BOWLZILLA Gold Coast 2022 turned the tide

The event was postponed a week so friends and family could put their houses back together after the flooding, but beautiful Gold Coast came through to make sure their reunion celebrations were epic. Everyone had a fantastic week of celebrating in the epicenter of Australian skateboarding — the Gold Coast.

The festivities kicked off with the Yeah Girl Zine Making Workshop at Art-Work Agency. It was non-stop creativity flowing all night with some serious collaging action going down. Together we created a 16-page black and white zine that we handed out at the main event on Saturday.

The week of the big event began with the Yeah Girl Skate Session at Tugun Skate Park with Gold Coast Skateboard Coaching. Big thanks to everyone that came down to get in on the fun, learn new tricks, and hype everyone up! Izy Duncombe even joined us with her 1-year-old daughter, Bowie, padding up for the occasion.

Wednesday night saw the inaugural SALKZILLA event at Salk Oval Skate Park with an all-in jam session. Lots of sausages, tricks, and good vibes went down and the shoes even came off for the barefoot frontside 5050 challenge. Haylie Powell, Tora Waldren, Izy, Taniah Meyers, Isla Lillie Bower, and more of the ladies were in on the fun and collecting prizes for tricks.

Year after year we are blown away by the level of skating at BOWLZILLA and this year was no different. One stand out was Arisa Trew who returned this year with an entirely new bag of tricks including an invert down the escalator. Last year Arisa placed 10th and this year she took 2nd place, only narrowly missing the top spot by 6 points.

Reigning champion, Ruby Trew, once again took 1st place, holding onto the title of ASF National Park Skating Champion. With consistent 540s, judo airs and a very steezy layback front smith, Ruby continues to set the benchmark for women’s skateboarding in Australia.

One of the cool things about BOWLZILLA is that the event doesn’t just strive for equality in the bowl, but also on the deck and behind the scenes. Tora was back on the mic again this year, hyping up the crowd all day, and Kiowa Sioux, our official photographer, was capturing the action at every event throughout the week. Event Manager, Nikki Lovelace, was hustling behind the scenes and still never missed an opportunity to cheer everyone on and bring the good vibes.

Yeah Girl Women’s Division 2022 placings (equal cash prize purse with Open)

1 Ruby Trew – ASF National Park Skating Champion 2022
2 Arisa Trew
3 Heili Sirvio
4 Taniah Meyers
5 Anneka Lewis
6 Zahra Johns
7 Coco Crafter
8 Haylee Powell
9 Jada Ward
10 Mila Sirvio
11 Isla Lillie Bower
12 Tanisha Gardner
13 Tora Waldren
14 Mel NC
15 Chihiro Young
16 Marley Williams
17 Kayla Matthews
18 Olive Williams
19 Jazz Kennedy