Manny Mania takes over the Big Apple

After holding over 120 qualifiers in 31 countries around the world, Red Bull Manny Mania will showcase the top amateur skater from each nation in New York City this weekend.

The amateurs will be fighting for a prize in the spotlight, with the winner gaining a spot in the 5th annual Red Bull Manny Mania Pro contest on Sunday, August 21st. The invite-only pro contest features big names such as Kenny Anderson, Tim O'Connor and Joey Brezinski. (the mayor of Manny Mania)

Representing the U.S. in the amateur portion of Manny Mania will be Sebastian Walker who earned his ticket winning the U.S. championships at Stoner Park in Santa Monica earlier this Summer.

For Walker and most of the amateurs from the other countries this will be their first trip to the big apple, known as the mecca for skateboarding around the world. An experience of a lifetime will be complete with the chance to skate against their hero's in the pro division.

Red Bull Manny Mania is a unique contest that highlights on technical talents via the manual trick -being challenged to combine complex lines all while balancing on two wheels. It requires extreme control, patience and skill - along with the creativity to combine mannys with difficult tricks in order to impress the judges.

The contest will be anyone's game as the Pro will see return podium placers from the past, including New York City's own Eli Reed who won in 2009, event creator Joey Brezinski and Mike Mo Capaldi, who got 2nd behind Reed in 2009. With the 2010 contest rained out, Reed is the reigning champion.

Here's the complete list of skaters set to compete this weekend:

RED BULL MANNY MANIA PRO FINAL:

Kenny Anderson
Youness Amrani
Zered Bassett
Brandon Biebel
Chico Brenes
Joey Brezinski
Dennis Busenitz
Ronnie Creager
Andrew Cannon
Mike Mo Capaldi
Danny Falla
Daniel Lebron
Marty Murawski
Tim O'Conner
Eli Reed
Billy Rohan
Walker Ryan

RED BULL MANNY MANIA WORLD FINAL:

Argentina - Gonzalo Saravia
Australia - Dean Palmer
Belgium - Maarten De Ryck
Bolivia - Juan Pablo Imaná
Bosnia - Herzegovina - Miroslav Knezevic
Brazil - Alexandre Vieira
Bulgaria - Lozio Dimitrov
Canada - Brandon Bandula
Chile - Manuel Rivera
Colombia - Sebastian Gonzalez
Denmark - Mads Christensen
France - Manuel Etchegoyen
Greece - Konstantinos Mavridis
Hungary - Péter Forray
Ireland - Paddy Maguire
Italy - Francesco Marconato
Kazakhstan - Evgeniy Fedchuk
Mexico - Carlos Padilla
Netherlands - Sewa Kroetkov
Peru - Luis Guillermo Vascones
Portugal - Nuno Cardoso
Romania - Stefan Dragomir
Russia - Dmitrii Rodionov
Serbia - Danilo Pisanjuk
Slovenia - Robert Kocjan
South Africa - Moses Adams
Spain - Sergio Muñoz
Sweden - Márten Rapp
Switzerland - Sa-Phep Tang
United Kingdom - Lloyd Mcleggon
United States - Sebastian Walker

Source: http://www.grindtv.com/skate/blog/29635/manny+mania+takes+over+the+big+apple/

tony hawk rodney mullen bam margera rob dyrdek paul rodriguez