NEUFOUND® recently had the privilege of supporting local grass roots skate jam ‘Verticus’ for the inaugural competition in Mount Maunganui. Drawing in a crowd of 500+ spectators and open to New Zealand’s premier vert skate talent — the afternoon did not disappoint with a young and veteran crew throwing down some epic skating.
We recently caught up with Gav Bisman for a chat about the event - As all who know him can attest, Gav is an all round good guy, tireless community advocate and stalwart supporter of the NZ surf and skate scene…
Honestly, we just thought it'd be cool to try & throw an event for NZ skateboarders.
Everyone has been missing out so much the last year with lockdowns so we wanted to try & pull it off.
Cale Tolley has been a best bro for so long & we've had the idea to do something like this for years.
He recently joined the HyperRide team with me so we figured it'd be a choice way to celebrate, by throwing our own skate comp!
Cale is an O.G., die-hard Vert skater so it just made sense to do it at the Mount Vert and get everyone together for a big session!
What inspires you to create events like this?
A few things I guess..
1/ Community : I get amped on getting the community rounded up for a bit of fun together.
2/ Fun: Why not try and do some cool shit?! It's fun!
3/ Trying to help others: I make any event I do inclusive so everyone can be involved and try & add in a component where we're raising some cash for charities.
What is the current state of the vert scene in New Zealand?
Solid!
It’s a smaller number of skaters, a core group, skating Vert but the level is world class.
I think everyone got to witness it that day at Verticus watching ALL the skaters going for broke!
There’s some unbelievably talented young crew coming up, there’s a few of the ladies who are charging & the masters crew are still pushing the limits.
The likes of the Kerikeri Vert Jam, Mangawhai Bowl Jam, Bowlzilla in Wellington & Nationals in Wanaka at Zedyns ramp are also a showcase of how strong the scene is here in Aotearoa.
It’s so mint!
Do you plan to make Verticus a regular event?
Haha, it was only going to be a one off local “throw down” kinda comp but we had such amazing support from the sponsors (THANK YOU) & everyone turned up to send it so we’ve definitely been talking about what we do for 2022!
We got epic feedback from everyone who turned up to watch it & everyone involved so it’d be cool to go again.
Watch this space. Haha.
What's your next big idea?
I’ve just done a Community BBQ for Child Cancer Foundation.
I’ve got a few things I want to get sorted for our charity “Fight The Baddies” which helps kiwi kids fighting cancer and supports Starship Hospital.
Then I’ll cruise for bit over winter but have started planning for the annual Softtop Surf Comp & another surf event I want to do next summer.
We flowed you few frames from the NEUFOUND® collection as prizes for the Verticus comp, which are your favourite in the range? And why?
The Costa.
They’re so sick!
I dig the Transparent crystal frames,
I wear lots of black clothing & have heaps of random tatts so I kinda feel like I’d get to pretend to be some old school rockstar wearing them, haha.
They look killer but are so rad for every day wearing!
Thanks Gav! 🤙🏼
