By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

It took a while for the skateboarders to get rolling on the third day of the Mobile Skatepark Series at Sawyer Point, but the crowds who braved Sunday morning's rain were treated to the professional skateboarding street and vert best trick contests by late afternoon.

Charlie Wilkins of Newton, MA catches air as he does the grind during the Mobile Skatepark Series skateboarding street "best trick" contest. (Melissa Heatherly photo)

In the vert contest, competitors had to overcome a shortened warm-up period and a slower ramp because of the moisture. And last year's Mobile Skatepark Series vert champion Danny Mayer did it in grandest fashion.

Mayer landed a kickflip McTwist - a 540-degree revolution of the body and the skateboard along with a kickflip - to take home his second straight gold in Cincinnati and the $2,000 first prize. Mayer, who said he was still sore from a fall he took in San Diego that left a gash in his chin, tried the trick about 10 times and suffered one hard fall just before completing the winning run.

"It made me really want to do it, like 'I'm ready to go now,' " Mayer said. "If anything, a slam like that can give you more confidence. If you're all scared before and you slam, you go, 'Oh, that's all it is?' "

Pierre-Luc Gagnon landed by far the most tricks of the day, including a nollie heelflip indy 360, which earned him second place. He tried to land a heelflip McTwist that could have rivaled Mayer's winning trick, but he couldn't do it in the 45-minute time frame.

"It's always hard when it's a new ramp, and then when you only get 10-15 minutes to get used to it and you have to pull hard tricks," Gagnon said. "And (the ramp) was kind of mushy. The wood gets soggy, and really it takes a full day to fully dry."

Mathias Ringstrom placed third with a front foot impossible lien over the channel.

STREET WINNER: After the skatepark crew scrambled to get the street course dry, Ryan Johnson came away the professional skateboarding street winner, landing a frontside ollie transfer off a wall to the "jersey barrier." Johnson, who also completed several other tricks before slowing down to rest for much of the last 10 minutes of the session, said he was surprised his trick won.

"I feel like I was charging hard, not necessarily the best tricks, but just the way I love to skate - with all my heart poured into it," Johnson said. "I wanted to show everybody that doesn't skate why I love it, like when my passion pours out into my wheels."

Wolnei dos Santos took second place, along with most of the crowd's attention for about 15 minutes, by landing a perfect ollie off a 13-foot wall to the bank below. Dos Santos knew he wanted to do the trick from the start, and even had the skatepark crew remove a sign that would have blocked his path ahead of time. He and another competitor worked on the trick for much of the last half of the 45-minute session, enduring multiple falls.

Both landed it, but Dos Santos' was cleaner. Benji Galloway placed third.

COLLINS RETURNS: Cincinnati skateboarder Gary Collins returned to Sawyer Point Sunday to place seventh in the professional street competition. Collins turned pro at the Cincinnati contest last year after winning the amateur competition.

AMATEUR COMPETITION: The amateur street competition was completed after being moved to Ollie's Skatepark in Florence because of rain. Results were unavailable.

UP TODAY: Pro BMX street prelims, 10:30 a.m.; pro BMX vert finals, 2 p.m.; pro BMX street finals, 5:15 p.m.

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E-mail ckane@enquirer.com