After seeing the Dime Glory Challenge progress over the past two years, we knew it was finally time to take a trip up north to Montreal and see what the French Canadians had to offer.

Similar to Copenhagen Pro the skaters are there to win some money all while leaving the pressure and stigma of a regular contest behind. There’s no scoring or timed runs, just a series of fun skate challenges that seem like they’re pulled out of a 14-year-old’s sketch book. It’s hard to even call this a contest after being there, it’s more along the lines of a reckless party with a little bit of “big” skating and a lot of bodily harm.

The trip from Jenkem HQ to Montreal was about 8 hours with traffic. Luckily we smoked all of our weed before we got to the border because of course when the Canadian Boarder Officers saw three skaters, they held us up and gave the car a search. Some things never change.

Pulling up to the event, the scene was very stereotypical—kids skating in the parking lot, older dudes throwing back a few beers, and pretty much everyone else smoking a few joints. The biggest surprise was when the skaters in the contest pulled up in big yellow school buses, followed by friends, family, and clouds of weed smoke.

Dime was started on a whim by a crew of Canadians that have skated together since they were kids. This contest is a good example of Dime being one of the most carefree companies in skateboarding by doing whatever they please and making stuff up as they go along. I think the future of this contest has a lot of potential because it isn’t weighed down by it’s history, unlike something like Tampa Pro.

Not to bash Tiago Lemos too hard, but damn, Wade Desarmo wiped the floor with him. I think the introduction ceremony and arm wrestling match lasted longer than the actual Game of S.K.A.T.E. While I was watching the onslaught of tricks from Wade, some heavy set drunk dude with “speed shades” on talked shit to Wade every time he skated by. I enjoy shit talking as much as the next guy, but a rule of thumb for trash talk: you have to be coherent for anyone to actually know you’re shit talking them.

I’ve been to Montreal a few times, and every time someone that doesn’t skate asks if I’ve been to the bar with the bowl in it. Unlike in America, there are no waivers to be signed or rules to follow, it’s just a full blown self-policing bowl. If you want to skate and you’re blacked out, fuck it! Maybe it’s the socialized medicine or the lack of care. I don’t know, I couldn’t tell.

All weekend long St. Laurent Boulevard (the block where you can get drunk at the bars, buy weed from complete strangers, and bother chicks/dudes to take home) was closed off from cars and was free for the public to walk around and enjoy the bars, stores, and restaurants. I was under the assumption that this meant you could drink a beer while wondering the streets, which is why I was so taken aback when the bouncer from THR bar walked by me on the street and took my recently cracked PBR and called me an idiot.

For those that thought this was just a “Kickflip The Giant Gap” contest, you’re not alone. It took me a minute to realize the Volcano Challenge was a low-key Steve Berra diss disguised as a challenge.

Apparently Scientologists believe that at one point Xenu, the dictator of the Galactic Federation brought millions of his people to Earth and then killed them in volcanos (or something like that), so to stir up some more Berra drama, DC and Dime made this obstacle. To be honest, I was a little let down, the original impression I had was the skaters would be kickflipping through flames over the gap, and to me, seeing someone’s pants catch fire could be as fun as the actual skating.

The women in Montreal make the trip up there worth it alone. In some of our experiences, we found the girls to be much warmer and down to chat than BK chicks. Not to mention that the overall standard was pretty crazy. To put it into perspective, a Brooklyn 9 is a Montreal 7.

It was almost a guarantee that on the last challenge of the day people were going to eat shit ollieing over something at the bottom of a roll-in, which explains why so many skaters opted out of this race.

Our editor, Alexis, has been telling us for a while that he looks like Stevie Perez, and I never thought anything of it. That was until we were getting drinks at the bar and I finally got to see the two standing side by side. We need to make a Before and After meme with this pic.

The sumo ring portion reminded me of the old American Gladiator challenges, and I was just waiting for someone to come out in an American and Canadian flag spandex onesie and start beating people with a giant foam Q-tip.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Jake Johnson, one of the most mysterious people in skateboarding, and even if he only skated in a few events and nearly took T-Funks head off, seeing him skate made the trip to Montreal that much sweeter.

If you don’t know who Joe Valdez is, then you should check this out. Watching people skate the gap from the double set to the skinny ledge was incredible, and some dudes truly ate it. But the real highlight of the challenge was when Tyshawn was trying the gap at its largest distance, and instead of walking up the double set to get back to the roll-in, he casually popped up the double set and pushed towards the roll-in. A very overlooked moment of the contest.

It’s crazy that Joe Valdez, the dude who used to skate and look like this, now looks like a recent divorcé that’s trying to pick up chicks in his bright yellow Mazda Miata while blowing vape clouds.

Sunday was the recovery day for most people, but there were still some psychos that were able to drink more beer in two nights than I think I’ve drank so far this year (I know, I’m soft) and still get some tricks on a death defying hill bomb and at the famous Peace Park for the Steve Berra Challenge.

I had the same reactions all weekend long as this little kid. Dime proved to skateboarding that you can dork around with your friends, come up with a fantasy like competition, and make skating look more fun than anything else in the world.

Videos: Alexis Castro
Photos: Alexis Castro & Alex Raspa
Rushed captions: Larry Lanza
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