Vincent Alvarez Crowned DC's King of LA Skate

Jul 11 2007 / Los Angeles, CA

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Vincent Alvarez from West Covina, CA won the fourth and final DC King of Los Angeles Skate competition at Los Angeles City College Saturday, which also secured him the overall King of LA title, taking him home a grand prize of of $5,000 and a custom video iPod.

Overall, the DC King of Los Angeles Skate competition drew a strong field of skaters from across Southern California across its four stops in the the last two and half weeks.

“What Hollywood is to the entertainment industry, Los Angeles is to skateboarding,” said Jefferson Pang, DC Brand Manager, East Coast Skateboarding, “LA is the epicenter of skating.”

 PHOTO GALLERIES

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 Check out shots from DC shoes of some of the top finishers in action, including winner Vince Alvarez...

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 Check out photos of the DC Skate Team, including Danny Way and Colin McKay, along with the top finishers in the fourth event in the DC King of LA Skate contest.

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View One More Gallery From the Finals>


The final DC King of Los Angeles stop pitted 25 skaters from participating LA-area skate shops against 25 skaters who qualified in an open competition.   About 125 skaters took part in the open competition between 9:30 a.m. - 12 noon.

The highlight of the day was the finals -- In addition to determining who would win the event, the overall DC King of LA title was on the line.   Alvarez, Keelan Dadd from Palmdale, Chris Mendes of Moreno Valley and Josh Grossguth from Lancaster took the top four positions.

The real battle was between Grossguth and Alvarez, who came into the final stop as one and two in total points after the first three stops, with Grossguth leading by three points.  After the final, however, they were tied in the overall points standings, forcing the judges to determine the tie-breaker.  They huddled for at least 10 minutes before determining Alvarez the overall winner thanks to his two first-place finishes to Grossguth's one.  

Vince Alvarez was a crowd favorite during the fourth event and took home bragging rights as the King of LA skateboarders.  After it was over, he said, “right now I’m tired but I feel very good everyone liked the skating today.”

Grossguth was clearly disappointed that he did not win the crown but said, “Overall it was a fun today.”

As with previous DC King of LA stops, the DC Team Pros were on hand including Danny Way, Devine Calloway, Ryan Gallant and Colin McKay.

At the end of the day DC Team Manager Heath Brinkley said, "the level of skating exceeded our expectations.  It is good to see the number of people coming out and very exciting to see that a new skater like Vince Alvarez can pop out of nowhere."

King of Los Angeles was modeled after last September's DC’s King of New York Skate competition and next up for the series will be the King of Barcelona Competition coming in September followed by a King of Sydney Skate Competition near the end of the year.  .  

Here are the results from the first three DC King of Los Angeles skate competitions.

DC KING OF LOS ANGELES SKATE #4 COMPETITION WINNERS - 7.7.07 @ LOS ANGELES CITY COLLEGE IN LOS ANGELES, CA

1.   Vince Alvarez          West Covina, CA           10 Points
2.   Keelan Dadd            Palmdale, CA                 9 Points
3.   Chris Mendes          Moreno Valley, CA           8 Points
4.   Josh Grossguth       Lancaster, CA                7 Points
5.   DJ Fort                                                         6 Points
6.   Sean Powell             Fontana, CA                   5 Points
7.   Anthony Garcia        Fontana, CA                  4 Points
8.   Brad Herrera           Carlsbad, CA                  3 Points
9.   Tislam Smith            Los Angeles, CA             2 Points
10. Jason Vanzant                                               1 Point

DC KING OF LOS ANGELES SKATE COMPETITION WINNERS - 7.1.07 @ BARKER HANGER IN SANTA MONICA, CA

1.      Chris Mendes
2.      Keelan Dadd
3.      Javan Campello
4.      Jason Vanzant
5.      Josh Grossguth - Lancaster, CA
6.      Kyle Brogan
7.      Trevor McClung – Huntington Beach, CA
8.      Tim Thomas
9.      Taylor McClung – Huntington Beach, CA
10.   Jose Garcia – Los Angeles, CA

DC KING OF LOS ANGELES SKATE COMPETITION WINNERS – 6.24.07 @ BANCROFT MIDDLE SCHOOL IN LOS ANGELES, CA

1. Josh Grossguth
2. Vince Alvarez
3. Ruby Felix
4. Dom Johnson
5. Mark Goode
6. Scott Pfaff
7. Jamason Decew
8. Tislan Smith
9. Tom Ryan
10. Keelan Dadd

DC KING OF LOS ANGELES SKATE COMPETITION WINNERS – 6.23.07 @ LOCKWOOD SCHOOL IN LOS ANGELES, CA

1. Vince Alvarez
2. Austyn Gillette
3. Jason Vanzan
4. Keelan Dadd
5. Josh Grossguth
6. Rudy Felix
7. Zack Wagner
8. Craig Cring
9. Chris De Fillip
10. Matt Rodriguez

- Jeff Rowe