Shortly after the release of the first round of The Hunt, things were already cooking for round two. Since the day I found out about it, I’ve been anticipating the video. I wasn’t sure how you could top the first video after Chad Kerley and all the rest of the guys who had sections blew peoples minds, but it looks like it wasn’t hard to get people motivated to go out and spend a few months filming. Finally, the other week, the second video, “Gold Rush, was premiered in California announcing who had taken home the win and giving everyone a look at what 13 riders had been working on over the past few months. The other day I received a package from Justin Kosman which included 3 copies of the video just for me… But I figured I might as well hook up two of you with a copy along with a fresh t-shirt… but first you gotta check out what I thought of the video.
Going into the video I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. If any of the teasers that popped up online didn’t get you psyched to see it, I’m not really sure what’s wrong with you other than you probably ride with a whole lot of spandex on. I’m not even sure what that means but it makes sense.
The format of the contest is pretty straightforward and runs a lot like the old Aspire videos from back in the day (you older guys might get that one). Riders go out with a filmer of their choice for a few months and try to come up with the wildest riding along with some real clean filming and editing. Once they’ve wrapped up production, they send it through to have the judges. I can’t remember who was all judges this time around but I know Kosman, Will Stroud and Chris Doyle all had say in it. They then go through all the submissions, which I’d imagine they had a few hundred this time around, and pick out the best of the best with the winning parts getting a section in the video and some of the prizes which I’ll just copy and paste in below…
“Grand Prize: Trip to party and ride in Honolulu, Hawaii plus $2,500 and VIP treatment at the World Premiere in LA
Runner-up: Flat Screen TV for Rider & Filmer and Skullcandy prize pack (TV will be twice the size of the rider’s top tube)
Third place: $1,500 cash money, Skullcandy gold prize pack
Fourth place: $1,000 cash and Skullcandy headphones
Fifth place: $500 cash and SkullCandy headphones
6th-10th: $200 cash and Skullcandy heaphones
Best Trick: $1,000 Bonus presented by Monster
*Editor’s Choice Odyssey Co-sponsorship.
One rider and filmer team will win Vans and Monster for a year
*Top ten finalists receive DVD prize pack”
That looks like proper motivation to me….
All right, so the other day the results popped up all over the internet so I’m sure by now you know. If not, here’s a run down of the top 13.
13. Daniel “Lil’ D” Martinez
12. Chris Hughes
11. Joel Marchant
10. Jake Ortiz
09. Josh Perry & Nick Digeroloma
08. Broc Raiford
07. Cory Wiergowski
06. Pat Casey
05. Justin Care
04. Mike Gray
03. Jourdan Barba
02. Drew Hosselton
01. Eduards Zunda
Looking at that list, I’m sure a lot of you are already aware of what a lot of these guys are about so it’s no surprise there’s an endless supply of bangers. I’d break down each section, but I think you would rather just see the video to find out what’s going on for yourself. However, I’ll give you a little heads up. The video is about 93% street riding, 5% parks and 2% trails. I’m not saying this should surprise anyone, but I am a little surprised since Doyle was a judge and only one part had some trails in it, haha.
My personal favorite sections were Broc Raiford, Pat Casey, Justin Care, Drew Hosselton and Eduards Zunda’s sections.
Broc brings a ton of nose balance and just wild riding for his section. It’s clear he put a lot of effort into it and I’m stoked on it.
You already know Pat Casey brings the fire every time he rides and JC Pieri did a phenomenal job filming and editing this part. Pat is really able to ride anything in front of him since there’s park, street and trails footage in this one.
Justin Care is a newer name that has been popping up the past year or two and I really hope we see a lot more of him in the future. He’s a seriously underrated rider right now and I think this part will open a lot of peoples eyes up to his riding for sure.
Drew Hosselton’s approach to riding is unique and refreshing. His ability to ride some of the weirdest spots is amazing. Add Barcelona spots to his style and you have yourself a hell of a section.
I don’t even think I should have to tell you Eduards Zunda’s section is a serious banger of a banger. That’s why it got first place… All I’m going to say is who remembers when I did an interview with him a few years back before he blew up? I said he was going to be a big name some day… I told you so.
Overall, the concept of the video is definitely something BMX needs and is giving a lot of riders capable of producing a dialed video part a chance to shine. I cannot argue with how the judges placed each rider and I think everyone really went all in on this since there’s some seriously incredible clips in there that will definitely amaze you.
The only “bad” things I can come up with is that yeah, I would have liked to see a little more diversity as far as to what people were riding personally, but street is what is hot these days. The other thing would be I definitely hope if this series continues we start seeing more “unknown” guys coming out of no where with phenomenal parts. Always refreshing to see a rider you haven’t heard of or seen something from before. Clearly, these are two personal opinions that really shouldn’t change your perspective on this video.
Do I think this video is worth seeing? Oh hell yeah! Each part brings different styles and approaches along with an endless supply of some “holy shit” clips. If you saw round one, it’s safe to say this video was even better than the last (except for Chad’s section… that part is still a few years ahead of the game.)
I haven’t heard anything for sure, but I hope they keep this going and do another round. There’s a lot of good that’s coming from this video contest. This video is one you will want to have in your collection for sure though.
You can pick up a copy on Dan’s Comp for $13.99. Don’t forget, picking up a copy helps keep this contest going!
To find out more about what The Hunt is all about, hit up their website — TheHuntBMX.com.
GIVEAWAY:
All right, so what you guys have all been waiting for… The Giveaway. I’ve got TWO copies of “Gold Rush” to give away and I’m going to sweeten the deal by giving away TWO of the new The Union Logo T-Shirts from the ONLINE STORE. All you have to do is hit up The Union’s FACEBOOK PAGE and “Like” us. Then comment, “Like” and/or “Share” THIS PHOTO by Friday, October 19th! By commenting, liking and sharing the post you are 3x more likely to be picked.
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