It was a busy weekend at the Maloof Skate Plaza in Kimberley, South Africa. Friday started off with a contest on the quarter pipe. Standouts included Lleyellyn Botha, Brad Baley, Gerhard Botha, Jino Modise, and Armand van der Merwe. Gerhard took 1st place with a big flip on the quarter pipe. Trailing Gerhard was Jino Modise with a frontside rock on the big quarter, and Armand van der Merwe in third with afrontside air transfer. It's rad to see all the skaters skate more transition! Later that night we turned on the lights til 9pm to do a bit of filming. Marty Kotze noseslid the big 4 stair hubba, it was sick!

Saturday consisted of two contests including the skaters' favorite game of skate along with a new concept, the obstacle game of skate.

Game of skate finalists included Martin Kotze, Theo Setsetse, and William Jenkins. Martin took several out with tricks like fakie big flips and shuvit late flips. Will made it with his huge bag of tricks and Theo took over with his consistency and switch tricks. In the end, Theo came out on top, with Will in second and Theo in third.

The obstacle game of skate was a new concept that we tried at the plaza. Skaters played skate on any obstacle in the whole park. With 3 rounds before the finals, some standout games included a game between Jino and Armand and another between Damian and Jacques. In the end, Gerhard Botha's quarter pipe consistency landed him a new Mystery deck and 1st place. Theo Setsetse came in second with Jacques Reynecke right behind in third.

Sunday was the youngsters' time to shine during the beginners contest. It was cool to see those who would normally be too timid to enter our regular best trick contest and give credit to the beginners for putting in work. Newcomer Dion Booicen impressed the judges with his wallie up the wedge and ollies off the box, landing him third place. Plaza regular Aiden Peterson ollied the 3 stair and kickflipped off the box, earning him second place. Our most enthusiastic and energetic skater, 8 year old Muhammad Hassan, hands down swept the competition by skating everything in the park and doing a variety of tricks like Bertleman slides on the bank, nose grabs off the ledge, hippy jumping over the flatbar, and grinding up and down the bank. Congrats to all our beginners for shredding the contest and putting the finishing touches on a rad weekend at the skate plaza. Things are starting to pick up here at the plaza as we wind down for the MMC next month! Check out the photo gallery for additional coverage of the weekend's events.