Simple Session (formerly known as Simpel Session) is an international

extreme sport Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...

s event taking place annually in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. As the event has grown by years, it has also branched outside of Estonia with its Simple Summer Session series, with 2010 and 2011 events taking place in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and 2017 and 2018 in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

History

2000

The first event, then named Pepsi Street Challenge, was held in the year 2000 in newly opened outdoor Simpel Skatepark,

Tähtvere Tähtvere is a neighbourhood of Tartu, Estonia. It has a population of 2,989 (as of 31 December 2013) and an area of . Gallery File:Tähtvere mõisahoone.jpg, Tähtvere Manor See also *Estonian University of Life Sciences *Tartu Song Festiv ...

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

. In the first ever year, the event featured

BMX BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

and

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...

disciplines, including

inline skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...

, BMX

vert Vert or Verts may refer to: * Vert (heraldry), the colour green in heraldry * Vert (music producer) (born 1972), pseudonym of Adam Butler, an English music producer * Vert (river), in southern France * Vert (sport), a competition in extreme vers ...

and

dirt Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains * Dust: a genera ...

. The first event cost only about 10,000 krones (about 640 euros) to organize.

2001

As a result of the success of the first year, the event took place in the following year as well. Now renamed to Simpel Session due to the sponsorship deal with EMT's Simpel brand, the event was extended to two days and featured BMX flatland in addition to BMX dirt, BMX street/park, inline park, inline vert and skateboarding street/park disciplines.

2004

In 2004 the event moved to an indoor location at

Saku Suurhall Unibet Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the Haabersti subdistrict of the Estonian capital, Tallinn. Opened in November 2001, it is the largest multi-purpose hall in the country with around 7,000 seats but can hold up to 10,000 people. It ...

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

which allowed the event to be held during wintertime in the subsequent years. It was also the first year

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

teamed up with the event and built a special competition course for the event.

2005

As part of the sponsorship deal with EMT, the event was renamed to POP! Session for subsequent two years, named after EMT's other brand POP!.

2007

In 2007, Nate Wessel, who has designed skateparks for Woodward and

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

, designed and built the skatepark for the event. In addition to the main event in January, a secondary event, Simpel Session Summer Splash, took place for the first time in August.

2009

2009 rendition also featured another summertime event - the Simpel Summer Session 09 at the Freedom Square in Tallinn.

2010

Simpel Session celebrated its 10 year anniversary event. In comparison to the first ever event, the 2010 event cost about 4 million krones (about 256,410 euros). The 2010 summertime event was the first year the event branched outside of Estonia. It took place in Helsinki, Finland and was held on the 13th of August.

2011

Summer Session of 2011 took place Helsinki once again on the 20th of August.

2012

As the longtime sponsorship deal with EMT ended, the competition's name was changed to Simple Session and it was registered as an international trademark. By then Simple Session had become one of the most popular BMX and skate events of the year, resulting a hefty media coverage reaching millions of unique viewers.

2013

For the 2013 event Simple Session partnered up with

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

, which allowed the event to be broadcast in full HD quality for the first time.

2017

2017 saw the return of the Simple Summer Session as the event took place in Riga, Latvia.

2018

Summer Session of 2018 was held in Riga, Latvia again in a newly built concrete skatepark.

2021

Simple Session 21 returns as a summertime festival, held in Põhjala factory, Tallinn, on August 20–21.

References

External links

* {{official website Multi-sport events in Estonia Roller sports