HOW DO YOU DISTIL 35 YEARS OF SKATEBOARDING INTO ITS PUREST FORM? That's exactly what Chris Middlebrook has done with the release of his book Pause, a hardback collection of images and stories from his archives of footage and film. Most readers will be more than familiar with Chris, or Middsy, as he's known to friends and industry heads, after all, he's responsible for documenting some of our most beloved and iconic skateboarders. Think Lewis Marnell or Shane O'Neill, the latter of whom he co-owns April Skateboards with. He's also filmed for and contributed to canonical videos like Alien Workshop's Mind Field or Nike's Debacle, and old heads like me remember him as the man that showed us a rugged and raw version of ’90s/early-millennium Melbourne through his work on…

WHERE: MOUNT CLARENCE, ALBANY, WA. BUILT: 1976. CRUST RATING: 10/10. For anyone not familiar with the lore around “The Track,” as locals often refer to it, it's the second oldest skatepark on Earth, the oldest community-funded skatepark in Australia, and one of only three skateparks in the world to be considered a national heritage site. It was officially opened in February 1976 by visiting American professional skateboarder Russ Howell, who handstand-bombed the entire track that same day, a feat so gnarly it has never been replicated in its half-century of existence. The Snake Run is also the only skatepark to have ever featured on Ask the Leyland Brothers, which, for anyone not considered an “old head,” was one of the most iconic television shows of the ’70s and ’80s. In…

IN SKATEBOARDING, HAMMERS ARE TRICKS THAT ARE DANGEROUS, DIFFICULT OR RISKY. Hammers are usually done on larger obstacles and become memorable moments in photos and video parts. Life hammers are the bigger, longer-term accomplishments that can help define you, significantly impact your life, and influence your direction moving forward. So, how will you achieve your life hammers? Be Your Best to Be the Best To do your best in life, you need to be honest with yourself, and take the time to figure out what you really want and how you'll go about getting there. On your skateboard, what tricks can you do well? What do you need to work on? What kind of skater do you want to be? In life, what's important to you at this stage? Who…

WHEN NIXEN OSBORNE ROLLED UP TO PADDINGTON SKATEPARK IN BRISBANE, he thought he was there to teach a private skate lesson with a Japanese kid. As he rolled through the park, though, he heard cheers and an air horn blasting, and saw a massive crew assembled on the main bank. “I bet I know everyone up there,” he said to Mat Chigwidden, who was this year's SOTY inside man. As Nixen's mates started running down the bank towards him, yelling SOTY, he put it all together. Nixen Osborne had won the Skater of the Year award for 2026. Nixen had surgery in September 2025 after he copped an injury while skating a rail, which cut his SOTY campaign short. But, he was sitting on a large chunk of high-calibre footage.…

It's rare for a skateboarder who is featured as a New Gen in the mag to shoot a trick that is worthy of the cover. The New Gen feature is designed to showcase skateboarders who are young, up-and-coming, and usually yet to reach their full potential. There are only four covers a year, and they are reserved for the best of the best in Australian skateboarding. So when Liv Lovelace appeared on the cover of Issue 248 of the mag with a mammoth boardslide down a 21-stair rail, she definitely turned some heads. Not only was she a New Gen, but it's one of the biggest street rails ever skated by a woman. It was a gnarly boardslide by anyone's standards, an NBD, and a pretty difficult trick to hold…

On December 2, a couple of days before Gabriel Summers’ GABBERS part was released, Thrasher released an Out There video profile of him. It starts with Summers in high vis, cordless angle grinder in hand, grinding caps off a kinked rail in Sydney. He complains that it's almost impossible to do this with his injured thumb, which we later see is bent out from the joint at a right angle. It's a spine-chilling image, and it looks extremely painful. The 18-minute documentarystyle video contains a barrage of slams, some of which are quite bloody and difficult to watch. It also provides some insight into Summers’ approach to skating and his upbringing in his home state of Tasmania, including interviews with his parents. Gabbers explains: “Life is a war for everybody;…

For more than 30 years, Darren Kaehne has had a sort of omnipresence in Australian skateboarding; he's always had coverage, and somehow, he just keeps getting better with age. His induction to Slam's Hall of Fame won't come as a surprise to anyone paying attention. The first time I saw Darren, he was pulling down his jeans to reveal a monstrously bruised hipper in the intro to his part in Plebs, Gordon “Gordo” Auchinachie's seminal video, way back in 1993. What followed was an onslaught of flip-trickery in the Sydney streets that was on par with anything coming out of The States at the time. With Australian videos few and far between, it seemed like every skater had a dubbed copy of Plebs on VHS, which helped put a lot…

Sean Thomas Ryan is the type of skateboarder who quietly tinkers behind the scenes during the working week, and when the weekend arrives, he's typically making noise clocking clips or possibly belting out karaoke tunes. At 29, he balances his time between working as a Research and Product Development Engineer and skating in the streets of Sydney. After losing an eye in a surfing accident when he was 13 years old, Sean approaches both skating and life with a resilience that is evident in everything he does. He is thoughtful, consistent, and grounded - enjoy hitting these high fives with STR. Favourite Australian Skaters Corey Young. Rhys Grogan. Bryce Golder. Rowan Davis. Shaun Paul. Five Underrated Australian Skaters Liv Lovelace. Chase Collins (I know he's from NZ, but he's too…

For as long as I've known Ben Saddleton, he has carried the spirit of his hometown, Port Macquarie, with him. This isn't just evident from the flat ledge of Port Macquarie Skatepark tattooed across his stomach; it's also reflected in his demeanour and attitude, which mirror the laid-back, mellow energy of the small beach town on the Mid North Coast. However, when you watch him skate, this relaxed vibe fades away. You might easily mistake him for a blow-in from somewhere like The States, with an appetite for hammers on heavy and crusty terrain. Having only burst onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere just a couple of years ago, Ben has been quietly ripping for years prior, with standout footage in the Port Macquarie-based video, Entropy, released back in…