Underexposed by Amelia Brodka at the Rocky Mountain Rampage skate contest

Rocky Mountain Rampage 2012: The Skatepark

The Rocky Mountain Rampage 2012 that took place over the week-end at Memorial Skatepark is a wrap here are all the results and highlights.

This week end, the kudos need to go to 15 year-old skater Jono Schwan. Not only he was instrumental in bringing the World Cup Skateboarding (WCS) apparatus to the ramp just one month after its grand opening, but he managed to bring some of the best bowl and vert skaters around, skaters even came from France just to participate to the event.

Jono Schwan, the organizer of the contest

Nothing could have happened without the help of Jono Schwan and Sk8-Strong; the non-profit organization he founded just for this. After the contest, he simply said: "Just to have something like this ramp I'm standing on right now here in Colorado is just incredible, and it's the result of two years of fundraising and hard work from a whole lot of people," he added that "To be able to host a World Cup Skateboarding event like this, and then to come out and win it... it's humbling. I haven't even processed it yet. More than anything I'm just super excited to have so many people out here enjoying this ramp and this event I've been working so hard on."

Jono Schwan is also having the time of his life. An awesome timing indeed: after coming up through the vert amateurs contest over the last few years Schwan made his pro X Games debut in Los Angeles in July 2012, competing in both Vert and Big Air. He also competed in the Dew Tour and is poised to be one of the pillars of bowl and vert in the future:

Jono Schwan

on Saturday Schwan put the cherry on top, beating out Zachary Rose and Marcelo Bastos to win the WCS Rocky Mountain Rampage vert finals.

The contest was also noticeable because of the girl’s Vert and Bowl. The WCS Rocky Mountain Rampage is the only women's vert contest on the World Cup circuit this year, especially since Vans decided to “postpone” the Women’s Combi Classic originally scheduled in November. The WCS Rocky Mountain Rampage was also the first pro women's vert contest held since X Games dropped the discipline in 2010.

Girl's podium

Nineteen year-old skateboarder Lizzie Armanto beat out three-time X Games gold medalist Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins Pastrana and Allysha Bergado (also an X Games veteran) on Saturday on the vert ramp even if that was the first time she entered a ramp contest simply because … there have been no other girls’ vert contests in years!!

"I'm super, super stoked and I can't explain how amazing it feels," Lizzie Armanto said. “Hopefully there's going to be more women's vert events to come, because there are a lot of little girls coming up and I'd love to see them come shred and kill it and bring women's vert back."

In the bowl division Lizzie Armanto was back in the air on Sunday, beating out BFF Allysha Bergado and Lyn-Z

Master's Podium

Adams Hawkins Pastrana. Lizzie Armanto was going through long smith grinds through the park's large round bowl section, and feeble grinds to fakie in the tighter square bowl pocket, skating like she owned the place with stretched out frontside inverts and huge Indy airs despite spending much of her warm-up time this weekend on the vert ramp. That Lizzie won the bowl was not really a surprise, she and Allysha Bergado are always together and one has been feeding the other with props , so for the past 2 years or so, it’s either one of them on the top of the podium…

On the other hand, Joshua Rodriguez of Banning, Calif. won the men's pro bowl final even if "It was hard at first getting used to the altitude, but as I kept skating it started to feel better," Rodriguez told ESPN.com after the competition.

Joshua Rodriguez landed #1

Josh Rodriguezdid many amazing lines and tricks, including a frontside bluntslide in the deep end of the round pool, f/s rock and roll board slide through the deep corner, backside and f/s smith grinds, varial lein, f/s boneless, b/s tail slide, and even a Mctwist just after the time ran out!!!! The crowd went wild!!! Colorado Springs local Tony Marle took second, and Michael Brooklyn, from Montclair, Calif., took third. Derek Scott, from Salida, Colo., and Bryce Stark, another Colorado Springs local, rounded out the five-man finals.

Travis Rivera from Spun Skateboards took the #1 spot again in the pool, having one of the best weekends of his life. Powell Peralta team rider Morgan

Josh Rodriguez and the podium

Wolf from the Westside of Los Angeles skated fast and hard to finish in 2nd, and 9 year old Hosoi team rider Evan Doherty from Kansas city, Mo, made history at the park by doing seven 540s in a row to take the 3rd spot!

Bones Brigade legend Mike McGill ripped hard to take the master's division after flying in from a screening of Stacy Peralta's new documentary "Bones Brigade: An Autobiography" in Montreal, Canada the day before the contest. He ended up beating out Curt Baker -- one of the Team Pain crew members who helped build Memorial Skatepark -- and Colorado Springs local Rob Ehlers to top the podium.

"If it wasn't for a young skater named Jono, I wouldn't be here," McGill told ESPN, after the competition. Jono Schwan, 15, is the founder of Sk8-Strong, the Colorado Springs non-profit that helped get the vert ramp open at Memorial Skatepark open last month and helped bring the World Cup Skateboarding crew to Colorado. Scwhan also took a well deserved 1st place in the pro vert comp by spinning 720s, many 540 variations and flip tricks.
Mike Gill added that "Jono found me on Facebook and said, 'Mike I think you should come to our event,' and he was so earnest and reminded me so much of myself at that age that I said, 'alright, I'm coming.' I had a lot of fun: this is a great bowl, a great skatepark, and a great skateboarding community they have here in Colorado Springs. It's really inspiring to see it."

Jono Schwan

Rocky Mountain Rampage Pro Final Results:

1. Joshua Rodriguez Banning, CA $1,400
2. Tony Marle Colorado Springs, CA $800
3. MIchael Brookman Montclair, CA $700
4. Derek Scott Salida, CO $600
5. Bryce Stark Colorado Springs, CA $500

Rocky Mountain Rampage Girls Bowl Finals Results:

1. Lizzie Armanto 19 Santa Monica, CA $800
2. Allysha Bergado 16 El Segundo, CA $500
3. Lyn -Z Pastrana 22 Cardiff by the Sea, CA $400
4. Justyce Tabor 16 Seaside, OR $200

Beautiful Rocky Mountain pic by Nate McDonald. see more at http://www.natemcphotos.com/

5. Amelia Brodka 23 Nowa Sarzyna, POL $100

Rocky Mountain Rampage Amateur 15 & under results:

1. Travis Rivera 12 - Indian Wells, CA
2. Morgan Wolf 13 - Los Angeles, CA
3. Evan Doherty 9 - Greenwood, MO
4. Charlie Martin 13 - Castle Rock, CO
5. Rad Pinckard 15 - Chandler, AZ
6. Bobo Kuamoo 13 - Nana Kuli, Hawaii
7. Justin Rivera 15 -Indian Wells, CA
8. Shea Donovan 14 - Salida, CO

Rocky Mountain Rampage Masters Bowl Results:

1. Mike McGill $1,000
2. Curt Baker $800
3. Robert Ehlers $600
4. Rob Miller $400
5. Tom Kilroy $200
6. Chris Rapp
7. Dave Duncan

Rocky Mountain Rampage 2012: Mens Vert Results:

1. Jonathan Schwan $1,400
2. Zachary Rose $800
3. Marcelo Bastos $700
4. Joshua Rodriguez $600
5. MIchael Brookman $500
6. Mike Owen
7. Sky Siljeg
8. Rad Pinckard
9. Jordan Richter
10. Chris Patton

Rocky Mountain Rampage 2012: Girls Vert Results:

1. Lizzie Armanto
2. Lyn Z Adams Hawkins Pastrana
3. Allysha Bergado
4. Amelia Brodka
5. Nicole Noller
6. Franziska Stolz
7. Spencer Breaux

Additional reading

- Lizzie Armanto Interview with isTia.Tv
- Lyn Z Adams Interview with isTia.Tv
- Allysha Bergado Interview with isTia.Tv
- Amelia Brodka Interview with isTia.Tv

All pictures from Sasha at World Cup Skateboarding. Check the WCS website for more pics and forthcoming results!!