Sydney City Bomb Squad's Cannonball Run

On Friday night, in the heart of the city of Sydney, the Sydney City Bomb Squad hosted the first annual Cannonball Run. This race is more of an 'urban assault', which consisted of pushing through busy streets and negotiation of the right line through packed traffic of not only pedestrians but also peak-hour traffic.
The race started on the corner of Oxford st and Centennial Park and saw about 25 keen skateboarders ready to unleash hell through the streets of Sydney. There were participants from far and wide including the regular SCBS crew, keen competitors from NACCOS, Kanufi and Jogger from the Old Skool Team, some participants from NZ, and also 'wild card' Rob McWhinnie who competed at Newton's Playground earlier this year.
The race was from Centential park, down and through the busy Friday night traffic of Oxford street, crossing over to Hyde park, which is the first checkpoint, before carrying on all the way down Macquarie st and into the Opera House carpark, which is a long 6 floor spiral that just keeps going and going untill your legs start to burn.
Staight off the start it was Rob Mcwhinnie closely followed by Jackson Shapiera with the Bomb Squad and NACCOS hot on their tail. The group was split early at the first major intersection where it was a close call between making it through the red light alive or not. Rob was holding the lead strong but Jackson used his downhill skills to draft him through the busy traffic of Oxford st and passing him before Hyde Park. However Jackson was met with a red light and decided to take the cautious route and wait for it to be clear before crossing, only to see Rob charging through without fear.
Rob once again had the lead closely followed by Jackson through Hyde park with not much sign of the others behind. It was an epic push battle through the park and down Macquarie street followed by a long downhill straight where Jackson once again stole the lead, before heading down into the Opera House carpark. The traffic was extremely busy due to an event on at the opera house so the pair were dodging cars and weaving in and out of traffic the whole way, with Rob slowly closing the gap down the long spiral all the way to the bottom. Rob managed to pass Jackson right before the very last turn but was unaware the last turn was extremely sharp and comes out of no-where, so there was a spectacular crash with the two both sliding into the wall.
It was then a scramble to to get the legs working again after such an intense push and get back up on the board. Both riders slowly got the momentum happening with Jackson the first to grab the winner's ticket and claim the victory.
Closely followed behind were James from NZ, then Blackwood and Alex, both Sydney City Bomb Squad riders. Everybody then met up at the top of the carpark for a massive 20-man china bomb down the spiral before heading over to the pub to get some much earned beers.

Big thanks go out to Blackwood for supplying T-shirts and Fliers and helping to organise and promote such an awesome event. Also big thanks to the NACCOS crew for making the drive down to take part in the race, its always way more fun when the NACCOS come to play.
Thanks to everyone who was there that had fun, there were no injuries and the whole night went off without a hitch.

SKATE OR DIE!!!

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Comment by Jon B on November 30, 2008 at 0:10: i had a blast and it was great meeting more people. a fun race and a good time having some beers afterwards.

considering the traffic i reckon we were pretty lucky that nobody got messed up. that said, after the first few people have gone through it's safer for the people following.

poor old Cliff (opera house security guy we nearly took out) haha

Comment by NathanR on January 7, 2009 at 19:38: is there anything like this in New ca stle?

Premium Member Comment by Jacko on January 7, 2009 at 20:44: no

Comment by Paul Carey on January 7, 2009 at 20:54: Hey NathanR, welcome to ASRA.
A few of the NACCOS crew have been talking about doing something similar (but safer) in the Newcastle area
this year. It would be on a section of bike/walkig path. mabybe up to 5km & a max speed of 20km/h to long flat areas of pushing/pumping.
Haven't totaly sussed the course or format yet, but we have some fun ideas in mind.
Not a race, as in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. but a pairs event based on luck of the draw....& maybe a manditory
fancy-dress theme.
I'll post something up when I have more details.

Comment by Paul Carey on January 7, 2009 at 21:01: Thats me in the green helmet & yellow Bathurst 08 punterS T', in the photo above LH side.

Where's the action shots or footage Pitbull Prods'........

Comment by Paul Carey on January 7, 2009 at 21:19: Ahh....... Jacko....the uniformed youth of today......
Hopefully this will get off the ground soon. With a bit more planning & without conflicting with other events.
Just a low key, fun event to kick things off.

Might need your input on this too Jacko. If your available for consultation.

Premium Member Comment by Jacko on January 7, 2009 at 21:31: i doubt we will see any footage from benny...
when i said no i mean there is nothing like this race anywhere... this race is unique in its own way of hecticness and fun... some races can be similar but none can be the same.
PC im keen to help you guys get that one organised, all you need to do is get a date and make it public... let them know and the people will come

Premium Member Comment by Fitz on January 7, 2009 at 22:06: They've been doing it annually in new york for years. The cross city push race. I think haggy did really well in it back in the day. Watch those red lights!

Hey Jogger. Remember the night me you and Kanufi bombed through Glebe Point Rd. I ran the red punching through the gap, Kanufi blindly followed and nearly got cleaned up. Funny shit!

Comment by NathanR on January 8, 2009 at 17:00: wow!

You have got 2 film this!!!!

nath

Premium Member Comment by Jacko on January 8, 2009 at 20:48: no we cant... theres too much shit going on all over the place its too hard to film, plus it is so damn illegal the last thing we want is any footage out in the public coz we will get shut down for sure, with big fines slapped on us... we get chased by the cops during the race but we get away coz the traffic is so dense...

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Sydney City Bomb Squad's Cannonball Run

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