[RH Photos] X Games Austin 2014 Recap
Photos by Virgil Solis Last week, the X Games kicked off their Summer competition in their new home of Austin, Texas. The event started Thursday evening with a skate demo right in the middle of downtown Austin with the Capitol Building as the backdrop with Friday representing the full day of X Games action. Lizzy B and I headed out to the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) late afternoon on Friday while the Texas heat was already at 90 degrees to collect our press badges and get our bearings at the festival-like camp grounds. As we walked through the massive track and amphitheater, we headed to the Moto X WHIP competition. Tom Parons, who eventually takes the gold, lets the crowd and X Games fans know that he had a broken leg and, up until a few days prior, wasn't going to compete. After a short break of walking the ground, we made our way over to the Skate Big Air competition. The massive drop/ramp dwarfed everything around it. Legendary skater Bob Burnquist was one of the competitors alongside Rony Gomes, Edgard Pereira, 13-year-old Trey Wood, and 14-year-old Tom Schaar. Placing in second, Burnquist celebrated with Tom Schaar as he took the gold that evening. Events started earlier on Saturday, and the heat felt like 100 degrees all day. We hit the Skate Park finals as Pedro Barros, Grant Taylor, and Aaron Homoki won the medals for that competition. We took a break from the heat and hydrated before we headed over to the Moto X Speed & Style final. After watching some high flying Moto X skills, Lizzy B and I took another break from the unbearable heat and sun. Only other photographers can sympathize with how it feels to carry gear in brutal, 95 degree Texas heat all day. As Lizzy B and I separated to make a food run, things took a sudden turn. Apparently, after some security breach and demands from the music headliner Kanye West, many of the areas press and others had access to were closed, pretty much creating chaos and confusion in many parts of the park. At this point, as I tried to make it back to Lizzy, I wasn't able to do so as security told me I was no longer allowed in an area where I had been a few minutes prior. After a few hours of confusion and many people at the stadium not knowing what was really going on, things began to clear up. By this point, music acts Mac Miller and Kanye West were gearing up to come on. Both Mac and Kanye rocked the stage, playing good sets that made the Games crowd happy. After an exhausting day, we called it in halfway through Kanye's set as getting some rest for Sunday became a priority. Sunday was a whole different tune compared to Saturday. The day was overcast with a breeze as we headed straight to the BMX Park final competition. With great runs from Daniel Sandoval and Drew Bezanson, local Austinite Chase Hawk took the gold with a great run on the course. One of the events many people were excited for was the new Stadium SUPER Trucks Finals. 19-year-old Apdaly Lopez from Mexico took the gold as he held the lead the majority of this race. With a few crashes and one that stopped the race for more than 20 minutes, the Stadium SUPER Trucks quickly became a fan favorite. Due to some strong winds, a couple Moto X competitions and demos were canceled; instead the COTA crowd made their way to the Street Skate finals. With a huge crowd looking on, Nyjah Huston, Luan Oliveira, Alec Majerus, Ryan Sheckler, Chaz Ortiz, and more skated for the gold. Huston ended up being triumphant, taking the gold in the last competition of the Games. Looking back on the weekend, X Games Austin was great. Despite a few bumps in the road, it was an amazing experience, and I was happy to be able to shoot some photos of some amazing athletes. Check out the full results of all the competitions here and a ton of my photos below. Also, check out the RH Instagram for videos and more photo coverage from the weekend.
X Games Austin to Offer Festival Experience
X Games will be making its debut in Austin TX in just a few short weeks, and they're doing everything they can to make sure their first event in the city will be a memorable one. While the main attraction to this year's X Games will be on the sports, ESPN has decided to expand on the entire experience for patrons by introducing a huge festival village-like setting full of various attractions for everybody in attendance. In addition to the extreme sports competitions, other attractions include a galleria, gaming shack, music stage, go-kart racing, and more.
You could start your day watching BMX Vert, wander over to the Sound Factory and partake in some karaoke, head out to the ESPN Clubhouse to catch the baseball scores, catch an Alamo Drafthouse showing at the Texas Ranch, get a haircut at the Galleria, race a couple of Go-Kart laps in The Garage, stock up on some water for your bottles at the Green Planet, conquer the obstacle course at The Playground, set a high score in Pac-Man at the Gaming Shack, practice your kickflips at the Next X Park, then head back out to catch some Skateboard Vert. Sounds like an amazing itinerary, doesn't it?
You can read the full summary of each individual "village" on the X Games Austin's official website. The full map can be found below. X Games Austin will take place from June 5th to June 8th. Expect some amazing photos from the weekend in the near future.
Kanye West Announced as X Games Austin Headliner
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UPDATE: Tickets for X Games Austin are now available here, along with a full lineup that includes The Flaming Lips, Slightly Stoopid, Mayer Hawthorne, Gary Clark Jr., Wavves, Bad Religion, Cash Cash, Candyland & FMLYBND, along with the previously announced headliners.
The 2014 installment of the annual X Games competition was sure to be a little more weird this time around as the yearly action sports festival lands in Austin, Tx. Things may prove to get even more strange after 'Yeezus' himself, Kanye West, was announced as this year's headlining music act yesterday. The larger-than-life Chicago hip-hop star who took to wearing leather kilts and gaudy gold chain masks onstage during his three-month long Yeezus tour in support of his most recent album, was added to the event along with Mac Miller, Dillon Francis and Pretty Lights. It seems as though there is a perpetual festival always happening in Austin, regardless of day or time, and they just keep getting bigger. Adding West is a great move, too, for X Games organizers as their big-air and death-defying tricks seem to have lost the hold they had over the country less than a decade ago. The influx of the arguably the world's largest star should prove to help ratings a bit. The games will pitthe best in RallyCross, BMX, Skateboarding, Moto X, and now, Stadium Super Trucks against each other from June 5 -8 in Austin, Texas, information available here.
