Riley Harris Raw at the 2015 Catalina Island Classic

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The Catalina Classic has become an annual tradition and riders from around the world flock to compete in the Southern California Island Paradise. A crew from Vancouver, Canada packed up their car to journey down the coast to the event. Riley Harris, still itching to race after his trip to Puerto Rico in January (read his Quicky reports here), tells us about the trip and shares a raw run from the Open Semi Finals.

Riley represents Landyachtz Longboards, Bear Trucks, Hawgs Wheels, Edge Boardshop, and Hillside Gear. Photos courtesy of Riley Harris and NWest Media.

Myself, Danny Carlson, Kurtis Dawe, and Daniel Holdsworth packed up the not-large-enough orange Dodge Neon and began the trip. In true Vancouver style, it was raining, so good thing we were heading to the land of sun.

We breezed over the border into ‘MURICA!!

It takes about 24 hours to drive from Vancouver to Long Beach to catch the ferry to the island. We all took shifts driving to make the drive non-stop and the least horrible it could be. Kurtis fell asleep at the wheel…

Okay not actually.

We didn’t make many stops but this had to happen.

The drive went smooth; no tickets and no drama. We rolled into the SkateHouse for the night in LA. We smelled, we were hungry, and we were sick of each other. We decided to celebrate conquering all those miles with some chicken and waffles at Roscoe’s.

On the way to board the racer’s ferry, we stopped to get supplies. Kurt bought himself a barbers kit and gave himself a haircut. Good on ya bud!

The skaters took over the ferry terminal and Brandon Tissen practiced his flip tricks.

Dustin Hampton had to chase this little guy down after he stole his skateboard.

We boarded the ferry and headed to the island!

It’s gosh darn beautiful on Santa Catalina Island. The event was about to begin!

I made Marisa Nunez pose for the camera. Look closely at that photo though…

Riding had begun and I managed to snap a shot mid start. Looks like we have Zak Maytum, Matt K, and Bill Rice on the line, among others.

On the first day we saw practice runs and finished it off with some qualifying heats, eliminating some of the field of riders. The runs we’re awesome and I captured some great footage. Keep your eyes peeled on the web and #rileyreels to check them out in due time. In the mean time peep the Skate[Slate] Raw Run from the Semi Finals.

On race day, Tyler Howell sizes up the bracket.

Racing got started and the competition was fierce.

I raced my way into the semi-finals with Troy Yardwaste, Max Capps, and Tyler Howell. Check out the raw clip of the heat right here.

The day came to an end. Emily Pross and Kevin Reimer came out victorious.

Full results:

Women’s Class

Emily Pross

Marie Spoky Woky

Victoria Waddington

Alicia Filback

Open Class

Kevin Reimer

Dillon Stephens

Troy Yardwaste

Tyler Howell

The weekend hosted parties, epic racing, and tons of sunshine that we barely remember cause it was all a dream. Our crew hit the ferry full of memories and bid the island farewell, hopefully only until next year.

Thanks again to NWestMedia for some of the photos, please give them a follow: https://instagram.com/nwestmedia/

Until next year folks!

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