Battle of Elsinore 1998 went down in Toronto, Canada. An event that was once primarily a flatland event went street, and flatland eventually got the axe from the program. I'm not sure about the details on the organizational end, but the name changed and the annual event is now known as the Metro Jam.
Despite all this, in 1998, flatland was embarking on a journey into a new era, as Martti Kouppa made his debut on the global flatland scene.
After a mesmerizing run at World Championships, rumors were flying everywhere in North America-"Dude, there's this guy in Europe, he's like the next Kevin Jones!"
Sponsored by Chiquita Bananas and adorned in bright colors, it was hard to miss Martti Kuoppa, throwing down the new tricks and styles people had been hearing about.
From that point on, Martti continued to change the face of flatland, chronicled in the Intrikat video series.
This clip also showcases other flatland moguls of the time, Chad Degroot, Andrew Faris, Dan Rigby, Brian Tunney, and Cory Stratychuk. There's also a Dan Rigby interview as a bonus!
I personally feel that in this era, the most varied types of techniques were being widely used in flatland- rolling, scuffing, barflips, front brake, back brake, turbines, g-turns, undertakers, etc. -Framestand locomotive to cross-footed stick-b, sick!
Text by Bobby Carter.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
Thanks for doing this Bobby! Brought back a ton of memories, i remember watching this for the first time on props and being blown away by Martti's stuff, also rad stuff from Dan Rigby. This contest got healthy amount of coverage in US ride as I remember.
I totally agree with you Effraim, I really love this era of variety in tricks.
If I remember correctly, it was taken over by a new guy, who incidentally runs the Bike Trade Show in Toronto.
The Vancouver MetroJam got axed at the same time he stopped flatland in the Toronto one. I am guessing, because there was flat at the last Vancouver MetroJam.
Other than the one guy who mentioned that there is a jam in Vancouver in August/Sept, I have not heard of any in western Canada. Still have not been able to find any other info about the Vancouver one either.
One can hope that things start improving in the west of this country!
Hey flatdream (matthieu?).. Not my words, Bobby Carter kindly writes the contextual column for Flatmatters. There seems to currently more variety creeping back in.
Great stuff from the late 90's .Farris make a comeback .
Yes, it's Matthieu :)
Sorry, I didn't notice...
keep riding
Bobby, thanks for nice words! Chiquita bananas has been the coolest sponsor ever in my life!
They actually paid my plane ticket to this comp and from there the pro life started for me. Altrough I did not get free bananas, that was the only downside of the deal :)
Who will bring Chiquita back to flatland??
that floor was the absolute worst compared to what our spoiled asses ride on today. it could have been ride-able- but they had a dirt ramp runway going right through the flatland area- yet it was still undeniably one of the best contests ever.
Really enjoyed this!
Martti is the daddy! And indeed, how awesome to be sponsored by Chiquita Bananas :)
Funny interview with Dan at the end too!
Thanks for posting, Bobby. Not only did this Props video inspire me to start riding flatland, it started a new era with DJ Shadow. Preemptive Strike is one of the best albums ever.
Post a Comment