Taylor Kirby’s run gets the win for Lotties Skateshop at Red Bull Solus
While there were no crowds or the sound of other skaters slapping their boards when a rider stomped a trick, watching the creative lines from every solo skater in the Red Bull Solus skate contest was awesome to see.
Skateboarding contests have been greatly missed, so Red Bull and their team rider Ryan Sheckler teamed up to create Red Bull Solus.
Red Bull Solus was an all-digital pro contest that challenged 13 of the world’s top skaters to deliver their best line at Sheckler’s private park, SC Sandlot, in San Clemente, California. The pros were invited to the park for hour-long solo sessions to develop and run their best continuous line. The contest was a closed format in which competitors didn’t know the identities of their opponents. A panel of judges, Mike Sinclair, Kyle Berard, and Jaime Owens, scored the video runs to declare the winner of Red Bull Solus.
The win went to Taylor Kirby, who put in a measured, trick-heavy and occasionally sketchy run which you can watch in the player above.
Kirby also won $2,500 to donate to a skate shop of his choice in a bid to support a business that’s struggled in recent months. He picked the mighty Lotties Skateshop in his home city of LA because owner Mike Gigliotti is so engaged in the skate scene there.”All skate shops deserve recognition, but I think Lotties is a very good shop to win in the sense that Mike isn’t taking the cheque and putting it in his bank,” said Taylor. “The money is going to a very selfless person – that’s huge.”
“This just sounded like a fun, different type of contest,” said Taylor. “Usually contests aren’t for me – I’ve never liked people low-key hoping you fall. Now there’s a different kind of format I’m on board with.”