was cut short Sunday by a torrential downpour. Two heats into the preliminary round, the rains came and everyone ran for shelter under the tents here in Manhattan. As the rain progressed and the manual obstacles got slicker, it became obvious that the contest couldn't go on. Meanwhile, some drama erupted when DGK's Stevie Williams and former DGK rider Darren Harper got into a scuffle out on the course. Security broke up the fight after a few punches were thrown. Though the drama seems to have just added to the street credibility of the DGK (Dirty Ghetto Kids) brand, I couldn't help but feel second-hand embarrassment for the two men, both of whom are adults with children, for acting the way they did in front of so many of their fans.

Pros and ams from the DGK camp wait out the rain beneath the Manhattan bridge.From left: Lenny Rivas, Rodrigo Lima, Wade DesArmo and Jack Curtin.It's still up in the air whether Red Bull will reschedule the contest. It'd be a shame not to see who can take the title this year but it may be hard to reassemble so many top notch pros in one place any time soon with all the other contests and events on this year's schedule (the first stop of Street League is just next weekend). Guess we'll have to wait and see. For today, the rain got the best of all of us.