A mini-ramp in the basement, a massive screen streaming the event live upstairs, an industrial quantity of beer, pizza, DJ Crazy T at the turntables, 20 selected skaters and $1000 on the line; This is Le Basement.

If you didn’t already know, there is a flawless mini-ramp in the basement of the Empire Sainte-Catherine store. Oh Yes. Even if the guys made it look brand new by remodeling it for this event, thanks to Converse, the ramp has been there forever, but don't talk about it, it's a secret.

 Le Basement was the perfect occasion to come and try out the freshly renovated mini ramp in the Empire Ste-Catherine store. Even if the the spot is desert most of the time, the ramp did not take a break that night.

With 20 of the area's best mini ramp skaters snaking each other for a run in the tight trannies of the Empire x Cons mini, the basement has never seen this much action since it’s there.

Other than the skaters downstairs, there were at at least 30 people watching the event upstairs. Since the basement is a pretty tight spot, a giant screen was installed in the shop so spectators could watch the competition live with DJ Crazy T's groove as the soundtrack and while having an easy access to the bar.

With some of the biggest names in Montreal's skateboard scene like Hugo Balek, Charles Deschamps, Rémi «Ratpack» Aubie, Andrew McGraw and legends like Barry Walsh and Casey McDonald, an impressive number of spectators were sitting in front of the giant screen upstairs to watch the event go down.

The contest

The first round of Le Basement included 4 waves of 5 skaters. With 15 minutes on the clock, they took turns in order to impress the judges for a chance to make it to the second round. It's simple, the more the skater rip, the more likely he is passing to the second round.

For the second round, we selected the top 8 skaters from the previous round and separated them into two 4 guys heats. After 10 minutes of shredding, the top two skaters of each heat were selected to pass to the finals.

For the final round of this edition of Le Basement, 4 skaters had to fight to make the best impression possible. We could feel that the skaters saw money almost in their pockets, but unfortunately there can only be one winner.

Ontario's John Cosentino stood out the most. With a combination of technical maneuvers and a wall ride assault, Cos fully deserved the first place. In second, Empire's own Phil Dulude, who skated like a complete mad man and in third, our good homie Remi «Ratpack» Aubie, who was skating like if it was his last day on earth.