The inaugural Maloof Money Cup Championships in Kimberely South Africa are upon us with the top skaters from NY and DC Money Cups competing for almost $500k and the Maloof Championship title.

Heading into the event the competition is wide-open with a number of skaters having a legitimate shot at the title and a huge pay day. Like most skates competitions these days there's usually one or two guys you feel strong about winning, but with this years MMC's that's not the case. BUT we're prepared to go out on a limb and make a prediction.

The Maloof All-Star team set to do battle in Kimberely includes D.C. winner Andrew Reynolds and NYC winner Greg Lutzka. Reynolds win in D.C. was sort of a surprise, not because of his talent or for what he means to skateboarding but with the lack of recent competition results. Take away D.C. and Reynolds hasn't won many contests, but did prove he's capable at anytime. Greg Lutzka is a different story, he's made his mark in the past few years on the competition scene, competing in multiple X Games and Dew Tours. If we had to to chose between the two, Lutzka may be more of a lock over Reynolds to win in South Africa.

A skater with a bit of momentum coming into the contest is Ryan Decenzo. He recently won his first Dew Tour stop in Salt Lake City. Decenzo has come close in major contest before but has been unable to land the big tricks when it counted. With the contest format for the MMC being one that rewards big tricks, it's easy to see how Decenzo could walk away with the victory.

Ronnie Creager is trending upwards as one who has a chance heading into the championships. He's a perfect example of a skater with big tricks capable of beating anyone man on man. Remember with the head-to-head format you don't have to be the best skater all day, you just have to be better than the guy your skating against.

With that said, there's a whole crop of talented skaters with enough tricks in their bag to walk away with the title, but like we said we are here to make a prediction and we're sticking to it.

Our pick for the winner of the Maloof Money Cup Championship is Manny Santiago. He has what may be most important in the head-to-head format. He has the ability to skate all day long. Manny goes big and he goes often. Combine his huge tricks with his stamina and you have the recipe for success.

Hopefully we didn't put the Grind curse on Manny as many of our predictions in the past have failed miserably, but we truly believe in this one.

Bonus Prediction: Mitchie Brusco or Elliot Sloan lands a 900 on the MiniMega Ramp...

Here's a video to help get you hyped as the skaters begin to arrive in South Africa.

The great Mississippi River known for Mark Twain, Steamboats, and Skateboarding. Ok, it's definitely not known for skateboarding, that is until Red Bull decided to send a group a skaters on a floating skatepark down the Mississippi from Minneapolis to New Orleans.

The 28-day, 1,705 mile adventure, known as Red Bull Mississippi Grind will feature plenty of guest pros including Luis Tolentino, Joey Brezinski, Ronnie Creager and Converse pro Kenny Anderson.

Red Bull recruited renowned skate park builders Spohn Ranch to develop the course which includes a hubba ledge, a bank to many pad and double stair set with some additional sections to be added along the way. The ramps will be donated to City of New Orleans to help provide a skate park to the city.

New Orleans provides the obvious final destination for Red Bull Mississippi Grind, both in terms of geography and of supporting skateboard culture. A three day celebration on October 7-9th in New Orleans will mark the climax of Red Bull Mississippi Grind, with the final ceremony dedicated to Red Bull giving the skate structure to the City of New Orleans.

Be sure to check back for highlights along the way.

Check out the photos of the departure from St. Paul courtesy of Red Bull.

Aerial Shots in Prairiedu Chien, Wisconsin on the Mississippi River. p Ryan Taylor/ RedBull Content Pool
Barge from above. p Ryan Taylor/ RedBull Content Pool

Luis Tolentino showsoff during a pro demo at the St. Paul Mississippi Grind Stop. p Dan Neufield
The barge sails off from St. Paul after the Ticket to Grind Competition. p Dan Neufield/RedBull Content Pool

GRINDTV Newswire via Red Bull - July 7, 2010 - (Santa Monica, CA) - Around the States, and in 32 countries around the globe, skaters have been putting their two wheels to the ground in hopes of qualifying for a spot in the Red Bull Manny Mania World Final in New York this August 21st. After a series of qualifiers coast to coast, now the U.S. is ready to crown their best amateur manual skater who will carry the nation's hopes of world domination on their back wheels.

Set at the world-renowned action sports camp and practice facility to the best in the sport, the Red Bull Manny Mania U.S. National Final, at Camp Woodward in central Pennsylvania, will host over 20 skaters on July 17th, 2010 to battle it out. Winning this contest means the American skater will book their ticket to NY to face off against the top skaters from South Africa to Japan to Chile in the Red Bull Manny Mania World Final with a chance to earn a single, coveted spot in the Red Bull Manny Mania pro contest, held on Sunday, August 22nd.

The best am manual skater in the world crowned on Saturday won't have much time to rest- Sunday they face the likes of previous Manny champs Joey Brezinski, Ronnie Creager, Eli Reed and other heavy hitters like Brandon Biebel. Tim O'Connor, Stevie Williams, Zered Bassett, Forrest Kirby and Rodrigo Tx.
LOCAL FUN TO NUMBER 1?

The winner from the final U.S. local qualifier on July 10th in Pittsburgh, will join the following skaters at Woodward: Spencer Brown, Cody Cepeda, Kyle Dalrymple, Matt Fink, James Espinoza, Ben Fisher, Jason Garfield, Nate Jackson, Timmy Johnson, Daniel Kim, Jason Kinzel, Derek Leroy, Justin Schulte, Danny Sook, Ryan Stiffler, David Thurn, Bert Wootton and Dan Zvereffe. Several additional wild card selections will round out the field, and Pros Joey Brezinski and Mike Maldonado will judge.

With a chance for one amateur to compete against skateboarding's top professionals, this summer will quite possibly see a manual pad turn into a launching pad for one tenacious two-wheeler.


For USA info and information for the Am series, visit www.redbullusa.com/mannymania
For a complete list of global contests and updates, visit www.redbullmannymania.com
For complimentary images for editorial use, visit www.redbull-photofiles.com
For high resolution moving images content, visit www.redbullcontentpool.com

Ronnie Creager is a happy guy, and he wants you all to be happy too! That's why he has built you a happy place to buy all your skate supplies. This will make you happy because you'll get a rad new setup, and him even happier because he'll be making money in this terrible economy.

Check out www.happyskateboarding.com. Good luck Ronnie! You picked a hell of a time to start a happy business.