till the early morning hours in Tallinn. The program is even adjusted to the party schedule as the day doesn't start at 9am but rather at 2pm or even 5pm on the day of the finals. This gives everyone enough time to get some hours of sleep or adjust to the time change. 
Back in the year 1999 (-ish?) I made it to Estonia for the first time with the GT Airshow team. We did shows at a festival and Risto Kalmre came to see the show. He then started doing his own event by the name of Simple Session and I believe in 2004 it was back to Estonia to attend my first edition. It was a blast back then for the same reasons that the contest is immensely popular today. 
Doing a pro contest and having to tell great pro riders they cannot ride is the most difficult thing to do. This year the list was long once again and qualifying took 8 hours. 99 riders rode and were happy to have the entire park to their sole disposal if only for a few minutes. 8 minutes for 4 riders is what each group got and it was on as soon as the clock started. The difficult part at Simple 
Session also makes the event unique. Park and Street riders are on the same decks at the event riding at the same time. It's street rider Alex Kennedy and park rider Logan Martin being judged in the same competition riding different obstacles. Yes, it's impossible to do that right but those were two riders who made finals because they both rode awesome in qualification.
25 out of 100 riders got to ride some more on Sunday because they made finals, but Sunday also had the Best Trick contest that everyone could enter. 5pm still came early for some party animals but the heat was on for the best trick comp. Riders riding together pushing each other was more important than winning the Best Trick title. 
Some extra time was added to the 20 minutes session because riders had some good stuff lined up that they wanted to pull off in front of everyone. It was Dan Paley who won Best Trick with a 360 to crooked grind to opposite 180 off the rail set up. Dylan Lloyd picked up some cash for second and AK got third. Then the finals started. The crowd got wild as Catfish and Darryl Nau got on the microphones. The riders were pumped and hungry. Nick Bruce was the first rider up and crashed hard from the get go. He made it back on the bike and pushed even harder afterwards. It showed that to make it to the finals was one thing, but doing well in the final takes an extra effort and pushes the personal riding of the riders. It was time to shine for everyone. With the big crowd in the Saku Suurhall and thousands of BMX fans watching online the pressure was there and killed it for some of the finalists.
Drew Bezanson was a favourite coming into the Simple Session 14 contest and did not disappoint. He won a contest in Poland the weekend before and wanted to get that "gold medal" in Estonia just like Canada's hockey team grabbed the gold in Sochi earlier in the day. Drew won hands down this year with Logan Martin in second and Pat Casey in third. Garrett Reynolds rode sick for 4th place and it was simply a treat to see everyone rip. 
After a quick Vapiano dinner it was off to the Parlament for the official legendary afterparty. Skateboarders, street and park riders, and the fans wrapped up a solid weekend in Tallinn at the club. As long as there's a contest in Estonia, you can count on us to be back. Thanks to the whole crew for doing an awesome job. See you in 2015. BdJ
Action shots: Rutger Pauw/Jaanus Ree/Red Bull
Tourist pics: BdJ
After doing a BMX 'zine for ten years (1987 - 1996) FATBMX made it on the internet. The year was 1998. Here to stay.