Dispatches From The Dime Glory Challenge

*Photos and most of the words by Caleb Sugai.*

The Dime Glory Challenge by Dime and Vans Skate and Red Bull and likely several other brand partners is a yearly event in which seemingly a hundred of the world’s most-skater skaters answer the antler call to Montreal, Canada, to ‘skate’.

It is a weekend of alcohol, idiocy, and indeed, quite a bit of glory. It is a contest where the winner doesn’t matter, I’m not even sure that there is one. All that matters is that a good time is had, and that there are theatrics. It reminds me quite a bit of a modern day Roman circus; there are jesters and gladiators, violence and valor, and above all, there is theatre. From wedding proposals to acrobatics, The Dime Glory Challenge is as much about the skateboarding as the spectacle, as tellingly announced by commentators throughout, yelling, ‘This is the greatest show of all time!’ Show, not contest. Show. And it is. And we love it.

So we sent one of Monster Children’s new-gen photographer, Caleb Sugai, a young skateboarder from New York City on an overnight bus from the city to Montreal to meet up with some other morons and mess about. The mission was simple: go to Montreal, take photos, text Naz what you saw, what you did, and what you’re thinking. These photos and long ass dispatches are what they delivered.

Dispatch #1: Thursday

Arrived Thursday afternoon around two in the afternoon. Bus driver looked like he could drop dead at any minute. Lurked to some sick ass bank to curb spot right up the street from the bus station. Got stuck under van horne skateparks with the other skate rats and Wes Kremer. Got on a super affordable Citi Bike to meet with River. We hike up Mt Royale in the pouring rain. All my clothes are soaked, I am now a cartoon character with one set of clothes for the rest of the trip. Check into a capsule hotel and sleep in a coffin. Co-ed bathroom reminds me of Alien movie.

Dispatch #2: Friday

Word comes out that challenge is postponed for Sunday but block party is still a go. Wake up 10 min before checkout and dip the fuck outta there asap. Realize people 18-75 are staying in there. Collective skater hive mind tells me to go to peace park, famous ledge spot in Montreal. Most of the pros that have arrived early are there. Me and river eat shit on the ledge then sit back and watch some pros work. Mostly drinking and skating. Talk with Wes about his time in Hawaii. Shoutout magic island. Crowd starts to slowly gather so we dig out to link with River’s homies from Vermont that he grew up with.

River explains that for his friends, this Montréal trip is a once of the year binge banger trip especially when they were younger since you can drink at eighteen here. Montréal is the Jersey Shore of Vermont.

Head to block party peak darude set. Realize that more people came here to see darude then the pros. Crowd is immovable we squeeze our way through. St Laurent street becomes a hub for after skate benders.

Same street as dime store, block party, trash bar (bar with bowl and free entry for skaters) and cheap grub. After camping out on vans shoe monster truck we go hit trash bar. Trash bar is like shredders lair where bad kids do bad things and skateboard (of course). We bypass the line because of our boards which acts as a free entry ticket. Line outside consists of mostly freshly eighteen year olds who are getting hazed for college. After spending way too much money on way too little beers we realize the trash bar formula.

Beer- 10 bucks a pop

Jager bombs- 5 for 23

Also they are open until six am. If they could sell meth there they probably would. Trash bar bowl is a circle and is impossible to figure out after a few beers. Spend the night watching the locals flip in and flip out of blunt slides. Couple of pros cruise by but none skate the bowl. Legend comes in wearing a wierd furry accessory of some kind, maybe a labubu. Can’t be older than twenty. His girlfriend watches from the bowl decked out in full hello kitty gear. Kid destroys bowl putting all of the out of town skate rats to shame. We lurk outside street is packed with freshman college kids hyped up on jager bombs. Link up with some other skate rats that are staying in the same crib. Queso, Caleb, manny, Olan all from Vermont. Everyone pretty buss we crash in the crib I take the ground in front of the heater.

Dispatch #3: Saturday

Everyone sleeps in. Word from dimestagram says peace park at 3pm. Manny pours a screwdriver to set the tone for the day. He’s a G. It’s pouring rain. We grab bahn mi and literally watch a ledge dry.

Dime team wiping the shit outta the drenched ledge. Mega crowd of skate rats from kids jumping in trees and kicking foam balls around. Everyone is ready for the show, tall can or bottle of wine in hand. Diego Todd makes sweet love to the ledge first t then bounces. Unknown ledge steps in and Tre bomb nose grinds the shit outta the ledge. Watch Louie Lopez go full terminator mode for a couple games of skate. The gang heads to vans park next to Olympic stadium, shred bowl with Vermont homies. Me and River skip the bender and lurk around the city outskirts to check out the dive bars. Shambled uncles and dudes in latex lurking around. Hit the ground again to get ready for glory day.

Dispatch #4: Sunday

Wake up at like ten. Rivers dad pulls into town. We reup on bahn mi for breakfast. I bike it up to dime. See bus full of pros. I’m early, the outdoor village is poppin. I put my stunnah shades on and played the new skate. Lowkey sucks ass but it was cool to see the dime experience in the game. Watch’s bunch of kids born after skate 3 figure that shit out. Mini teck deck course sponsored by beer. Teens with vapes and headphones put on mini demo. VIP section has whole roasted pig along with satan himself. Swag chasers for fatass line for the dime pop up. Everyone is drinking molsons shit is aight. This is the Mecca of skateboarding.

Leave it to skaters to make an event with super chill rules. People rolling up blunts nonstop gettin faded. Pros are warming up going apeshit already. Park myself on the ground floor next to skating superfans. They are shaking hands with every pro that will turn their head. Giving them career advice n shit. Elijah Berle is determined to pierce the atmosphere. Thrasher quarter pipe gets killed before contest even starts. Crowd stampedes in seats fill up quick. Sun is beaming the white floor becomes a solar panel. The speed goggles literally worked.

Bob the builder squad come out and does crazy backflip sesh. Rail is erected out the ground and pros get busy. People start getting folded as the rail goes to the bottom of the ramp. Max wasangu (not correct spelling) is killing himself for this board slide. Elijah 5-0s the rail with ease like 5th try. Shoutout Trung Nguyen for trying wallie 5050 and dying like eight times but still going for it. Max barley falls off board before the final extension is brought out. The last level of the rail is literally made for Jamie foy. He grinds that shit like nothing the crowd erupts. Joe Valdez peers out of the shadows wearing a mask.

Frankie decker walks in lava. Alexi hits the oooooohhhhhhyeahhhhh note. Halftime comes I check out the dime glory hole in the porta potty. Head back to the floor on the other side. River is hammered skating with a bunch of kids. Kids are jumping over old Molson cans. Blunts are being rolled as the pyramid come out. Tom Scharr goes 2000000 feet in the air.

John Shannan is officially Japanese. Dodgeball next.

*Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant" ("Hail, Emperor, those who are about to die salute you")*

Satan is whipping dodgeballs at pros. I thought he was in stilts but foo is really that tall. Couple of yolked ass foos come out to throw dodgeballs too. Chucky lane wins but who even knows no one was checking. I feel like everyone got hit at least once. lil dre got a good arm. Spine comes out now. Starts small with every pro fucking that shit up.

*Vans didn’t pay us to cover their event.*

Eventually just the usual suspects are left. Pedro barros tom schaar and Oski. Last wall is fucked literally like 10 ft of vert. Pedro pulls out a fucking sword and blunts that shit. Tom rocks that shit for the Mormons he gets the covers.

By this point people already started leaving like the 7th inning of a baseball game. Atiba is always dripped out. I head back to the Airbnb to prepare for trash bar.