A shred-heavy weekend

Last Friday and Saturday, action-sports event Jackalope Fest took over the Olympic Park. And while fixed-gear cyclists, parkour enthusiasts, longboarders, slackliners and motocross riders were on hand, the weekend’s focus was skateboarding. In the end, the oft-derided Greg Lutzka, a native of Wisconsin who now calls southern California home, beat out France’s one-time wunderkind Bastien Salabanzi to clinch first place.

But — and I really do mean this — the real winners were the spectators, who got to hear the indefatigable Dave Duncan, an ’80s pro skater who is now the mouthpiece of World Cup Skateboarding, give a play-by-play of the contest.

Duncan, who turned 50 in May, lives his life on a loop: airplane flight, contest, party, contest, party, hangover, airplane flight. Or so I’d like to think. In 2005, Thrasher Magazine’s King of the Road competition, a sort of cross-country skateboard scavenger hunt, included a challenge called Duncan’s Life. One skater from each competing team had to become Duncan for 24 hours, which meant wearing a cut-off jean vest without a t-shirt underneath, subsisting on a diet of beer and nachos and, using a megaphone, calling out each trick his teammates performed at full fuckin’ blast.

That’s Dave Duncan. And last weekend, Montrealers got to witness him in all his greying, doughy, horse-voiced glory.

If you were so transfixed by Duncan’s mere presence that you missed the action — or, you know, you weren’t there — check out our photo gallery from Jackalope Fest. ■

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