<div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After a super nice <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOGJKkb9VFQ" target="_blank">Winners Trip</a> to Florida - US November 2022, we started this weekend with the first tour stop in Utrecht at the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/skateparkutrecht/" target="_blank">Skatepark Utrecht</a> with <strong>56 riders from 5 nations</strong>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was the perfect Tour Kick-Off with a Night Cash4Tricks session by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/flatspotmag/" target="_blank">Flatspot</a> with a custom-built obstacle by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mud.crew/" target="_blank">MudCrew</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><strong>Podium</strong></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Men</div><div style="text-align: center;">1st place: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/douwemacare/" target="_blank">Douwe Macaré</a></div><div style="text-align: center;">2nd place: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/bertwilmink/" target="_blank">Bert Wilmink</a></div><div style="text-align: center;">3rd place: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/djai_marchena/" target="_blank">Djai Marchena</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Women</div><div style="text-align: center;">1st place: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/juultje.sb/" target="_blank">Julia Plaggenborg</a></div><div style="text-align: center;">2nd place: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/laura.vdvelden/" target="_blank">Laura Van Der Velden</a></div><div style="text-align: center;">3rd place: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/amberboschma/" target="_blank">Amber Boschma</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/amberboschma/" target="_blank"> </a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Groms </div><div style="text-align: center;">1st place: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/supertijmen/" target="_blank">Tijmen Overbeek</a></div><div style="text-align: center;">2nd place: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/emeth.vdbergh/" target="_blank">Emeth Van Den Bergh</a></div><div style="text-align: center;">3rd place: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/franciscottonnnnn/" target="_blank">Francis Cotton</a></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Our Travel Judge Stefan Ebner comments on the placings as follows:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the first tour stop in Utrecht, the overall level of skateboarding was insanely high. The judges had a hard time deciding who would make it into the finals and even more so ranking the finalists. First place was crystal clear: <strong>Douwe </strong>took the win floating flawlessly through the whole park with a great variety of tricks including big transfer kickflips and fs flips, long nosegrind pop-out on the street ledge, and bs noesbluntslide as well as sw fs bluntslide on the A-frame.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Bert</strong> showed solid and powerful skating as usual, but the deciding factor for his second place was a blizzard flip lipslide on the A-frame that shocked judges and spectators alike. Places 3 through 7 were a close call, but eventually, <strong>Djai </strong>secured the third ticket to the finals with a good mix of big rail tricks and flips ending in a fs bluntslide bigspin out on the A-frame. And yes, the A-frame`s rail was by far the busiest obstacle that day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The best woman in the judges` opinion was <strong>Julia</strong> with a great variety of basic tricks on the straight rails and small down rails, a kickflip here, a transfer there, and the obligatory trick on the A-frame, in this case, a feeble. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A special shout-out should go to all the extremely talented young skaters at the event. Some could have won other contests with their performance at the BFF and are definitely a force to be reckoned with in the future.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here are the results of the <a href="https://theboardr.com/results/10461/Best-Foot-Forward-Utrecht-Qualifiers" target="_blank">Qualifiers</a> & <a href="https://theboardr.com/results/10462/Best-Foot-Forward-Utrecht-Finals" target="_blank">Finals</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Pictures & Videos</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_440Qi71rMKUIiMRKq3dSeLiHmVWyrKg" target="_blank">Pictures</a> to download.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Photo credits: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/flatspotmag/" target="_blank">Flatspot</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Flatspot Recap Video – can be found <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR9UdcZYt1Q" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We are also happy about the participation of the Blue Tomato Main Treamrider as well as Teamrider from Utrecht, Ravensburg, Oberhausen, and Frankfurt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We say THANK YOU to all skaters, visitors, and partners who were there and are looking forward to the next Best Foot Forward Europe tour stop in <strong>Vienna</strong> on, the <strong>6th of May </strong>at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/copa_beach_plaza/" target="_blank">Copa Beach Plaza</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">And a big shout out to our sponsors:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.redbull.com/" target="_blank">Red Bull</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blue-tomato.com/de-AT/brand/Dickies-21/" target="_blank">Dickies</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blue-tomato.com/de-AT/brand/Cariuma-10000585/" target="_blank">Cariuma</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blue-tomato.com/de-AT/brand/Nixon-240/" target="_blank">Nixon</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blue-tomato.com/de-AT/brand/Toy+Machine-6087/" target="_blank">Toy Machine</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blue-tomato.com/de-AT/brand/Bones+Wheels-6217/" target="_blank">Bones Wheels</a> & <a href="https://www.blue-tomato.com/de-AT/brand/Bones+Bearings-10000127/" target="_blank">Bones Bearings</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blue-tomato.com/de-AT/brand/Ace-10000068/" target="_blank">Ace Trucks</a></div><div> </div><div><br /></div><div>More information about the upcoming tour stops can be found <a href="https://www.blue-tomato.com/de-AT/blue-world/skate/best-foot-forward-tour-europa/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.instagram.com/bestfootforwardeurope/" target="_blank">@bestfootforwardeurope</a></div><div>#bestfootforwardeurope</div>