Battle of Hastings

Battle of Hastings is an annual BMX team contest held at the Source Park in Hastings, on the south coast of England. The venue is an indoor skatepark built inside a former Victorian swimming baths beneath the seafront. The contest is run over several days, with a beach rail jam and high air contest on the seafront and park qualifiers and finals inside the Source Park, whose concrete bowl, coping and transition give the event its character.

History

Hastings has had a BMX scene for decades, and the town was a venue for UK contests and jams well before the Source Park existed, including the first Backyard Jam in 1991. Source BMX, a shop founded in the town, grew into one of the UK's main BMX retailers and distributors and became the centre of that scene.

Source BMX took on the disused White Rock Baths, a Victorian swimming baths complex built under the seafront promenade. Construction began in 2015 and the Source Park opened in March 2016, with a concrete bowl, a street section and a mini ramp area. It was billed as the largest underground skatepark in the world.

Battle of Hastings was first held in September 2016 to mark the park's first year, and it has run annually since, with international fields from Europe, the United States and Australia. Swatch later became the title sponsor, and recent editions have added a flatland battle.

Format

Battle of Hastings is a team contest built around the Source Park and the Hastings seafront. Details change from year to year, but recent editions have followed this pattern:

1. Riders are split into teams, each led by a captain who picks riders for the different battles.
2. On the first day, a rail jam on a temporary handrail and a high air contest on a quarter pipe are held on the beach or seafront.
3. Park qualifiers follow inside the Source Park, using the main bowl, hips, a spine and the rest of the course.
4. Park finals are held on the last day, with team scores combined into an overall ranking and a best trick prize alongside.
5. Judging rewards speed, height, line choice, use of the whole course, variety and style.

The underground venue means the park sessions take place in a confined, loud space with spectators standing right at the edge of the bowl, which is a large part of its appeal to riders.

Notable moments

• The event has drawn many of the leading transition and park riders of the 2010s and 2020s from Europe, the United States and Australia.
• The contest footage from the Source Park, with its arched ceilings and tiled walls visible around the bowl, has become instantly recognisable in BMX media and has helped make the venue famous beyond the UK.
• Battle of Hastings has given UK and European park riders a home contest at international level, something the country lacked after earlier UK contest series ended.

Significance

Battle of Hastings fills a specific role in the contest calendar. Most major park contests, including the Olympics and X Games, are individual contests where judging favours difficulty and rotation. Battle of Hastings mixes a team format with a venue where flow, speed and use of the terrain matter as much as the hardest trick, and it is a contest many riders from a trails or transition background want to attend.

The event has also been important for the UK scene. Hastings has long punched above its weight in British BMX, and the Source Park and its contest have made the town a destination for riders from around the world. Along with Simple Session and FISE, it is one of the European contests that riders attend for the venue and the experience rather than for ranking points.

Related

• Simple Session
• FISE
• Backyard Jam
• Park
• Coping
• Transition