The first stop of the Downtown Throwdown took place in Seattle, Washington over the weekend, and it couldn’t have been a more perfect day. Unusually sunny skies brought the crowds out to historic Pioneer Square to witness a brutal onslaught of jibbing chicanery by some of today’s best rail riders. Over 25 contestants battled it out for a $5,000 first place prize and in these tough economic times, no one was holding anything back. Riders were running up the stairs after each make, bail or slam for the entire 2-hour jam session to make sure the judges saw everything they had to offer. With a judging panel that included Vans Team Riders Zac Marben and Darrell Mathes, along with Johnny Lazz, LNP and Sean Genovese, the competitors had to come correct. It seemed like just about every combination of frontside and backside, switch and regular, 180s and 270s got put down by somebody at some point, along with some front, back and rodeo flips thrown in for good measure. When it was all said and done, Brandon Hobush walked away with the win and $5000.
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