The next morning we woke up to hella hangovers and no desire to strap up blades or clip up. We wandered the city kinda aimlessly for awhile and hit Battery Park; yet another first for yours truly. We saw a dude catch this fish. He was talking some crazy shit as he pulled the hook. We can’t even write it here!

After chilling on an assortment of benches and eating some breakfast we made our way to WTC to catch the Path train back to Newark. WTC foot traffic is fucked up and you have to take crazy detours all around the construction and visitor areas. Because of this we walked through a labyrinth of indoor walkways and large atriums. We saw live, tall-ass palm trees in Manhattan. We saw the plans for the WTC memorial. The in-ground fountains at the bases of the towers is pretty awesome. Seems appropriate.

Before we’d gotten close to the station I snapped this pick of the Freedom Tower from Battery Park. But when we ducked into the train station, that was pretty much it. The rest was editing and recuperating while getting to know the Franken clan. Not a bad way to spend the last 18 hours of a two-and-a-half day trip.

Thanks to everyone who worked with Bernal Heights and Create Originals to make the NYC Invite a reality. It should definitely happen again. Congrats to all the competitors and everyone who came out to support blading on a beautiful Saturday. Props to the bikers and skateboarders who came through for not starting any shit and making things escalate. Huge respect to Johnny and Billy and Brian and Hakeem and everyone doing their thing. And last but not least, thanks again to Tim for the hospitality. Happy birthday, man. — JE

FINAL RESULTS:
1st Place: John Bolino
2nd Place: Erik Bailey
3rd Place: Nick Lomax
4th Place: Tim Franken
5th Place: CJ Wellsmore