Team Colabo was a group of British Columbia's top riders who were on the brink of their professional careers. Dan maintained a balanced representation of talent, ensuring that no particular brand had an unfair advantage. He organized inclusive sessions on the Vancouver North Shore, helping amateur skateboarders in the DH world have a neutral platform to showcase their skills.
The original filming of Team Colabo started with a humble $400 Canon camcorder, but this did not stop Dan from capturing the raw talent and excitement of the sport. Some of the riders who were part of Team Colabo include Kevin Reimer, Brianne Davies, Max Erwin, Nathan Lang, Mike McGoldrick, and Quinn Dubois, to name a few. These riders were instrumental in shaping the sport of downhill skateboarding and making it what it is today, enjoyed by thousands of people globally. Dan himself even rode while filming to properly capture the excitement of the sport.
Dan was dedicated to supporting these talented riders and contacted their respective sponsors to lobby for expanded support. Over time, the world watched as these amateur riders rose to become pros and Team Colabo went on to achieve more podium finishes than any other group of racers during that time. Dan was so inspired by the accomplishments of the Team Colabo riders that he took a risk and created the first HD film in DH, "The Fellowship of the Bearing."
In 2005 - 2006 when bombing hills was in it's prime and freeriding took a backseat to the stoke in the scene, I spent years filming with my Viosport and Canon Cameras. Both $400-500 dollar units, it wasn't about the quality but the hype of the people that I skated with. Doing high speed runs with Benda, Reimer, Jesse T, Edstrand, Mischo, McGoldrick etc molded me to what I know now. The experiences I gained and the people I met in the early years before I started filming are featured in this film. Bricin Lyons, from Coast approached Jason Bamford and I in English Bay 1 month Before Danger Bay 1. I skated with the Landyachtz Crew despite riding a board that was completely different than anything out there, the On Shore Board. Because, as a rider, I was always excepted by the Coast and Landy crew, I never wanted to stop riding and filming longboarding.
The below video was presented at LBC Film Festival as a Colabo presentation just prior to forming the Official Colabo Team. It was screened the same time the Short Bus Chronicles (Sector 9) in North Vancouver in 2006. Shortly after this Kevin Reimer, Nathan Lang, Brianne Davies and Max Erwin joined Colabo to squash politics in Longboarding and to better the sport by representing DH Skaters in a positive light. Colabo constantly strove to showcase riders as professional ambassadors to the sport always wearing full safety gear and never smearing the image of sport.
True Ambassadors they were and always will be.
