Magazine
Alex Welly
Table of contents
Skate park Characters 4 Liam robertson aka Endez Chavez
7 Greg Bartlet 16MEgan Mackay 9 Austin Cooper 17 Salvador, 10 Granite reef Brasil Open Surf 15 Ellie Harlow
Liam Robertson AKA Endez Chavez L
iam Robertson, a 19-year-old skater from Stonehaven spent almost four hours trying to master a single trick for his sponsors promo video. Best known as Endez Chavez at the skate-park, Liam feels that skating is the best thing that has ever happened to him. Like most of the 90’s who are into skating, Endez found motivation to start skating thanks to the “Tony Hawks pro skater” video games when he was 11.
“I also get to make a lot of friend and from all over the world as well.” Liam has had some success with sksting as he has been sponsored by a local brand for a while now. “We kind of help each other out I sell their stuff and they give me discounts so it’s a ‘I scratch your back and you scratch my back’ kind of thing”
“I started really young with a couple of mates, we used to play a lot of Tony Hawk and we decided to give a try in real life. Since then it’s been amazing”
As many of the public skate-parks in Aberdeen are in poor conditions, Endez feels there needs to be more support to try and refurbish some parks. “Obviously the new skate park at transition-Extreme has done a great job to push more people into skating I think most of the skateparks around here have to be redone.
Liam is also a part time staff member at the Transition-Extreme’s new skate-park. He says it is the best thing he could have. “I’ve been skating since I was 8 and its good to give back to the younger generation as I when I was that age.
“Most of them are very old and rough and it’s very hard to skate on them. You alsways see the older guys there because you have to be quite good to skate on those rough conditions.”
Greg Bartlet
G
reg Bartlet started BMX when he was 13 and hasn’t stopped ever since. He has been a BMX rider for 7 years and it all started with building homemade ramps in the back of his yard. “As a kid I was always building ramps with the bits of wood that I found and I would try and jump them with my bike so it made sense to give it a try.” Says the 19-year-old rider. Greg finds BMX a good excuse him to go to different places and different cities as it is a way of meeting new people from different places and different levels. “I’ve been to Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh. One time I even had the opportunity to stay at a skate-park in
Glasgow it’s like a family owned park and they have some pro riders there so I got to stay with them for a week.” Mr Bartlet also works part-time at the new Transition-Extreme skate-park, which he thinks it’s a good way to meet “good folks” from all over the city and even the world “It’s kind of like a little community we have here.” He said. “I just think there needs to be more support being put towards the skate-parks around the city so we can refurbish some of them and have other places to go whenever we feel like it”.
Austin Cooper
M
eet Austin Cooper a 26-year-old BMXer from Aberdeen. Austin started with what he calls his passion at 14 years of age when he received his first BMX bike as a present. “As a kid you know everyone had a bike and we were all doing all sots of jumps, also extreme sports was on TV almost all the time, my friends and I we used to play a lot of video extreme sports video games so being exposed to all of that really to me into BMX.” Said Austin. The 26-year-old rider finds the new Transition-Extreme skate-park a great opportunity for him to meet new people as he claims that the park is like a society. “It’s almost like a fraternity, although BMXers and skaters have some clash and rivalry some times, generally most folks will get along with each other as we are all in the same environment so everyone gets their turn.” Said the 26-year-old rider. Austin explained why BMX is his passion: “It’s the adventure that it gets you into. You go to a new place or a new city and meet as well as the things you see and experience on your bike, it’s more than just doing tricks and stuff it’s a lifestyle I love it”.
granite reef open surf competition 2015
Ellie Harlow E
llie Harlow is a 27-year-old surfer from Guernsey living in Aberdeen. What makes Ellie special is simply the fact that she surfs in the North Sea. It is easy to say but it is certainly one of the “biggest barriers” when it comes to such an extreme sport. “I learned to surf in San Sebastian, Spain when I was 19. I spent my last 100 pounds on a surfboard and I sat on the sea everyday.” Said the young surfer. “It took me a year to start surfing in Aberdeen”. Said Ellie. She feels that surfing in waters were the maximum temperature is 10 degrees has given her a different experience and perspective of what surfing is all about. “You are cold not only in the water but also before getting. Everything feels a lot heavier. The water feels denser. The suit weighs a lot and your face is all frozen.” She has developed several techniques to keep her warm during her sessions. Ellie finds it helpful to keep paddling instead of sitting and waiting for a wave. Regardless of the weather Ellie enjoyed herself at the
“Granite Reef Open Surf Competition” as she participated in the event alongside her friends. For ellie the weather is not a big issue, her main concern is the lack of support towards the women surfers in Scotland. “I thibk we need more support for girls who want to surf and this has to come from people that organise events like the ‘Granite Reef Open’. If it doesn’t come from the people that are actually surfing it’s not going to happen. “With surfing there is a lot of close-mindedness and basically if you are a girl and a guy hasn’t seen you surf then they assume you’re not good enough whereas if you’re a guy they’ll look at your board and they look at your wetsuit and be like ‘oh they must be quite a good surfer.”
Megan M
Mackay
eet Megan Mackay an 18-year-old surfer from Macduff living in Aberdeen. She started body boarding when she was 7 and then transitioned to surfing when she was 9.
“My dad surfs as well so he tough me, my bothers and my sister how to body board and then he bough a long board and he would push us on it so we could then stand up and that’s how I learned” On and off with injuries Megan has had major success surfing as she went to Nicaragua to represent Scotland with the Scottish surf team last summer.
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil By Alex Wellburn