Vans x Dime Glory Challenge Recap
Skating has always had a complicated relationship with structure. The magic of the sport resists professionalization. Many large skate events feel hollow, like they lack the essence of what makes the activity special. But the Dime Glory Challenge, which, in partnership with Vans, celebrated its tenth anniversary this weekend, has no such issue. It's an event born of the skate community, made for skaters and by skaters.
The Dime Glory Challenge was founded as a large-scale skate event that would retain the heart and soul of skate. In 2015, the inaugural Dime Glory Challenge was hosted in a Montreal warehouse by a tight-knit group of skaters who were interested in creating a new sort of competition.
There would be no judges’ table, no pencil-wagging officials. It was about fun, spectacle, and inventive challenges. Over time the event has grown, and slowly become a part of the annual skate calendar for athletes and fans alike.
The Dime Glory Challenge has always featured creative ways to test the ability of riders, and this year was no different. Hosted in Montreal’s IGA Stadium, the event was composed of five challenges: A ‘Volcano Challenge’ featuring a flame-spitting spine ramp; the ‘Valdez Challenge’ where riders flew down a steep ramp that ended in narrow ledge attack; the ‘Pyramid Challenge’ that four skaters could partake in at once on a single pyramid ramp; the ‘Dodgeball Challenge’ where skaters and audience alike threw dodgeballs at anyone brave enough to attempt a trick; and the ‘Big Bank Challenge’ featuring a massive rail setup down a very big bank.
These challenges are not scored in any sort of conventional manner. The crowd’s audible reaction was feedback enough. A DJ played throughout the event, and the emcee was more focused on keeping the energy up than color commentary.
Vans, who presented the event, also brought a prominent team of skaters to participate. Pedro Barros, Una Farrar, Elijah Berle, Nick Michel, Geoff Rowley, Diego Todd, Curren Caples, Breana Geering, Tristen Funkhouser, Ruby Lilley, Lizzie Armanto, Rome, Doobie, ET, Daiki, Junior, Max Wasungu and Leon Chapdelaine were all in active attendance. Vans also released a collaborative Stub shoe with Dime for the event.
Of course, when you bring a huge group of skaters together into one place for the weekend, there are bound to be some extracurricular activities. All across the city of Montreal, underground skate activations popped up, from hill bombing to making use of the edges in a public square.
These sorts of organic outgrowths of the Dime Glory Challenge speak to who it is for: people who love skating. It’s not an attempt to commercialize the sport into something that could play on ESPN, or generate new sneaker deals. Dime Glory asks the question: what would a massive skate event thrown by real skaters look like? The answer is a hell of a lot of fun.
