BMX Event
Simple Session
Simple Session is an annual BMX and skateboarding contest in Tallinn, Estonia, known since 2001 for its custom park and street courses and party atmosphere.
Updated 3 min read706 words
Simple Session is an invitational BMX and skateboarding contest held each year in Tallinn, Estonia. It started in 2001 as a small local event and grew into one of the most respected park and street contests in the world, drawing top international riders to a purpose-built indoor course. It is known as much for its atmosphere and course design as for its results, and many riders describe it as a favourite stop on the contest calendar.
History
Simple Session began in 2001, in the years after Estonia regained independence, when the country's skate and BMX scenes were small and had few places to ride. The first editions were modest indoor events in Tallinn with a mostly local and regional field. Over the following years the organisers brought in riders from Scandinavia, the rest of Europe and eventually the United States, and the contest built a reputation on word of mouth among riders who returned each year.
By the late 2000s Simple Session was one of the few European contests with a field comparable to the big American events. It benefited from the rise of web edits: highlight videos from Tallinn spread quickly online and showed riders who had not been there what the course and crowd were like.
For many years the event was held at Saku Suurhall, Tallinn's largest indoor arena, before moving to other venues in the city in later editions. The organisers have added music, art and film programmes around the contest, and the surrounding parties became part of the event's identity.
Format
Simple Session runs BMX and skateboarding on the same course over a long weekend. The BMX side has usually been split into park and street contests, with separate judging and prize money for each.
- A new course is designed and built each year. The organisers work with riders and course builders on the layout, and the design often includes unusual features, themed obstacles and a mix of transition and street elements that suits both bikes and boards.
- Riders are seeded into heats for qualifying, usually in a jam format where a small group shares the course for a set time and judges score each rider's overall performance.
- The top riders progress to a final, which is run either as a jam or as timed individual runs depending on the year.
- Judges score on difficulty, variety, style, use of the course and consistency. Best trick or highlight awards have been added in some years.
The course is built inside an arena with a large standing crowd close to the riding, which contributes to the event's reputation for noise and energy.
Notable moments
- Garrett Reynolds has won the street contest many times and is the rider most associated with the event's street side. His runs in Tallinn have been among the most watched contest footage of the 2010s.
- Logan Martin and other leading park riders have used Simple Session as a key early-season contest, and park winners in Tallinn have often gone on to win major titles the same year.
- Riders such as Dakota Roche and Dennis Enarson have featured regularly, and the event has been a launching point for European riders who were little known outside their home scenes.
- The event's course designs, including features built around unusual themes and large custom structures, have been copied and referenced by other contest organisers.
Significance
Simple Session is often held up as the model of a rider-friendly contest. It is big enough to attract the best riders in the world but has kept a format that puts the course, the crowd and the riding ahead of television requirements. For many European riders it was the first chance to compete alongside American pros without travelling across the Atlantic.
The event also had a real effect on its home country. It gave Estonia a presence in action sports far out of proportion to the size of its scene, and helped justify the building of skateparks and indoor facilities in Tallinn. Within BMX it is frequently mentioned alongside FISE in France and Battle of Hastings in England as one of the European contests that riders attend for the experience as much as the results.
Related
Frequently asked questions about Simple Session
What makes Simple Session different from other BMX contests?
The course is custom built every year and designed with input from riders, so it changes completely from one edition to the next. The event is also known for its crowd and the parties around it, which give it more of a festival feel than a formal competition.
When is Simple Session held?
For most of its history it has been held in winter, usually in February, which is why it takes place indoors. Dates have shifted in some years.
Can anyone enter Simple Session?
Entry is mainly by invitation, with the organisers selecting a field of international pros and strong local and regional riders. Open qualifying has been used in some years.
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