For five years, Terry Donley has organized the annual Heat Stroke Jam at the Fort Myers YMCA. Not that he would tell you: most of the day’s events come out of his own pocket.
This was my fifth year, and the fifth year it rained. The good news: Terry started it early and right as Pro-Open finished up, was when Mother Nature decided to step in. I’m pretty confident in saying everything went down without a hitch.
Here’s the first collection of photos I shot over the course of the day. I saw some new faces (to me, at least) and didn’t catch everyone’s names…so if there’s no photo caption, please tag that person and let them know.
Thanks to Terry for all his hard work, and thanks to the southwestern Florida scene for keeping things positive and tight knit. Motivating for sure.
See you for the 6th and final Heat Stroke next June in 2016.
Part Two coming on Tuesday. Keep an eye out.
-Matt Coplon
This is Charles. He does dialed turndowns. Seriously dialed.JR Hobbs: Part time college student, part time transition annihilator, and for Heat Stroke, part time announcer.The People’s award always goes to B-Rad. If you didn’t catch his runs in Open Class, you missed his best runs to date.Elijah Riley. Cooking at the pyramid in front of rows of spectators. Love how stoked Riley gets when pedaling.Geovanni Spado: One foot over one of the best park pyramids in Florida.I’m going to get personal here: Bobby James is one of my favorite riders. Always stoked. Always positive. Classic Tabe on the 8ft.Was real stoked to catch this pinky squeak to half cab by Allen Goulding. Also, I might add, he killed his run in open. Always stoked.This dude is really, really good. Tag him.The man with the plan. Terry Donley. Even though he was sick the entire day, he made things happen for the fifth year in a row. Thanks Terry, for all you do.
