HUF “Rail around the corner” event at SKTWK 2023

Last week the bells rang again for the annual SKTWK (“Skateweek”) that was held in the middle of Germany aka. the city of Frankfurt to be more precise. It is a week-long festival to celebrate the culture of skateboarding. Open skate sessions, contests, exhibitions, video premieres and parties all over the city. A festival to come together, skate, enjoy the show(s) and make friends.

We as a distribution exclusively organized the main skate highlight of 2023’s Skateweek: From the concept to the final execution, the treasured “Rail around the corner” happening was proudly presented by HUF. What may seemed misleadingly to some in the first place, was a decision purely made on purpose: A secret rail spot was on the menu for the second day. But the expected rail wasn’t round or bended around a corner (like the title may has promised to some). It was simply next door and also to be found at the infamous Willy-Brandt plaza, where the session started. 

The non-modified handrail at this spot is not skateable at all: It’s a solid thirteen stair long beast of a rail and the last 4 stairs need to be gapped out. The rail’s initial construction makes it impossible to slide or grind. Therefore, nobody would ever dare to skate it (or even think about trying it). While the daylong session on top the plaza was still going on, we sneaked up to the rail and within 10 minutes of work we were able to prepare the run-up with a wooden ply construction and put our 4 meters long, custom-build metal cover in HUF green on top of the original rail, so it finally became skateable!

Seconds after the first people spotted us, the huge crowd gathered around the rail and couldn’t believe their eyes, knowing what’s about to happen soon: The showdown was about to start. Shortly after the first careful attempts have been made, the session was on and it went full ballistic. Kanya Spani, Jelle Maartman, Alex Sorgente, Jan Hirt and a few more brave hearts were able to conquer the monster, riding away in standing ovation and eternal fame.

We would like to thank fine lines and the whole SKTWK team for their trust and the great collaboration, as well as everyone who attended or watched the contest and spent some precious time with us. Big ups to Alex Ullmann for building the whole construction and last but not least a shoutout to Marvin Steiner and his team at Lebenshilfe Giessen e.V. for supporting us with the branding.

And for each and everyone of you who is curious about the process of building and branding the obstacle, peep the short behind the scenes video below.