Courses and seating for the Dew Tour Pantech Open are under construction on Tuesday in Ocean City. Events begin today with the free Festival Village opening at 11 a.m. and the Skateboard Vert Qualifier at 12:30 p.m., along with the BMX Park Qualifier at 1:30 p.m., Skateboard Bowl Qualifier at 5 p.m. and BMX Vert Qualifier at 5:30 p.m. / LAURA EMMONS/WORCESTER COUNTY TIMES
OCEAN CITY -- The Dew Tour's inaugural stop in Ocean City begins today and lasts through Sunday, bringing action sports galore to a resort town thrilled by all the attention.
More than 40 of the world's premiere action sports competitors will be in town to take part in skateboarding, BMX and the nationwide tour's first-ever surfing competition. NBC is scheduled to televise finals in two competitions, airing Dew Tour coverage from 3-5 p.m. Saturday, during the BMX park finals, and from 4-6 p.m. on Sunday, for the skateboard vert finals, according to event organizers.
Points are up for grabs at the Pantech Open in BMX park and vert competitions, skateboard vert and the new skateboard bowl competition. A Dew Cup champion will be crowned in each category at the tour's final stop this October in Las Vegas. The traveling tour lands in Portland, Ore. in August and Salt Lake City in September.
Jamie Bestwick has dominated the BMX vert competition, winning the Dew Cup every year since the tour's inception seven years ago. He'll start the competition with a bull's eye on his back this evening in the vert qualifier. The qualifying rounds for each of the on-land competitions will take place today.
"It's difficult when the best guys in the world are hunting you down," said Bestwick. "I have to fend off everybody, so I really have to be kind of creative and rely on my experience in order to make my riding better than everyone else's day-to-day."
Bestwick is up against the likes of Chad Kagy and Francisco Zurita in the vert competition, which concludes with a final Sunday afternoon. It comes before the skateboard vert final, where Shaun White, Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist and Andy Macdonald are likely finalists.
Skateboard vert semifinals will take place Friday afternoon, and BMX vert semi's are slated for Saturday afternoon.
Lasek, Burnquist and MacDonald will also participate in the skateboard bowl competition, and will make it to the finals Saturday evening if they qualify for and make it through the semifinal round Friday afternoon.
Veteran and course designer Ryan Nyquist will pit his experience against younger riders Jeremiah Smith and Brett Banasiewicz in the BMX park competition, with semifinals Friday and finals Saturday.
Since the Pantech Open is the first Dew Tour stop in a coastal site, the organizers have opted to include a tow-at-surf surfing competition scheduled for Friday evening. Vince Boulanger, a hometown boy who graduated from Stephen Decatur in 2007, will participate in the contest along with surfers Kolohe Andino and brothers Eric and Evan Geiselman.
Bestwick looks forward to the competition, but also to interacting with the fans, he said, something many of the competitors get to do at the tour's Festival Village, which is free and open to the public during most of the long weekend. The athletes congregate there for autograph signings, and representatives from sponsors like Toyota, Pantech and, of course, Mountain Dew will have booths set up where they'll be giving out free swag and hosting a slew of other attractions.
"When the contest is going on it's a huge dogfight, but when it's over that's when you get to take in the surroundings and really get a feel for how appreciative the fans are," Bestwick said.
A free concert headlined by hip-hop artist Kid Cudi will take place Saturday evening following the skateboard bowl final, as well.
While Ocean City is accustomed to hosting substantial events in the summer, the Dew Tour is bigger than most, slated for live television coverage and heavily corporately sponsored. The mayor, Rick Meehan, has talked about nothing else on his Twitter feed since July 9. "Today we begin the 48 hour count down before the Dew Tour begins," he Tweeted Tuesday.
smuska@dmg.gannett.com
410-213-9442, ext. 14
More than 40 of the world's premiere action sports competitors will be in town to take part in skateboarding, BMX and the nationwide tour's first-ever surfing competition. NBC is scheduled to televise finals in two competitions, airing Dew Tour coverage from 3-5 p.m. Saturday, during the BMX park finals, and from 4-6 p.m. on Sunday, for the skateboard vert finals, according to event organizers.
Points are up for grabs at the Pantech Open in BMX park and vert competitions, skateboard vert and the new skateboard bowl competition. A Dew Cup champion will be crowned in each category at the tour's final stop this October in Las Vegas. The traveling tour lands in Portland, Ore. in August and Salt Lake City in September.
Jamie Bestwick has dominated the BMX vert competition, winning the Dew Cup every year since the tour's inception seven years ago. He'll start the competition with a bull's eye on his back this evening in the vert qualifier. The qualifying rounds for each of the on-land competitions will take place today.
"It's difficult when the best guys in the world are hunting you down," said Bestwick. "I have to fend off everybody, so I really have to be kind of creative and rely on my experience in order to make my riding better than everyone else's day-to-day."
Bestwick is up against the likes of Chad Kagy and Francisco Zurita in the vert competition, which concludes with a final Sunday afternoon. It comes before the skateboard vert final, where Shaun White, Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist and Andy Macdonald are likely finalists.
Skateboard vert semifinals will take place Friday afternoon, and BMX vert semi's are slated for Saturday afternoon.
Lasek, Burnquist and MacDonald will also participate in the skateboard bowl competition, and will make it to the finals Saturday evening if they qualify for and make it through the semifinal round Friday afternoon.
Veteran and course designer Ryan Nyquist will pit his experience against younger riders Jeremiah Smith and Brett Banasiewicz in the BMX park competition, with semifinals Friday and finals Saturday.
Since the Pantech Open is the first Dew Tour stop in a coastal site, the organizers have opted to include a tow-at-surf surfing competition scheduled for Friday evening. Vince Boulanger, a hometown boy who graduated from Stephen Decatur in 2007, will participate in the contest along with surfers Kolohe Andino and brothers Eric and Evan Geiselman.
Bestwick looks forward to the competition, but also to interacting with the fans, he said, something many of the competitors get to do at the tour's Festival Village, which is free and open to the public during most of the long weekend. The athletes congregate there for autograph signings, and representatives from sponsors like Toyota, Pantech and, of course, Mountain Dew will have booths set up where they'll be giving out free swag and hosting a slew of other attractions.
"When the contest is going on it's a huge dogfight, but when it's over that's when you get to take in the surroundings and really get a feel for how appreciative the fans are," Bestwick said.
A free concert headlined by hip-hop artist Kid Cudi will take place Saturday evening following the skateboard bowl final, as well.
While Ocean City is accustomed to hosting substantial events in the summer, the Dew Tour is bigger than most, slated for live television coverage and heavily corporately sponsored. The mayor, Rick Meehan, has talked about nothing else on his Twitter feed since July 9. "Today we begin the 48 hour count down before the Dew Tour begins," he Tweeted Tuesday.
smuska@dmg.gannett.com
410-213-9442, ext. 14
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