Cowtown Showdown.

Get ready Columbus...

On Saturday, March 6th and Sunday, March 7th At Veterans Memorial the Arnold Sports Festival will be host to a skateboard contest. (Yes, this is the big weight lifting, meathead sports thing that happens every year...)This year they are throwing their hat in the ring of skateboarding. I was quite skeptical of the idea at first, but since I found out that the Arnold folks have placed the organization of the event on the shoulders of the highly motivated Tedd Cookerly (Resident) and Old Skool shop owner Wally Carl, I now have high hopes and expectations..If they can pull this off it'll be a great thing for the Columbus skate scene. If not, well we just wont't think about that....

Here is a description of the event from the Arnold Sports Festival Website:
A winner-take-all top shop contest. Four riders from each shop will battle it out on the Cow Town street course for all of the glory. Beginners and Advanced will also compete in contests for prizes in places first through third. An interactive Shop and Merchant trade show will flow throughout Veterans Memorial as fans of skateboarding from all around the country will get first peek at the newest trends and products in skateboarding.
Cow Town Showdown expects 20 to 30 shops and no less than 100 to 200 beginner and advanced participants in this two-day event. Saturday evening, Blueprint Skateboards will host a demonstration showcasing some of the top professional and amateur skaters in the world. Hundreds of fans from around the country will come to Veterans Memorial to witness skateboarding at its brightest and finest moment.

Check out the Flyer above as well as a sneak peak of the course (via Tedd's Twitter.
The friday before there will be a Blueprint Skateboards signing at Old Skool in Westerville, then miniramp contest at The Kickstand Pub that night. At some point during the weekend there will be a Blueprint/Resident demo.

I hope to have a list of skateshops who will be participating in the Top Shop Contest sometime soon.

I'll be posting further updates as I get them..

For more info:
http://arnoldsportsfestival.com/home/sports-and-events/skateboarding.html
http://www.residentskateboards.com/News.html