Longboarding is a high-speed adrenaline sport where competitors race downhill on a skateboard at speeds in excess of 75 miles per hour.
The sport, which originated in Vancouver, Canada, requires racers to burst down the steepest of tracks, turning corners and avoiding collisions in order to be first past the finish line.
Despite the relative shortage of downhill skaters in the UK, there is expected to be over 200 competitors at this year’s GoFast! Speed Days downhill event this August.
The event, at Beachy Head, Eastbourne, is a three-day competition featuring all forms of downhill racing governed by the International Gravity Sports Association.
It is the largest downhill racing event in the UK and features Street Luge, Gravity Bike and Dirt Surfer races, amongst others.
Skating at Beachy Head
18-year-old Ollie Slaughter from Bexhill has been longboarding with college pals Aaron and Jon for two years and is currently preparing to take on the world’s best at the GoFast! Speed Days next week in Eastbourne.
This year will be the first time that the trio have competed against other longboarders. Such is the rarity of the sport, they are yet to even meet anyone else who share their passion.
“It will give us a chance to gauge how good we are against the rest of the UK and the rest of the world,” Ollie said excitedly.
“I’m not sure what I am compared to the professionals or anyone else in the UK but all of us are equally matched in ability. There are hardly any people that do longboarding so we thought we might as well just see how it goes. We are all pretty nervous.”
Ollie, Aaron and Jon will have the opportunity to compete against World No.2 Mifcho Erban and could even pick up IGSA World Cup Points should they progress through the qualifying races.
The first day will consist of four man races with the winner and runner-up progressing through to the latter stages of the tournament.
“I hope I can qualify but I really don’t know because we don’t know how to gauge how good we are. We’ve never been against anyone from outside our group of three but getting the chance to even just talk to other people who do it is a great prospect,” Ollie said.
Learning How To Longboard
The youngsters, who have just finished their A-levels at Bexhill College, started longboarding when John brought a board back from the GoFast! Speed Days two years ago.
They made their own course at Bexhill Hospital and slowly began to perfect riding techniques such as sliding and cross stepping.
“We just started going off going round corners and it went on from there,” Ollie recalls.
“We started trying bigger and bigger hills, trying out slides. It was quite scary at the time. The speed is so quick. Even though you are not going that fast, it feels it.
“The other day, I completely misjudged a corner, the back wheels swung round and I faceplanted. I flew across the road at 30mph and really ruined my arms. I always wear my helmet because anything can go wrong especially on a new hill you’re trying out. I’ve heard of people breaking their arms.”
Longboarding is certainly more than a hobby for the teenager, who lives at home with his mum and older brother. He is hoping to save up enough money to take part in the European Tour whilst on his gap year.
“It’s just the thrill really,” he explains.
“Going down the hill you get a rush of adrenaline. There’s a lot of skill and concentration involved so u can always improve. There’s so many things you can apply to it which is what makes it interesting. There’s so many parts of the sport.
“We skate nearly every day, really. We’re always looking for new hills. Recently we have been sliding and drifting. You can use that to slow down and go round corners so we’ve been trying that out and crashing quite a lot.
“You have got to have good balance, you’ve got to judge the speeds to go round the corner otherwise the wheels can slide out and the technique is difficult as well. There’s loads of videos on the internet and we learnt from watching all the pros.
“It is sort of an undercover thing, Nobody really knows about it but it is supposed to be growing really fast. It is growing faster than skateboarding now. It is really kicking off.
“The thing is there aren’t that many things letting people know about it. There is one national race a year for downhill. They do one or two slalom races a year but that’s it.”
Although you need to be at a certain level to apply for the races at Beachy Head, the GoFast! Speed Days will also feature freestyle sessions where anybody with a helmet, board and kneepads can have an attempt at skating down the course.
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