Bowl-a-Rama 2012, Wellington, New Zealand. Once again Pedro “flyer” Barros took the first place. This has been my third year shooting the championship, same as Pedro winning it. What called my attention the most was that on arrival at Waitangi Park, where the event is placed, I had already seen some of the Brazilians that were around. Pedro’s father, Andre, was standing by me, so I asked him if Pedro was coming later. He said to me: “he is over there” – and he was about two meters away from me, and I hadn’t recognised him. Pedro is still a teenager, but who I was looking at was an experienced professional. Don’t forget that I met Pedro when he was 14 years old, but that boy now looked almost like somebody else, with a very concentrated gaze during the warming up. At each entrance, his manoeuvres evolved with surgical precision. At that moment, I’ve noticed that that was no longer “Pedrinho”, unless when approached by the fans or the other participants. In this case, he would go back to being Pedrinho with a wide smile on his face.

Well, going back to the championship, which had a great chance of being cancelled due to the rain forecasted for Saturday and Sunday, there I went to pick up my credential at 9am with Valentina from New Romantic. At the start, it was very cloudy, but most participants were already there. This year it was much more competitive, with new faces coming from all the four corners of the world, younger at each year, full of adrenaline, but less experienced as well.

The masters were no different than usual. The winner Pat “Mr. Cool” Ngoho won for the third time. Sergie Ventura and Lester Kasai, just to name a few, also made to the podium. And the boys’ adrenaline contaminated the “old guys” that haven’t disappointed, and flew high too.

The public which packed the stands was very eclectic, from the young to the more experienced, showing that skate is a sport that reaches all ages, hearts and minds. It has everything to become an Olympic sport!

Thank you to Jake and Valentina from New Romantics, and everyone that was involved in the event, which is growing each year, not only the prizes but also in popularity. Thank you to the sponsors, in particular Vans, and of course, thank you to Skateonline that credited me to film and shoot, a big hug to Renato D’Oliveira.

To see all pictures from Bowl-A-Rama Wellington 2012 by Marcelo Duque Cesar click here.
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Via Marcelo Duque Cesar | Wellington, NZ

Tags: Andre Barros, Bowl a Rama, Pedro Barros, Wellington

This entry was posted on quarta-feira, fevereiro 15th, 2012 at 13:18 and is filed under Campeonatos, Eventos. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.