BOWLZILLA Wellington – DATE CHANGE!!!

DUE TO CURRENT COVID RESTRICTIONS IN NEW ZEALAND WE HAVE POSTPONED THE FESTIVAL UNTIL NEW ZEALAND IS BACK IN ORANGE CODE. THE EVENT WILL RUN IN 2022 AS SOON AS EVERYTHING OPENS UP AGAIN. Please let everyone know. Follow @bowlzilla for updates.

Wellington is set to again be the Capital of Skateboarding with the return of BOWLZILLA Wellington once the current traffic light guidance changes from Red to Orange. Skateboarding New Zealand’s National Park Skating Championships will be roaring back bigger than ever to crown the Nation’s best skaters.

BOWLZILLA Wellington is the biggest gathering of skaters in New Zealand every year. The festival offers; parties, music, art shows, industry catch ups, governance meetings, barbecues, ramp jams, the competition and most importantly community. That is why the festival will run in 2022 as soon as soon as it is possible. And, it will be bigger and better than ever!

The initial goal of BOWLZILLA was to establish a foundational event that the New Zealand skating community could depend upon and utilise as a platform for all things skate every year without fail. The competition is what makes it all possible but the whole week of all the things is the point. That is why this year there is a couple of new gatherings being added to the permanent schedule.

In addition to; the Welcome Party, ARTZILLA, BOWLZILLA Wellington National Park Skating Championships, Dive In after party and the Karori Vert Jam and barbecue, a free women’s Learn To Ride clinic will be added at Waitangi Park during the week and some surprises with the inclusion of the more diverse creative outlets of New Zealand’s skate community for the art show. There are a few other awesome things to be announced once the date is finalised.

Last year BOWLZILLA Wellington was delayed three weeks due to a COVID lockdown and once it ran it was the largest gathering of skaters and fans from the regions that the event had ever seen. So upon return, this year will be even bigger and better as it will be the first truly National celebration of skating once the country goes back to Orange.

There are returning sponsors ensuring the Tech Deck 16 & Unders, Dickies Open, Masters and Yeah Gnar Women’s divisions will be just as spectacular as always and to make it more interesting Protec are doing a special prize for the hardest skating most spectacular slam of the day. The parties are getting a bit of extra wow this year that will be announced shortly and Wellington Skateboarding Association, Skateboarding New Zealand and Wellington City Council via its Community Events and Sports Event funding are lifting the week to even bigger heights. To top it all off there is international broadcast via the live webstream with an international media partner being announced shortly.

“Wellington City Council is excited to welcome back the annual BOWLZILLA Wellington event. Following the debut and success of so many incredible skaters at the Olympics, we look forward to seeing these athletes in action at the National Championships in the Capital. An incredible opportunity for our community to witness the skill of these skaters. To all of those competing at BOWLZILLA Wellington 2022 – we look forward to seeing you in action.” Mayor Andy Foster

Wellington City Council, Wellington Skateboarding Association, Redhead or Dead Events and Miryoku Agency have joined forces once again to bring this fantastic festival to the New Zealand skaters.

“There is no stopping New Zealand skating, which is why BOWLZILLA Wellington will be running in 2022 as soon as is possible. We have the usual full week of amazing with the parties, music, art, skating and friends and family but we are really stoked to be growing it this year with the free Women’s Learn to Ride clinic, some awesome additions to ARTZILLA from the creative geniuses at Manky Chops and some other very exciting announcements to come as we get closer. Skateboarding is a verb, so we can’t wait to get back to the action of it all as quickly as possible. Be ready to go because once we can, we will. See you all in Wellington soon.” BOWLZILLA Director – Chad Ford.

Depending on when the run date is possible, overseas friends may be able to return. BOWLZILLA will be working with everyone to make this possible with accommodation being provided by the legendary Cambridge Hotel, which will also be the daily gathering spot away from the bowl for the week.

BOWLZILLA was born out of likeminded friends in the skateboard community looking for new platforms to promote the extraordinary talents of their friends, talents that run in oversupply within skateboarding but are not often seen in the outside world. BOWLZILLA Wellington is the biggest platform for showcasing all of this amazing talent in skateboarding in New Zealand. There is an open invite for everyone to come and be part of the celebration.

There will be more information coming shortly about all the great events and sponsorships happening as part of BOWLZILLA Wellington 2022.

Dates: Competition; Festival events 2022 ANNOUNCING SOON

Event info: TBC – coming soon!

2022: Women’s Learn to Ride clinic – Waitangi Park Skatepark - FREE

2022: Welcome Party – The Cambridge Hotel

2022: ARTZILLA

2022: BOWLZILLA™ Wellington competition – Waitangi Park, Wellington

2022: Dive In – official after party

2022: Karori Vert Jam, Ian Galloway Park, Karori, Wellington

BOWLZILLA CAPITAL RAISING

Wellington City Council, Redhead or Dead Events, Skateboarding New Zealand and Miryoku Agency raised the Capital with the New Zealand 2019 National Park / Bowl Skating Championships with BOWLZILLA Wellington.

SBNZ made sure the New Zealand National Skateboarding Park / Bowl competition series was the best run, attended and most unexpected fun so far. The level of all parts of the festival were raised higher this year with great success.

Weather is always a factor in Wellington but nothing gets in the way of a determined skater. With the rain finally coming down after three months of unprecedented sun in Wellington and only allowing Open heats to be run at the bowl a quick decision had to be made. Manky Chops Gallery generously offered their awesome new mini ramp that was built for Manky Deck-Aid to be utilised to its fullest, and MINIZILLA was born. The Women, Masters and 16 & Unders all finished out the event riding indoors with a format change that proved incredibly fun and popular.

Manky Chops and BOWLZILLA have a fantastic partnership going back many years which is focused around ARTZILLA every year as part of the BOWLZILLA Wellington festival. This year the Manky Chops team went above and beyond with their ten-year anniversary show; Deck-Aid, which saw 100 skateboard decks painted and sculpted by as many artists especially for the exhibition, with a huge part of the proceeds going to several worthy charities. As part of this they also custom built a mini ramp which ended up saving the day and elevating the fun and comradery to unexpected levels. Congratulations Dave, Pearl and the family for all you’ve achieved and give back.

Thanks to Yeah Gnar this is the second year of BOWLZILLA Wellington being the largest Equality in Skateboarding event in New Zealand. This support has really seen the talent in the Women’s division develop exponentially. Regardless of the Olympics and whatever else lay ahead, the emerging Women’s skateboard scene is having the most positive impact on skateboarding in a long time. The fact that it is part of the whole of BOWLZILLA Wellington makes the festival that much more fun and important for the community.

The New Zealand National Champions for 2019 are; Women – Rhya Henare, 16 & Under – Rimus Henare, Pabst Masters – Steve Crump, Open – Shaun Boucher.

The interest in skateboarding is growing and that could clearly be seen by the doubling of competitors in the 16 & Unders, and larger fields for the other divisions. Pabst Blue Ribbon beer generously stepped up this year to support the Pabst Masters division and all the other sponsors and encouragers ensured a larger level of support for all the skaters and should all be thanked for the generosity: Wellington City Council, Skateboarding NZ, Manual Magazine, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, Fusion Surf / Skate, Skullcandy, Irrom Distribution, GoPro, Vans, Manky Chops, Red Bull, Redhead Or Dead Events and Miryoku Agency. Because of all of them there was NZ$12,000 in prize money and more than $2000 worth of prizes. Every competitor was over the moon to be able to benefit from the biggest prize pool in New Zealand.

BOWLZILLA Wellington 2019 placings:

OPEN

1 Jakob Robinson

2 Shaun Boucher – New Zealand Champion

2 Jett De Haan

4 Bowman Hansen

5 Josh Wilson

6 Chris Wood

7 Barry Taniwha

8 Chris Curran

9 Mike Bancfroft

10 Brodie Jarret

11 Jordan Nunns

12 Felix McZiveneg

13 Tyler Holdsworth

14 Brent Muskat

15 Shannon Boyd

16 Orson Reynolds

17 Luke Hayward

18 James Tuckey

19 Ned Simpson

20 Patrick Moessen

21 Ken Maaka Pakaariki

22 Scott Wilkinson

23 Kyle Monaghan

24 Callum McInnes

WOMEN

1 Taniah Myers

2 Paula Costales

3 Rhya Henare – New Zealand Champion

4 Ela Poynter

5 Krysta Ashwell

6 Poppy-Joe Garratt

7 Allanah Wilson

8 Georgia Hudson

9 Amanda Perrin

PABST MASTERS

1 Stephen Crump – New Zealand Champion

2 Ramon Thackwell

3 Dave Crabb

4 Kevin Moran

5 Eddie Elguera

6 Von Griffin

7 Tony Chavez

8 Aaron Animal Bell

9 Nic Couscouris

10 Robin Oneleg

11 Mason Lockyer

16 & Under

1 Zane Hetherington

2 Rimus Henare – New Zealand Champion

3 Mitch Jordan

4 Joshua Godward

5 Rico Henare

6 Niwa Shewry

7 Leroy French

8 Max Hancock

9 Ephram Stocks

10 Zedyn Fellows

11 Isaiah Godfrey

12 Monty Graham

13 Felix Griffin

14 Carter Williams

15 Orlando Dreaneen

16 Jake Harris

17 Dax De Haan

“BOWLZILLA upheld its reputation of pulling a great crowd of spectators and skaters committed to having fun, in spite of the tumultuous Wellington weather this weekend! Kudos to the community for their versatility and perseverance – the future of New Zealand Skateboarding looks Bright!” Ramon Thackwell – Director, SBNZ.

There was a much larger attendance of internationals this year which really raised the excitement and energy of the locals. Jakob Robinson, Jett De Haan, Brodie Jarret, Brent Muscat, Taniah Myers, Paula Costales, Kevin Moran, Tony Chavez, Nic Couscouris, Zane Hetherington, Dax De Haan and Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Elguera who is considered one of the greatest skateboarders of all time and Tony Hawk’s major influence.

"The fourth year of BOWLZILLA Wellington saw us able to offer greater support to the skaters and generate more interest and opportunity. The newly energised SBNZ board is a real game changer for what we are now able to do for our community and that was reflected in the new support from sponsors and larger attendance. Wellington is one the greatest little cities in the world and being able to work with Wellington City Council in the ways we do to create a festival like BOWLZILLA Wellington which has such great community impact is what encourages us to keep the forward motion. We’re very grateful and humbled for everyone’s support and look forward to many more years of great times for all.” Chad Ford – Director, BOWLZILLA Wellington.

Stay tuned for announcements about BOWLZILLA Wellington 2020.