What a year 2010 was, here are some of the moments that I think stood out good and bad, these “defining moments” not only for the year, but for the future…..Let’s get this started….

The year started with controversy, Martti Kuoppa disqualified from the World Classic in Tokyo, it was sad news for a flatland icon and flatland in general, an already small sport just got a whole lot smaller, I’ve never known anything like it in flatland, perhaps its a language barrier thing, a battle of energy drink companies, whatever, I do know Flatmatters was one of the only people/sites to publicly support Martti during this time, I’m pretty proud of that alone. Martti shortly after released a whole bunch of videos just to let everyone know who’s the boss?! James White let his feelings be known on his FM column “white friday”…

Moto Sasaki made the trip to Fight with flight, and came out on top in head to head battle with World No 1 Matthias Dandois, Moto set a kinda new battle technique by using some of what Matthias is famous for against him, this kind of set a benchmark for the year looking back now. Moto signalled his intentions early. Matthias came back hard against Moto at Round 1 of the World circuit, dominating proceedings. They went back and forth all year. This kind of rivalry in my eyes is whats been missing in flatland for a few years. Moto had a great year winning the groundtactics final, the world circuit finals, and the Nora cup rider of the year award. 2011 should be interesting year for Moto.

Tim Knoll dropped an inspiring flat/street crossover edit, that made the BMX world take note of the flatland world, just for a minute anyway. Props to Tim for having that creative talent and sharing it. This edit blew up in BMX circles, opened a lot of eyes. Thats a good thing!

Jomopro was, argueably the contest of the year, Matthias laid it down pretty hard at this contest, coming back really well from the disappointment of FWF, and in the final vs Trevor Meyer in the finals Matthias had the look of the devil, but the talking point of the contest was the Ucchie vs Trevor battle decision, check out Ucchie’s face!, a definite keypoint of the year! Who wants to judge jomopro in 2011?

Photo credit: Fat Tony.

The BMX Masters grew up on the foundation of a strong flatland competition, this year when the news broke that the organisers cancelled “Flatland” this year, it of course went down like a lead balloon, Deep BMX with the financial help of Power Balance” came in and put money where there mouth was and ran the flat event, and from the look of things, it kicked ass more than ever, big props to the Deep BMX guys for standing up. This was a real example of riders really taking charge, and having a positive effect on the scene. Adam Kun adding his name to the list of BMX Masters flatland champions, and hooked up with Monster energy right after.

The online contest Groundtactics was born, Helsinki Finland home of Martti Kuoppa was the venue of the final,  Flat was truly going independent, Nokia hooked up the live feed from a phone, I’m stoked to say I went to this event, already Groundtactics is one of the biggest things in flatland! The online contest has already helped the flatland world progress so much. Groundtactics set a new precident, flats not all about the result, but progression.

On Wednesday 22nd September, we broke the news that Matthias Dandois had signed for Odyssey, big news for flatland! Hopefully we will see some product input from MD in 2011. Matthias always seems to have a good year, and that along with Vans hook up, and a profile on Props,he signed off another successful year despite not winning the World Circuit this year (there were plenty of other events he did, Circle Cow, Jomopro, Fise, Fieldcontrol, look out Viki…

Chad Johnston getting full support from S&M, why is this big? S&M is argueably the biggest company in BMX right now, running Fit as well. It’s a huge deal with Chad getting bars and his new frame into the BMX world, kids at my local skatepark already asked me if I knew what the “FLT” frame was, it’s great to see a rider like Chad, who has put so much into the sport, with his videos over the years, get some respect and support back from such a credible company. With Chad also starting a shop in the Long Beach area with Aaron Bostrum, “Neighbourhood Bmx” the future looks good for Chad J.

You have to give props to Viki Gomez this year, throwing it down on the World Circuit, and taking the World No 1 title from Matthias Dandois, one thing for sure is that Matthias will come back hard in ’11, Viki also started his own company “Felix” in 2010, and shared a whole bunch of nice edits with the flatland world. 2011 looks set to be a super competitive year, Groundtactics to look forward to, the 4 rounds of the World Circuit, and whatever else comes along the way in the mean time.

Simon O’Brien kinda goes underneath the radar, 2010 Simon released his second solo dvd project “deju vu”, and thats huge right there, great achievement, and posed the question to every flatlander who’s seen the ender, did he pull it?? Much respect due to Simon for pushing the artistic side of flatland forward in dvd format in this internet driven culture.

On Sunday 27th November this year, Flatmatters celebrated its two year birthday,pretty big news, it seems a lot longer I have to say, and now the blog has become an every day part of my life, good or bad, you’d have to ask the missus that! Thanks to everyone for your support, roll on 2011!