Features

GGFEST 2016: Edit & Results

BMX is Thriving in Latvia

Words and video by Scott Connor
Photos by John Wells

“The whole idea of the Ghetto Games project is to show the general public that there’s more to action sports than just people doing stunts – it’s about expressing yourself, meeting new people and being part of something positive (i.e. BMX). So naturally GGFEST is about bringing the BMX community closer together and sharing our passion with the world. Legends and new school shredders from all over come out for a weekend of riding and celebrating what it means to be a BMXer!”
-Toms Silins, GGFEST BMX Organiser

BOOST. Jack Clark laying down the style points.

GGFEST was a treat! I’d never had the chance to visit Latvia before, so when Toms invited us out I was pretty excited. Latvia is a member of the EU, joining back in 2004. It’s a relatively fresh destination for BMX and having never been myself and not knowing a whole lot about it, I didn’t quite know what to expect. However, from what I saw it definitely has a lot to offer. Both culturally and from a BMXers perspective. Having only spent six days there, I can’t comment much on the cultural offerings, but from my brief stay in Riga, I can say it seemed like a real interesting city with an nice mix of contemporary western city style elements and the beautiful buildings and architecture of the Old Town area. The people we met were very welcoming, Toms and the crew from PAR BMX are all great dudes. Opening their doors to welcome us and sharing their passion for BMX and it’s culture of travel.

GGFEST took place in Ventspils, which is located about 2 hours drive from Riga on the western coast of Latvia. The contest took place over 3 days. Friday for the street contest, Saturday for the main park contest and Sunday saw the Dirt contest. A stacked roster of riders were in attendance, including riders from America, UK, Germany, Norway, Lithuania, Estonia and Australia.