King of the North Champs - 3rd Sascha Simms, 2nd Wake Shepman, 1st Eric Michaels
Foreword by Travis Stewart
Interview by Travis Stewart and Brandon Lamaire
Photos by Paul Yacovone
Video edited by John Greene
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From out of nowhere in early 2020, a new contender for the top contest crown stepped into the scene. The Northeast has always been famous for having super solid skaters who can hit park, street, and anything else swung their way. So in March, when the dust settled and the footage started to leak, many of us were left wondering what we just saw go down. Backflip transfers, Deadpool costumes, crazy spins and grinds. And then John Greene dropped an incredible edit on us which showed just how crazy the event really got. After a few conversations, I was in touch with Brandon Lamaire, the creator of King of the North. We sat down to discuss some of the things about a contest people rarely see. We wanted to shed some light on what it takes to become the next great event. - Travis Stewart
Travis - Hey Brandon! Thanks a bunch for catching up with us about your most recent contest, King of the North. It's always exciting to see now events springing to life in blading, and it's not always common to see a new event not only shine as bright as yours did, but to feature such a talent pool as well. I guess to dive in here, do you mind providing a little background about yourself?
Brandon - My name's Brandon Lamaire, I'm from Warwick RI. I skated from 2001-2011 took a 8 year hiatus from rollerblading when I joined the army and got back into it in April of last year.
T - Welcome back to the fray! So what inspired you personally to create the King of the North contest?
B - There's an event in the North East every year called the Memorial Jam, it’s run by Matt Ragone and it's in memory of 4 friends that lost their lives over the past few years. I was out of rollerblading for a while and seeing how this event brought so many people together, it made me want to host an event of my own.
T - What was it like to create the contest? I know there are some other people out there who also might want to create an event of their own that can look at this conversation for some advice on where to get started.
B - Creating the event wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be a lot of long nights on the phone with the people involved and constant contact with possible sponsors. I reached out to a Don Donovan, another RI rollerblader, and told him I wanted to host a comp. He was in 100%. He was actually the person who came up with the name and theme of the comp.
The team hard at work deliberating
T - In terms of making the event, what was the planning like?
B - Planning the event was tough because we did it on such short notice and we wanted to make a splash. The idea came up in early December and we planned the event for February 29th, so getting sponsors on board with little info wasn’t the easiest thing to do. I got right to work and luckily I had Jeff Dalnas working with me on this part. We also had Matt Razz using his skills as a graphic designer to make the flyer as well as running the site, facebook page and IG page. We chose to do it on the 29th because it's a unique date, and we wanted a unique event.
T - What was it like partnering with the skatepark? Did you encounter anything that you weren't expecting with hosting an event like this?
B - Partnering with the park was tough, which really was a surprise to us because we've all been skating that park since the early 2000s. They were skeptical because of the short notice and little information we had at the time. They originally wanted us to use the park from 9pm to midnight. After so much hard work and sleepless nights, we got things in order between us and the park was shut down to the public from 3pm to midnight for the contest. There was no cost to host the event there. Just an admission fee of $25 per skater.
Blade “Blake” Skillson - Top Mistrial
T - Did the park require you to have your own insurance for the event or was it covered by their policy that you know of?
B - The insurance was covered by the park because they were the main sponsor and host of the King of the North, so nothing out of pocket for us.
T - That’s really helpful. I know Insurance can be expensive and a big sticking point for a lot of these types of events. So what was the last few days before the event like for you and the team? I imagine you can't sleep soundly knowing that this event was so close to happening.
B - The last few nights before the comp were the longest. It was a lot of last minute tightening up, getting prizes and cash in order, etc. We had skaters from Utah, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Amsterdam, and beyond all coming in the night before. Some of which were accommodated by the people running the event. So needless to say the last few days were nonstop.
T - Wow. Alright, event day. We’ve survived those final crunch days it seems. What was your team's goal for the contest? I know at Winterclash, they have different staff for different parts, like checking people in, running concessions, running the mics, helping on the floor. King of the North wasn't as big as Winterclash (yet, haha), but I'm sure each person had a role in all of this.
B - So the day of the event, the plan was to just make sure the comp went smooth, which I have to say, it couldn't have gone any better. Matt Razz was our MC for the event, I was doing the sign ins and getting the heats set up, Jeff Dalnas worked with John Wu and Blade Cop on how they were going to judge the event. I couldn't be happier with the way Matt and Jeff got things done.
T - They say on your wedding day, you only remember moments and the day shoots by in an instant. Did King of the North feel like that for you?
B - Man I remember so little from the comp. The only time I was 100% focused on the skating was in the Finals. I was so busy making sure the judges had their sheets. Helping Matt stay on track because he likes to get side tracked with skating the mini ramp between heats. So yeah, not too much memory of it, but the pics and videos help!
Matt not being distracted on the mic
Disaster Royale
T - From what you can remember, what was your most memorable moment of the event? The tricks looked crazy that would pop up on social media. And that edit you mentioned that John dropped was jaw dropping.
B - The most memorable part was the response! I was so nervous that the event would flop but I had nothing but positive responses to the event and I'm grateful for that.
Sascha Simms, Backflip loop transfer
Kevin LeBron, Sweatstance
Eric Michaels, AO Fish through the pillar
Wake Schepman, Disaster Top Acid
T - What was the general vibe after the event? Were people pretty stoked on it all said and done?
B - Yeah the people all seemed like they had a blast. A very good atmosphere after it wrapped up.
T - So what happens when the lights go down and the event ends? Was there extra work for the team or the park to be done for the day?
B - Well, luckily for us, The Edge Indoor Skate park handled everything. We cleaned up what we had to and they took care of the rest which made it super easy on us.
T - That’s awesome! What's next for the King of the North? Will we see a second iteration of the event coming back for 2021? Or are we stuck waiting for the next leap year?
B - Oh you bet KOTN will be back in 2021!!! We have a lot more time to plan and the park will allow us to build obstacles and we've talked with them about adding some things to the park as well.
T - I really love to see Blader built objects in contests. It really shows the flavor we bring to those spaces to no one else does. Looking back, if you could do one thing differently than you did on this first run, what would that be?
B - If I could do one thing different it would be to focus more on the event, and take some more pics of my own. Other than that I wouldn't change a thing!
T - Do you guys have anything going on in 2020 still in the Northeast or beyond?
B - Yeah! Right now we have a Prail best trick comp going on on IG, winner receives a pair of wish frames and $100. And if all the coronavirus stuff slows down save the date June 23, 2020! Ruckus in Rhode Island street comp hosted by the guys who brought you KOTN!!
T - It’s really enlightening to people who might want to create their own events similar to King of the North in the future. Hopefully your pioneering can help guide them in some of the pitfalls and planning required to get things going, so I’m really grateful for the candid responses. Thanks so much for your time!
B - Thank you Travis and Blader Union! And a big thanks to Jeff, Matt, Don and everyone who came out and killed it! Couldn't have done it without you guys!
The Kings of the North
Photos by Paul Yacovone
