ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

[Jani Soderhall]

John Gilmour - USA

Year of birth 1963
Skateboarding since 1974

2002-2003 World Longboard Slalom Champion 36" 1st, 42" slalom 1st, 42" slalom Masters 1st, Shortboard slalom 1st
2003 "da Farm 3.0" East Coast slalom race TS 1st, GS 1st
2003 Paris World Cup special slalom 4th, Parallel slalom 2nd
2002 FCR Series Breckenridge GS 1st, Catalina Classic TS 2nd
2002 "da Farm 2.0" East Coast slalom race TS 1st, GS 1st
2002 Morro Bay World Championships 5th place
2001 "da Farm 1.0" East Coast slalom race TS 1st, GS 1st
2001 Morro Bay World Championships 4th place
2001 Cambria Race Dual Tight slalom 1st
2000 WLAC GS 1st place, TS 1st, Longboard GS 1st
1995 Verrieres Open Slalom Skateboard GS 3rd
1993 Les Jeux Pyreneens de l'Aventure (sponsored by the French and Spanish Olympic Committees) Silver Medalist Downhill Skateboarding

Factory Team : Roe Racing.
Regional team: Northern Racing Alliance

Sponsors: Pleasure Tool Bearings

Other Interesting facts

I learned to skateboard in my basement in Manhattan. I snowboard much better than I skateboard, yet I'm not an athlete. I like going really really fast- and hanging out with my Honduran Wood turtle, Walker. I prefer slalom skateboard racing to street legal Autoracing because it gives me a more intense rush. For cash I design high end sound systems and I sell outsourcing services to hospitals to help Doctors work easier.

Favorite skaters to watch: Steve Olson that unique freaky stand up fast ankle style, Gary Fluitt- the $6 Million dollar man- always on the edge of disaster-constantly being rebuilt, Jani Soderhall for his ripping of asphalt sound while he skates, Sergio Yuppie- fearless, Bobby Piercy, Luca Gianmarco, Simon Levene- King of acceleration, Kenny "Bulldog" Mollica in GS, Wesley Tucker- parallel slalom, Noah Heinle on a GS course on heelsides, Chris Stepanek for textbook form, Troy Smart in TS on his good days during practice, Vlad Popov whether he is skating or not- unbelieveably good skater in a short period of time.

Most memorable moments in skating:
Winning the Longboard Slalom 2002-2003 World Championship. Winning the Silver Medal at the Olympic sponsored event. Racing Kenny Mollica at La Costa 2002 (almost... for money within an event). Helping Bob Turner make boards again-seeing Bob Turner smiling all covered with foam and fiberglass dust. The shock about the death of Bob Turner (my mentor and great friend) during the first race of the FCR 2002 Season. Winning the GS Event at Breckenridge with Terence Kirby. Helping to contribute to the advancement of the sport through new Roe Shapes, better trucks and wheels. Sweeping the November 2000 WLAC Slalom Nationals event and giving this slalom sport the much needed kick in the butt to get it going again. Watching slalom slowly become appreciated for all the fun it really is.

[ This Message was edited by: John Gilmour on 2003-08-12 09:10 ]

[Adam Trahan]

John, my little Elijah wants a turtle. Can you gather some information and send it my way? I'll delete this post then.

Thanks,

adam

[Hans Koraeus]

Hey, what kind of a zoo is this?

[Hans Koraeus]

First John and now a turtle. :razz:

(Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I'll sleep well on that one.)

[John Gilmour]

I have a Honduran Wood Turtle. Fed him today- stuffed him with about a 1/2 pound of cantalope. The turtle is so cool- he waited until I put him down in his place to immediately go to the bathroom- toilet trained himself.

But in terms of getting a turtle for a child, think of it as getting it for yourself and lettting your kid have access.

The wood turtles are really very expressive and responsive to people- and very funny, adventurers. They aren't like many other turtles. Unfortunately because their habitat is being destroyed and partly because they make such great pets North American Wood turtles are endangered- but if you are willing, you may purchase ones raised in capitivy and breed them yourselves and release a few of the young into the wild.

One of my wood turtles was inadvertantly released into the wild by a confused spanish girl at a party... sigh.

[Chris Eggers]

John, I am a keeper of several water turtles and I wrote the same to Adam regarding getting a turtle for a child.

[John Gilmour]

On one strange note.

My friend Alex Scott- a slalomer- his girlfriend, Wendy Chow has two turtles she has to give up. I suppose I could bring them out to you.

You can contact him at.

Alexanderscott.com

[Jani Soderhall]

I just discovered this site today. Have you been there?

http://www.johnjohnjohnjohn.com

John, Are you ready to race in Paris again?

/Jani

[John Gilmour]

Sadly, my turtle, Walker, passed away after a trip to the Virgin Islands. He spent his last few days basking in the Sun in St. John and swimming next to me while I rehabbed my leg (partial weight bearing after my surgery on Jan 30th 2006). He had some Cancer that he couldn't shake. He was so weak during the flight down there I wasn't sure he was even going to make it. He was very excited to get off the plane when we got there (he knows where he's landed- loves the Virgin Islands)- His legs were kicking wildly after we landed to get some of that Caribbean sun.

He used to go scuba diving with me- swimming freely on his own but always staying within about 20-30 feet of me. This time he was too weak for doing anything other than swimming on the surface while I walked in the water. He had a nice week, ate fresh fruits, nibbled on Hibiscus. He slipped into a coma on the Ferry boat ride back to St. Thomas, and I wasn't sure he was going to make it. He keep losing consciousness and regaining it. His eyes bulging from high bloodpressure.

When we got to the airport he could smell the exhaust and hear the noise of the jet planes. He knew his vacation was over. While I was waiting for check-in, He gave me one last look and flicked his paws and he checked out- his little eyes sunk into his head when his heart stopped and he was gone.

23 years with the little fella. I always figured he would outlive me.

Luckily The local Virgin Islands US customs offical was too lazy to take a close look at him so i was able to bring him back home.

Jani, I had high hopes of returning to race. I had full range of motion in my knee with the hardware in it- after many months of stretching- I was even able to go running along the beach in the Hamptons. I figured it would be much more comfortable with the hardware removed. So I had that surgery, removed the plate and 5 screws, and it was much better Almost immediately I had near full range of motion- for certain I thought I would be better. I even started putting together thoughts on a new set of boards.

Then I had the staples removed and was all set to do my Physical Therapy. The very next morning on my way to the Health club to do PT I was hit from behind by a woman in a Ford Expedition. It split open my incision and I got MASSIVE swelling on the knee. I had it X-rayed and then later had an MRI which showed that I had bone chips and other foreign bodies floating around. Those were from the car accident because I had just had the knee scoped when the tackle was removed. So I would need yet another surgery- and have too many surgeries on your knee and the prognosis gets worse, not better.

Ever get a paper cut.. Nice clean incision? Then you tape up that cut and it heals like nothing ever happened? Well what if the tape comes off after 2 days and you reopen that paper cut? Well you get scar tissue forming, and scar tissue is the worst enemy of the knee. This Ford Expedition driving woman blew open my incision as it was healing and damaged the underlying tissues- it never healed right. Now it is extremely painful to bend my knee any more than I would for walking.

I haven't been able to get rid of the swelling at all. Running any distance, even 1/2 way across a street to avoid getting hit by a car is an impossiblity.

So I was forced to have YET another surgery. Even with the best surgeon, a certified knee hero who fixed Joan Benoit Samuelson's knee enabling her to win the Boston Marathon, there has been no improvement.

My greatest goal was to still be racing when Skateboard Slalom made it into the Olympics and to train hard and take home a Gold for the USA. I do think skateboarding will make it into the Games- and soon. Let's face it, snowboarding is 1/2 the age of skateboarding and has about 1/10th as many participants. It's not IF skateboarding will get in...Its WHEN, and slalom despite being a smaller segment of the market, will make it because it is easy to judge racing. Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom is even smaller than skateboard slalom in terms of participants as a percentage of riders. So there is no reason to not expect it to get in.

As it stands now- there is no way I could do the 14 runs it takes to get to the top.
My formal racing career is finished. I will be happy to be an announcer however. I tried a few runs in the Vintage race at the last Farm Race and my knee was the size of a Honey Dew melon a day later. Snowboard racing is also completly out of the picture. I can only carve at about 1/2 speed and have to do it extremely carefully on groomed soft slopes only- no choppy snow to jar my knees. Teleboarding- well I thought for sure I would win the next World Championship- but that is even more out of the picture due to the forces exerted.

I hope to still design gear, but what was a great combo of being able to design gear AND test the gear to the limits. Is gone. I've been pretty discouraged about the whole knee thing and I'm at least 1200 posts behind on NCDSA and haven't logged onto Bomberonline much all winter. I've been pretty unbearable to be around- most of my time has been spent alone.

It's not as much fun following the racing when you can't look forward to doing it.

After the first accident I thought it would be okay because I wouldn't lose my points standing as your points are grandfathered for a year in case of injury. I figured I might slip down about 4 places and make my way right back up. But when I was in the auto accident in June that Killed the next season as well, so my points tumbled, I slipped from 3rd in the World to likely below 60th this year.

One humorous note about the auto accident. After I was hit, the Police came, and when she drove away she hit a fire hydrant right in front of the cop, just like in the cartoons.

So I'm retiring from racing, not because I want to , but because I have to. I am looking forward to being the announcer at a high school race in May and still looking forward to help grow racing and create a format in the High Schools.
_________________
One good turn deserves another
john gilmour

[Etienne de Bary]

[Chris Favero]

john,dont give hope yet,how about the shaun palmer story,qualifies for the us downhill team and rips his achilles before the olympics,after a life and death battle with addiction.he says he will go for it,at age 41,and i believe he can do it.
this is a guy who has also qualified for a 125cc mx main event and pretty much owned downhill mountain bike in the late nineties,also and huge early snowboard halfpipe and innovator of boardercross.dont give in yet.cf
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Freak Bros. Racing
www.chixillskateboards.com

[Wesley Tucker]

Damn, JG, that's terrible.

So, how is the Mercedes? Please tell us you were damned lucked and driving somebody else's car.

(Hey, I gotta keep everything in perspective. After all, you got TWO knees, but only one hot rod.)
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[Karl Floitgraf]

JG,


Man I know how you feel, it's been three years since I completely broke my tib/fib by getting hit by a car a few days after your july 4th race. I am beginning to fear now that no matter how much I work I may never achieve my life slalom goal of breaking into the pro class because I'm not sure my leg is up to it. Although I might just suck, I swear my leg isn't helping.

John somehow you were right, your 'strategy' of not training us a lot is the reason we branched out to train others and the whole high school club got started.


I wasn't even going to bring a PA system, can't wait untill may.
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BOSTON BAKED BEAN
HONORARY TEXAS OUTLAW

[John Gilmour]

I see a Chriopractor for the head and spine whenever I can fit it in my ridiculously hectic rehab schedule. PT for the knee and back starts in a week 5 days a week. i'll be lucky if I can keep my job- being a grouch from this already cost me. I know how Palmer feels.
I always thought I would hit a guardrail downhilling on a skateboard that would end my career, not a woman in a SUV the size of a small tank. You know, skateboarding was one of the safest sports I ever did. The worst injuries I sustained was a sprained wrist and skinned knees. And I've been riding since I was 10.
_________________
One good turn deserves another
john gilmour

[Etienne de Bary]

... man! ouch, wish i could help...
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http://etiennedebary.blogspot.com

[Ron Barbagallo]

Wow.

I can't even begin to address all that. But I will say that you have been a tremendous proponent of the sport and it is my honor to have met you. You have inspired many of us to better ourselves in our racing. And on top of all that, you're a swell guy, Johnny!

I have no great insights for ya', just all the best wishes I can muster for both you and the Benz.
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Evil Potentate
Team Fatboy - all hopped up on goofballs!

Still douchebags, but CLASSY douchebags

UNDISPUTED WORLD CATAMARAN CHAMPS!

[Jonathan Harms]

Damn, John. Just...plain...damn. I'm very sorry about your losses. All of them.

With deepest sympathy,
Jonathan

[John Gilmour]

I downhilled Independence pass near Aspen Colorado last Sunday. two runs in each direction. Held the tuck for over 1 hour... man my quads are toast...incinerated..

By sheer coincidence a professional film crew was passing with a large format movie camera mounted in the rear of the truck sandbagged tripod and all...


They filmed me shooting both sides of the pass. I started slaloming again... and I now have 3 new young turtles that are a blast..
_________________
One good turn deserves another
john gilmour

[Etienne de Bary]

OK !
there is no more Trocadero Grand Prix for you to win, but there is still roads to ride !

E
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http://etiennedebary.blogspot.com

[John Gilmour]