For twelve years the Blading Cup has been an annual tradition on blade calendars, and a growing presence in the Santa Ana community. And for each of the previous outings, the event has fundamentally been judged the same: skater are grouped, skate in groups for a few minutes, the highest judged skaters are pushed on to the next round, and so on. But this year, for the second showing of the “Spring Cup,” the event organizers are mixing things up and introducing a new format: cash for tricks. We wanted to know more about how this would impact skaters and attendees, so we asked some questions and Jason Reyna was generous enough to fill us in. So read on to learn more about the new format and what to expect in April.

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Hi guys, thanks for talking to us about the first Blading Cup event of 2023! We’re looking forward to another great weekend in Santa Ana. But as you’ve announced, this year is going to work a bit different than past Blading Cups. So what can you tell us about the new format?

It’s a cash for tricks format. Judges will be handing out money for creative and technical tricks on each obstacle, with the best skaters receiving another prize at the end of the day.

What was the inspiration for the change? How do you expect it to benefit competitors and spectators?

Honestly, it was about time. The Blading Cup has continued to grow, and with the addition of Quad skating every day was full from start to end. We wanted everyone to have time to hang, check out the trade show, and wander around downtown Santa Ana.

How about deciding on obstacles? What was the decision making process like in planning what to build?

With the format change we knew we wanted each spot to stand out, giving skaters the chance to really lace some tricks. We are also not a park contest, so we opted for some more street oriented obstacles. Miguel built them and they look like a lot of fun. Can’t wait to see what people do on them.

I did see some comments flying around online about registration, and that the spots seems to fill up quick. Was there less overall openings for skaters this time around, or is that a misconception?

We limited the contestants to 50 per obstacle. This keeps the contest to just a couple hours and anything more would have been too crowded for the new format. Competitors and Spectators will have more time to enjoy themselves, and we have an open skate option where people can register and skate the obstacles all weekend until 6pm.

What about placement on the course? Will all four obstacles be available to skate every day, or will they be presented in some sort of progressive fashion?

They’ll be set up Friday morning and available to skate all weekend, so long as we’re not having a contest on that obstacle.

Do you expect to follow this format in November, or is the jury still out on that?

November will be back to the tried and true.

I think that’s about all we had, but if there’s any other news about to drop or info to share, please break it out here!

There are going to be a lot of events after the contests to look forward to as always. It’ll be another one for the books.

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Photo by Drew Humphrey