Bowl Bash back after break

13 Feb, 2023

JULIA WADE

Mangawhai’s favourite playground was a popular destination over the recent Waitangi Day Weekend, as hundreds of spectators headed to the park skate bowl venue to be entertained by daring acts and gravity-defying antics on four little wheels.

After a year’s hiatus due to 2022 Covid restrictions, the retitled Mangawhai Bowl Bash celebrated its first event on February 4 at Mangawhai Activity Zone [MAZ] taking over from the Mangawhai Bowl Jam which had run annually for ten years.

The skate event has been taken over by new organisers, Irrom Skateboard Distribution owners Andrew ‘Morri’ Morrison (an ex-professional skateboarder) and wife Shiree, and No Limits Surf and Skate Mangawhai owners Evan King and Nicole Seyle, with some ‘behind-the-scenes help’ from ex-professional skateboarder Dave Crabb and wife Victoria.

“The Mangawhai Bowl Jam was ten years deep when Jesse Peters decided he no longer wanted to run the event so we collectively decided to change the name and carry on,” says Andrew Morrison.

With the MAZ committee being ‘very helpful in accommodating our requirements and providing an awesome location at what’s widely regarded as the best bowl in the country,’ the Bowl Bash team aim to attract the best kiwi skaters from around the nation to future events to compete against each other.

“We have competitors of all ages from 7–53-years-old and in some cases parents with their kids skate alongside each other. It’s a time of year where skaters book out leave from work and head to Mangawhai to either skate or enjoy the days ripping.”

The Mangawhai Bowl Bash aims to bring the best skateboarders to the best skate bowl in the country. PHOTO/HARRISON PHOTOGRAPHY