Dew Tour dazzles Ocean City

The Dew Tour returned to Ocean City, Md., for the second consecutive year Aug. 16-19 for the Pantech Beach Championships, showcasing the best in the world of professional skateboarding and BMX.

Athletes in both sports competed in various competitions over four days, including vert, park, skate bowl and the daunting Mega 2.0 ramp. Skateboarders also fought for superiority in the Skate Bowl event.

The event featured many of skateboarding's biggest names, including Baltimore native Bucky Lasek, Andy MacDonald, Bob Burnquist and Dew Tour vert defending champion Pierre-Luc Gagnon. PLG kicked off the 2012 Dew Tour where he left off last year, winning the vert event Saturday as skateboarding/ snowboarding crossover Shaun White watched from the crowd. Lasek finished second in both vert and the Skate Bowl.

“It feels great to win again at the Dew Tour,” said PLG. “I had a hard time in practice, but kept my cool and threw it down when it mattered. I’ve done this a bunch of times, so I knew what I had to do.”

But a crop of younger skaters also dazzled the crowds. Twelve-year-old Tom Schaar won the Mega 2.0 ramp event when he landed a 1080 in the finals, besting runner-up Elliott Sloan and Burnquist.

"I’m so stoked,” said Schaar, after gaining the win in his third event of the weekend. “I’m a little tired after skating in all these events, and I didn’t expect to do this well since I didn’t get a lot of practice on the ramp. I guess I got a little lucky.”

Schaar first landed the 1080 five months ago, and is still the only skateboarder to successfully complete the trick.

The Dew Tour's next stop is slated for the Toyota City Championships in San Francisco, Calif., Oct. 18-21.

According to Chris Prybylo, vice president of events for Alli Sports, the event drew more than 93,000 people this year, the highest-attended event in Dew Tour history. He said talks are under way to bring the event back to Ocean City in 2013.

"We are still working through details, but we have formally held the 2013 dates with the city and hope to make a collective decision with the city officials in a timely manner," he said.

Weekend winners

Skate Bowl Legends - Chris Miller

Surf Expression - Eric Geiselman

BMX Vert - Jamie Bestwick

Skateboarding Vert - Pierre-Luc Gagnon

BMX Mega Ramp - Zack Warden

BMX Park - Brett Banasiewicz

Skate Bowl - Pedro Barros

Skateboard Mega Ramp - Tom Schaar