The event is growing and it was announced that it would be globally expanding. In 2013 there will be three new host cities. These were announced to be Barcelona, Munich and Foz do Iguacu in Brazil. These cities were chosen from a group of nine and will join current hosts Aspen, Tignes and LA. These decisions were mostly based around their action sports culture. Scott Guglielmino, senior vice president of programming and X Games with ESPN, believes that he is creating a huge stage for action-sports athletes; he believes that the growth in the X Games will provide them with an even larger platform to grow as athletes.

The X Games is massively growing and is not only adding these venues but will be using music, film elements and style to a greater degree. Guglielminco describes this as the transformation from an action sports competition brand into an action sports lifestyle brand.

The competition often features new tricks and these in the past have included skateboarding legend Tony Hawk performing the 900, a 900 degree aerial spin which has since been completed by 9 other skate boarders. BMXer Anthony Napolitan smashed the first ever double front lip on a bike at the X Games.

Running alongside the X Games is the X Fest, which offers a chance to get the athletes autographs, enjoy live music and interactive events.

The plan is to take X Games to another level. 2010 skateboarding champion Pedro Barros describes the choices of new locations as being more demographic and giving new riders the chance. He also believes that this can be the start of a new era in action sports history.

The Winter X Games take place in January (or occasionally February), in Aspen, Colorado and the summer X games in August in Los Angeles.

The X Games serve as true proof of the popularity of action sports. These action sports originally started as young people trying to find creative things to do on wheels and boards. The X Games puts a reward down, and just like the Olympics, Athletes are awarded gold, silver and bronze for achieving a first, second and third place.

Originally there was only the summer X Games which has variations on the basics of the action sports. Skateboarding has vert, where athletes are judged on tricks inside a half pipe and street where competitors perform tricks in a manufactured street.BMX has the same events, plus Air where athletes ride up a large ramp and perform tricks in the air.

In 1997 the Winter X Games were invented, they feature similar variations on skiing, snowboarding and other snow related sports. They have unfortunately never matched the popularity of the Summer X Games.

It is a tribute to the popularity of the X Games that the Olympics now feature action sport events

Acton sport royalty in the form of skateboarding stars Tony Hawk, Bucky Lasek and Bob Burnquist and BMX heroes Dave Mirra, Mat Hoffman and Andy Macdonald have all taken part.

Urban Kreation are proud to see our own Daniel Sandoval taking part,he deserves huge respect for even receiving an invite to the exclusive event.

With ESPN as a sponsor it is believed that the event can only grow. By keeping the X Games current, they maintain a hold on the young, male age group (about 12 to 34) that is highly profitable. According to a 2009 SportsBusiness Journal story, The X Games franchise makes more than $120 million in retail annually from its consumer and licensing business. It is also watched by over 5.7 million people.

As action sports grow, so will this event. Watch this space.

Day 1:
The event kicked off on Saturday morning with practice. High winds all day meant that practice was cut short. Riders Brett Wheeler and Alfie Stephens got caught out and took a trip to hospital. Alfie being a trooper was back on his bike Sunday but Brett unfortunately broke his leg so we would all like to wish him a speedy recovery and we look forward to seeing him back on a bike!

Saturday night saw the Bondi Beer BBQ get fired up and some of the riders got to work and built the hottest campfire known to man! Super chilled night with Bondi Beer, burgers and some tunes with seriously funny banter provided by the one and only Danny Pace and Adam Williams Welsh double act!

Day 2:
Sunday was another day entirely, conditions were ideal with the sun blazing and the wind had died down allowing riders to get some well-needed practice in before qualifying began.
It was obvious from the get go that everyone was going big and putting everything into their runs so it was no surprise when tight qualifying scores led us to put 3 high scoring wildcard riders through to finals, as well as the 5 qualifying riders.
PRO Qualifying saw Ray Samson, Clinton Johns, Danny Pace, Matt Jones, Daryl Brown, Marcel Hunt, Ryan Nangle & Charlie Watts go through to the PRO Finals.

Day 3:
ODI Grips had decided to host an “Old School” trick comp on Saturday evening,
but due to the high winds and riders going down we decided to run this on Sunday afternoon during the break. Chris & Jacqui from Drift also upped the ante by offering a Drift Camera to the winner of the comp!
Adam Williams stepped up to help Toby on the mic after taking a hard hit in qualifying and had everyone in stitches the entire time! Riders were super stoked throwing down some old school classics such as x-up to oppo-x-up and big suicide-no-handers. Eventually we were left with 2 riders, PRO Daryl Brown and AM rider Roman Pichnarčík. Roman took it down with a HUGE heel-clicker to no-foot-can, which had the crowd going crazy which bagged him ODI bars and grips and a Drift Cam!

Amateur class went to straight finals with only 4 riders actually entering the AM class. Local rider, Wig Lewington-Booth came out on top with a solid run, showing he has the talent to mix it up with the PRO riders in years to come.

AM Final Results:
1st – Wig Lewington-Booth, 2nd – Alex Ruther, 3rd – Roman Pichnarčík, 4th – Tim Ledson

PRO finals kicked off earlier than expected. Without doubt the riding was going to be off the chain so everyone was buzzing to see what riders had in store. Every rider went hard in the finals resulting in some huge tricks and lines, and also some crashes! DMR’s Clinton Johns looked strong all weekend and went on to take the win, followed by Identiti riders Matt Jones 2nd and Daryl Brown in 3rd.

PRO Final Results:
1st – Clinton Johns, 2nd – Matt Jones, 3rd – Daryl Brown, 4th – Marcel Hunt, 5th – Ray Samson, 6th – Ryan Nangle, 7th – Danny Pace, 8th – Charlie Watts

Podiums followed the PRO finals and there was a sick selection of prizes for both classes!

1st Place in the AM Class received a camera courtesy of Drift and a pair of Halo rims along with clothing from Urban Kreation, EZO Brand and Freestyle Xtreme.

2nd-4th Places in the AM category were also given product prizes from Halo, Urban Kreation, EZO Brand and Freestyle Xtreme.
There were cash prizes from King of Dirt for the PRO rider’s podium places with each rider getting a Drift camera along with Clothing from Urban Kreation, EZO Brand and Freestyle Xtreme.

(From left to right: Daryl Brown, Matt Jones & Clinton Johns)

Thanks again to everyone who came down and made the weekend so rad. We will see you all at the next round, which will be announced very soon.

Shot in a quick, evening session at Chenga 57 Skatepark.

Filmed by: Brenden Wargo
Song: Master P – Ghetto Dope

Teddy is from Tower Hamlets. He’s an up and coming semi-pro BMXer. Adidas sent him to Seville with some of the finest riders in the UK. Giving him the opportunity to push his riding to new levels on new terrain.

Harry Main – Showtime from Nike BMX on Vimeo.

Finally the much anticipated new edit from Mr Harry Main has dropped and with over 62k hits in just 2 days you suspect its going to be special. It seems at the moment Harry is the biggest name out there in BMX in the UK, and a combination of incredible riding, down to earth personality and genuinely nice guy, you can see why he is one of the major figures on the Nike team.