Philadelphia, Pa. - Despite the intermittent rain, the first day of the ESPN X Games' return to the East Coast proved to be a success. A total of 9,900 spectators saw exciting competitions at Woodward Camp, Falls Road and City Hall Plaza.

The time trials for the downhill BMX competition, new to this year's X Games, were held at Woodward Camp, Woodward, Pa. Christophe Leveque of Huntington Beach, Ca. Qualified first with a time of 48.561 seconds. Travis Turesson of Mansfield, OH and Kyle Bennett of Conroe, Texas qualified second and third.

With four Philadelphia representatives, the skateboard street competition at City Hall Plaza was a hometown favorite, with more than 6,500 fans on site. Kerry Getz took over the competition with a first run of 92 and held on to it throughout the competition. Eric Koston of Los Angeles, Ca. and Chris Senn of Grass Valley, Ca., silver and bronze medal winners, respectively, also made their mark in the first round. Getz's third run sealed the victory with two outstanding tricks: 180 half cab noseslide and a kickflip to backside lipslide.

"I'm really stoked on today's competition. It was the best contest I've been in: real street skating," said gold medal winner Getz. "This is a great day in Philadelphia skateboarding history."

In a follow-up skateboard jam session, Rick McCrank of Vancouver, B.C. captured first place by putting on a show that stunned the crowd. The competition allowed the skating field 10 minutes to use each of three obstacles on the street course. Getz and Koston won their second medals of the day, taking silver and bronze respectively.

Street luge qualifiers took place on Falls Road in Fairmount Park throughout the afternoon. Supermass top three finishers included newcomers Nick Duffield of Adelaide, South Australia, Gerhard Lanz of Mieming, Austria and last year's King of the Hill street luge champion Dennis Derammelaere of Walnut Creek, Ca.

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