Barnum and Bailey ain't got nothing on the Pool Party. Lions, tigers and bears, we got Knoop, Miller and Glifberg. They got death-defying acts and we have Lincoln Ueda. They land on nets, we land on concrete. This is the greatest show on earth.

Put $90,000 in prize money on the line. Invite all of the top pro bowlrders in the world and throw them into a replica of one of the best designed and most challenging pools in skateboarding history. Take Steve Van Doren and have him work the grill and act as security to keep the media back from the lip of the pool and that alone is worth a $15-20 admission ticket, but wait… the entire contest is completely free. Even though Mr. Van Doren can charge for the tickets and offset some of the cost to put on the event, he doesn't. He buys water, hot dogs, burgers and chips. He brings Wahoos in to whip up free tacos for everyone at the event and Rockstar energy drinks brings all the fuel for the fire. The excitement in the air leading up to the contest is unlike any other. For the lucky fan that knew someone or was able to secure a ticket to get into the event, this year's big show was pure skateboard insanity. As usual, the women kicked off the show.

With Cara-Beth out this year, it left the door open for the two front-runners, Mimi Knoop or Julie Kindstrand to take the top spot since the first Pool Party in 2005. Julie has lines that some of the pros don't even have. She did airs over every hip in the pool and had some new tricks this year, including, laybacks in the square corner and stand up frontsides. In the end, the judges awarded Julie with 2nd place, separated by just a point and a half from this year's winner, Mimi Knoop. As always, Mimi came out firing on all cylinders. Even with the broken wrist, she still pulled frontside inverts, nosegrinds, frontside bonelesses and rock slides through the square corner. Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins (3rd) threw in some roll ins into the square and her usual clean ollie grab airs. Cressy Rice (9th) came in from AZ and charged the combi, padless like a backyarder, even taking a run barefoot. Eastcoaster turned Southland local, Elise Dabby was an alternate before Nicole Zuck bowed out, so Elise was able to put her combi training to the test. And in her first contest took a very respectable 6th place. The youngest competitor to enter this year was Allysha Bergado from Montclair, CA. She has been riding the combi for months now practicing for the event. Allysha pulled out some nice lines with some big backside and frontside airs along with an invert in the round to take 4th place. New Jersey native, Amelia Brodka (5th), Holly Lyons (7th), Leah Taylor (8th)and Heidi Fitzgerald (10th) rounded out the girl's lineup. Now, on to the Masters.

There were rumors that Chris Miller would enter the pro division this year, but it turned out to be just that, a rumor. For the fourth year in a row, Miller dominated the combi with his usual sick lines and even pulled out a new one this year pulling a backside air on the finger from the square to backside lipslide back into the square. As usual, the fight was for second place. Steve Caballero came through with his usual smooth style and numerous tricks, making everything look easy. He pulled out a couple of new things, including frontside shallow to invert on the finger into the square, which only took him about 3 tries to nail during practice. To no one's surprise, Cab took second and got the bonus win for sliding 18 blocks in "Blocks for Bucks," the Thrasher/Vans rockslide contest. Third place went to Pool Party first-time entrant, Nicky Guerrero. Nicky looked good all through practice and brought the same buttery goodness style and bag of tricks when it counted. Eric Nash almost didn't make it into the finals because he was third in his heat, but was redeemed when he was granted a spot as a wildcard. Even with a sore knee, Eric worked the bowl to his advantage, and walked away with 4th place. It was a tough call for the judges between Lester Kasai and Pat Ngoho, but they decided to give 5th place to Lester. Steve Steadham skated with power and speed and took home 7th. T-Mag didn't get all his runs after colliding with Buck Smith (9th), but still managed 8th place. Ben Schroeder is always a sight to see, but he got hurt and was only able to take two runs, so he took the 10th spot. After the Masters had warmed up the crowd, the pros stepped in to do damage.

With this being the third year for Bucky Lasek, and no top finish to show for it yet, he really came in mixing it up. And with Bucky vying for the $25k, everyone else had to step up too. Rune Glifberg was on fire and unstoppable. 8-9 foot tailgrabs, alley-oop kickflip indy transfer, switch kickflip in the round and even threw in a back tailslide shove-it through the square corner that almost tore the roof off. Consequently, 1st place was his. What can you say about Omar Hassan, he's got lines like no other. His intro run was about 3 minutes long and he never stopped after that. Out of the round into 5-0 fakie around the shallow corner, heelflip frontside transfer and a 540 landed him in 2nd place. During the practice sessions, I really thought Bucky would take top honor this year. From nollie flip madonnas to heelflip frontside gay twists, he just couldn't link it all together, but still managed 3rd place, holding off Bob Burnquist. I'm amazed that Bob can come into the combi for only a few days and ride the way he does. Frontside 360 rock slides, back smith revert in the square corner and frontside caballerials just to name a few. Benji Galloway owns everything he skates, frontside inverts on the finger, front rock slides through the square corner and big airs in the round earned him 5th place. Sergie Ventura (6th) was working on some great lines during the practice sessions. He successfully aired over the finger from the square to the round during warm up, but couldn't pull it off in the finals. 7th place belonged to Bruno Passos. Bruno is one of those skaters that you just love to watch. He skates so fast and can get transfers in places that seem impossible. Even though Josh Borden pulled a 540, he couldn't put it all together in the finals and took the 8th spot. Fifteen year-old Nolan Munroe looked good in practice and warm-ups pulling madonna and even kickflip indy transfers, but didn't get enough run-time to place higher. And the young phenom, Adam Taylor landed a wildcard spot in the finals and gave a great effort with a broken wrist and all and grabbed 10th place.

Every year, the Pool Party gets better. The skaters bring their best here to Orange County. They push themselves to their maximum potential. Like the Upland combi, the Vans combi is not a pool to disrespect. There were a short list of injured skaters this year. Among them, Cara-Beth Burnside, Lance Mountain, Jeff Grosso, Duane Peters and Steve Alba. Adam Taylor and Mimi Knoop both broke their wrists, but still skated. And little Morgan Burgess ended up busting his wrist on a 540 attempt in the square during the contest. Other noteables from the contest, the Buck Smith and T-Mag collision and Dave Duncan hanging up on a roll in off the finger.

As far as skateboard contests go, it is the greatest show on earth. Thanks to Vans, Rockstar and all of the other sponsors that make this contest possible. We'll see you out there next year.