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When Cape Town’s streets transform into a living skatepark, something electric happens. Red Bull Spot Check brought its celebrated street-skate format to South Africa for the first time, and the Mother City rose to meet it with raw energy and homegrown talent that left even the international pros in awe!
A dream come true for South Africa’s Brandon Valjalo, we caught up with him to get his thoughts on the experience…
What is the whole experience of being a part of Red Bull Spot Check South Africa being like?
It’s been insane, being able to skate with some of my role models growing up, having Shecks, having Foy, having Zion in the mix, as well, and just bringing the whole team together has been crazy. We’ve all skated around the city, found some good locations, good spots, skated all together. It’s something for me, the younger version of my myself always dreamed of, you know, being in a van with some of my favourite skaters and just going out to different spots and skating, doing tricks and having a good time. So I definitely say it’s been a dream come true.
Give us a rundown of what Red Bull Spot Check actually is?
Yeah, so Red Bull Spot Check is all about going to the roots of what skateboarding actually is. We’re not in skate parks, we’re going around the city, skating around different locations that weren’t specifically built for skateboarding, but we got out there to recreate our tricks on it. We’re going back into the core industry side of things and we’re filming around the city, skating different locations, showing everybody what’s possible. For me being able to have Spot Check over here is something that gives an international opportunity to a local skater as well. We’ll be choosing an MVP from the day. It’s all about bridging that opportunity between the local and the international scene and he’ll be winning an all expenses paid trip to a Red Bull International event next year with a Filmer.
What was it like being able to skate around the city of Cape Town with all the international pro’s and showing them different spots to skate?
So for them being able to see the spots that we have in Cape Town and in South Africa, they’re kind of more exposed to the crust that we have. So nothing is built perfectly, we have to make adjustments to all the spots and Jamie’s been hurt, so he’s been our general contractor on the trip. He’s been making sure everything has skate-able and super perfect and making it possible to be able to skate out that level and showing us kind of what we need to do in the streets. So, being able to go around, skate the local spots, see spots that I’ve never seen in Cape Town, because every time out here it’s always for an event. It’s never really just to go skate in the city and being able to do this has been insane. For me, it’s been cool, and it’s also been, like I said earlier, a dream come true.
Which spot was your favourite and why?
Wow, so we’ve had a couple of good locations. The favourite spot or the spot that Cape Town on is synonymously known for is the Civic Centre, people have been skating there for years and years, so decided to go there and do our demo. One other location is this 15 stair rail that we skated in Canal Walk that I would say, it’s probably one of my favourite sessions I’ve had on the tour.
What was the highlight of the week for you?
I’d say skating a big-ass 15 stair hand rail with Jamie Foy, Zion and Sheckler. Like we were just hopping on this thing. We had to trim the hedges, we had to fill in some cement, we had to fix the tile and then, yeah, we got the opportunity to skate this big rail and having a session with the homies was incredible.
How many countries have you travelled to this year? And what has been in some of the highlights of this year for you?
Wow. So countries I’ve travelled to this year? I can’t say I’ve counted. I’ve done the whole European circuits. I was in the States. So I’d say probably around 10 countries or 11 countries I hit this year. During the European summer, I was out filming for my video parts, so I hit a couple of different locations, Barcelona, went to Croatia, ended up filming in Austria, and then London too. So it’s been a couple of trips. It’s been productive.
Highlights of this year for me, I’d say last weekend I won the national championship, which was good to see that I’ve still got the kids coming up. They’ on my toes, they’re coming, they’re progressing fast, but we also have a lot of talent and skateboarders coming out of Soweto, which was good for me to see and know that SA skateboarding is in good hands. So that’s definitely a highlight.
I would say the streets every time I’ve landed a trick that I’ve challenged myself with, I’d say that’s also being good, like just landing, rolling away from this one front big spin I did, this one tray flip that took quite a few tries. It’s another highlight that just popped in. And then Red Bull Spot Check has been incredible this year, you know, being able to have this opportunity to skate with the best in the world and bring them to my home country has been insane.
What’s in store for you for 2026?
So 2026, I’d like to host my own event. I’d like to drop my video parts, and I would like to, you know, maybe have some stability in my lifestyle, maybe try and find a home, a place to settle down, move out of the parents’ crib, you know, some big milestones there, but I would say, yeah, there’s still way more to come, but also just focussed on skating and being the best skater and working on my body and taking care as much as I can to keep on doing this as long as possible.
Photos by Craig Kolesky / Red Bull Content Pool.
