Any event boasting national recognition arouses my expectations…

The National Action Sports Show is an event sponsored, among others, by Eastpak and Relentless (increasingly popular energy drink) whose riders came over from across the Pond to take it in turns to session the Vert Ramp, double mini ramp or single mini ramp which, given our country’s recent drenching, were lucky to escape being written off as we wandered the site in sunshine, dodging young skaters weaving in and out of the crowds trying to master kick flips over a variety of objects!

This event revolves around BMXing and skateboarding; if your happy whiling your time away viewing these two technical albeit risky activities, content with watching the moves of predominantly amateur riders, interspersed teasingly with the throw downs of the professionals, then there’s no reason why NASS wont appeal…Unless, a) You tire from ‘much of the same’ for more than 24 hours (in which case don’t contemplate a whole weekend/72 hour pass), or b) You don’t mind sharing your enthusiasm with an infestation of underage teenagers (the genuine enthusiasm for the sports among all the girlie girls parading around I would render rather dubious…!).

As we strolled in I got the distinct impression that this years NASS was not going to be unlike previous years as I’d been informed prior to the occasion that about 95% of its visitors tend to be under 18. Without this forewarning I think I would have been seriously disillusioned with it being a national event and all and knowing how many skaters/BMXers there are in Bristol alone that are in their 20s and 30s: The entire time I could see the potential the event had to appeal to an older crowd if marketed that way…But then providing for the more mature client would probably mean seriously stepping up their game, for example, before we became aware of the trendy private bar exclusive to the press and athletes, we were forced to share the one main bar with a load of underage drinkers and then the queue into the private bar with a load of underage drinkers…and that’s just not what you want!

By the same token, I wanted to see more from the pros…I suspect that a lot of older riders who have grown up watching the progress of Bristol’s professional skater Danny Wainright, and who themselves have at some time or another, perfected tricks the kids are still practising, so in other words have a bit of the ‘seen it all before’ syndrome, would probably not be thrilled to see amateur riding ruling the ramps of a no higher standard than that taking place in the local skate parks scattered around Bristol. The entertainment outside of the ‘pro-park’, also didn’t seem to provide for the older aficionados! I’m not convinced a fairground, bouncy castle and bungee drop, quite cuts it…And then there’s the cuisine; there’s only so much pricey junk food and milk shakes an adult body can consume without vomit in 24 hours let alone in 72…

On the other hand, choosing our campsite was simple: In the main area, tents belonging to hundreds of horny, pubescent teenagers (no doubt doubly excited as they revel in their first camping experience without their parents), were swallowed up by the thumping pop sounds of the fairground less than 100 yards away, whereas the family area was proclaimed on the official NASS website, to be a NO NOISE zone. Naturally we grown-ups chose the latter! This may have been the lesser of two evils but was still very much an evil, as not having settled until 3am, the whole campsite were crudely awoken at 6am to the vulgarities of a large family wallowing in profound selfishness…Having been told to “fuck off” when asking them politely but firmly “…if they would mind keeping it down a bit…”, two unsuspecting girls got the blame for my big mouth by having their tent tormented by these Westcountry Oiks. Revenge was but sweet however and came in the shape of two burly security guards made aware of the arsehole family by my body guards (the unsuspecting girls, blissfully unaware of this, their new title!) who screeched up in their van and told only two of the scumbags, they had 3 minutes to leave. Result!…Until two hours later when the big mouth mother started up again. The family zone…definitely NOT A NO NOISE zone…Put that on your website and suck on it!

The massive indoor ramp park (pro-park) provided one of the focal points for the festival attracting a mass of riders and spectators alike…riders took their turns at showing off their skills with qualifying rounds taking place on the Saturday, with Sunday seeing the culmination of the competitions. Tiring of this attraction, visitors could take a wander through another indoor area housing a number of clothing/accessories stalls, more of which lined the walkways through the festival outside, although disappointingly with not enough discounts for my liking. Outside of the ramp areas, riders celebrated the versatility of the sports on the flat, pulling off technical tricks both on bikes and boards at the admiration of the many onlookers chilling in the sunshine…

What the welcome but sporadic sunshine could not make up for unfortunately was the cancellation of a lot of the antics that were supposed to be going on in the National Bike Show arena including the mountain bike trials and mountain bike dirt jumping, or the Moto Cross jumping…at least none were scheduled by the time we left mid Saturday afternoon and it may well have been the addition of these events which would have enticed us to stay longer.

Granted, NASS is not a music festival, but this was an element we decided could seriously have livened things up especially at an action sports show where music is so important for people to get their stoke on! Drum & Bass and Punk Rock blared out from the Vert and Mini Ramp areas outside and there were three large indoor music arenas which didn’t seem to be utilised until much later in the day: The main stage saw Goldie Lookin’ Chain and The Charlatans play on Friday and Saturday evenings, who definitely got the crowd buzzing off them and another super cool addition to the event was the Break Dancing stage, where male and female dancers thrilled the crowd during their funky dance offs…

But it just seemed to me, that the entertainment wasn’t as entertaining as it could have been, and as an intrigued, ‘action sports’ enthusiast, I was disappointed to feel ready to leave in less than 24 hours in; I think the most disappointing thing was the lack of action at the National Action Sports Show!

But, then again, we were very lucky with the weather. Goodness I’m showing my age.

Fran Hardy