Page 37 - Paddock Life Issue 13 ADRENALINE

The beginning of this year I was invited out to Finland to do a feature on the Zenvo Ice tests and asked Jenny, a very good videographer and photographer if she would like to come along and do the shoot for Paddock Life. During this trip, Jenny and I agreed to undertake some commercial work for the car company, we created a book and a movie for their Geneva Motor Show stand in just four weeks, it was during this job that I realised my downhill skateboarding friend was a brilliant designer and had the same work ethic as me. I had met Ben my young designer at a petrol station as we talked about his scooter (he’s a Mod), so we are an odd bunch of characters that gel together well as a team, but I still needed someone with the working experience to take over from me as creative director so I could concentrate on other areas. Jenny was that person, so we agreed she would join the Paddock Life team as long as we could work around her skateboard championships and we knew she would fit right in.
The 2017 IDF European tour started early July and ran until mid August, so pretty much the busiest part of our calendar as well, but a deal is a deal. Jenny and a crew of skater girls from all over the world left for the first race in Austria in the VW T5 as I left for the Chateau Impney Hill Climb. The first race was King’s Gate in Austria, followed by the Kozakov Challenge in Czech Republic, two Italian races, Verdicchio and Teolo, then the last race in Boston USA, at Killington. Most of the venues are mountain roads of the out of season ski resorts. The season started in the rain in Austria, Jenny is fast in the rain, hence her nickname Jenny Rain and heated up for the Italian races during the European heatwave of high 30’s, so extreme weather for an extreme sport.
Back in the office at the end of August we decided this article should be done so I met Jenny and her skate crew, the Wolf Pack on a mountain road near Rhayader in Wales. It was Saturday morning as Ethan and I drove out to find them, all I had was a picture of where they were camping and there was no phone signal, so we just headed to the top. As we passed the dams on this staggeringly beautiful road, climbing higher and higher we pulled over and used the long lens on the camera to see if we could find them. “Got them” said Ethan as he scanned the twisting roads ahead and could see small objects moving really fast, so we drove on and there they were using a section of road. There was a natural “track” where it was easy to see if any traffic was on the hill and Ethan used our car to ferry the crew of 6 riders back to the top whilst I took some photos. This was the first time I had seen the guys skate; the techniques and physical fitness was amazing. Using their arms and positioning as air brakes, sliding the board to brake it was fascinating.
IMAGES (TOP) DUCK VADER / (BOTTOM) KAI MENNEKEN
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