The starting line, Picture by Marla Tolley

This year’s four mile push race saw 47 very competitive contestants. Skateboarders from all over Michigan made the journey, along with travelers from West Virginia, Indiana, New york, and Vermont. The weather was cold, and the majority of the race was spent kicking directly into the wind. A good time was had by all, and tons of prizes were given out thanks to the generous sponsors. The push race was followed by a slide jam, and a slalom event followed the next morning.

All the events went down without a hitch thanks to the great spirit of the longboarding community and the help of several volunteers. The trek to the slide hill turned into a hard and soft wheel jam this year, raising the local standard for freeriding and slide styles.

Having a timed slalom event is something new to Lansing, MI. There were roughly a dozen racers, and stoke levels were at a maximum. The Yerke brothers, makers of Bees Knees Boards (www.beeskneesboards.com) prevailed, followed closely by their Go Green Longboarding teammates.

Official Madness in the Mitten II results:

Push Race Top 11
1st (tie). Jason Yerke and Bill Ris! Go Green/BKS (both)
3rd. Jeff Vyain
4th. Mike Dallas Go Green/Bustin
5th. Dan Holley
6th. Peter Weinrauch Go Green/Surf Rodz
7th. Chad Brewer Go Green/BKS
8th. Derek Yerke Go Green/BKS
9th. Cyp Overbored Bustin/overbored.org
10th. Alex Kwiecinski Go Green/BKS
11th. Peter Croce Go Green/BKS

Hybrid Slalom
1st. Derek Yerke (14.77)
2nd. Jason Yerke (14.84)
3rd. Peter Croce (15.22)
4th. Alex Kwiecinski (15.41)
5th. Tom Risk (16.50)
6th. Dave Tolley (17.07)
7th. Andrew Burgess (18.17)
8th. Nic Huffman (19.07)
9th. Chris Preville (19.89)
10th. Jarod Davidson (20.59)
11th. Lance Pollo (25.25)
12th. Lola Oakley (26.08)

Tight Slalom
1st. Jason Yerke (11.26)
2nd. Derek Yerke (11.45)
3rd. Peter Croce (11.61)
4th. Tom Risk (12.42)
5th. Alex Kwiecinski (12.48)
6th. David “1998” Tolley (13.50)
7th. Chris Preville (15.90)
8th. Nic Huffman (17.13)

Thanks to Peter Croce for the below helmet cam footage

Madness In The Mitten II from Peter Croce on Vimeo.

Links to tons of photos, taken mostly by Nick Miller. The split links are on Facebook, or you can view the entire gallery on this site under the photos tab.

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

Thanks to all the sponsors:
Comet Skateboards
Khiro Skateboard Products
Abec 11
GFH Boards
MSU Longboarding Club
Bees Knees Skathletics
Surf Rodz
Bustin’ Boards
Modern Skate and Surf
Seismic
Daddies Board Shop
Sk8Kings

If that’s not enough for you to get your fix, head on over to the forum and post away! See you next year!