Dude! A gnarly skate park!

Chad Richins (The News Guard) -- 10/07/2003

The Lincoln City Skateboard Park was recently a stop-over point for a team of traveling skaters, and will host a skateboard tournament this weekend.

The van full of touring skaters on a promotional tour pulled into Lincoln City on Wednesday and spent most of the next two days trying out the newly expanded skatepark off of Northeast 22nd Street. The team also handed out some free skateboard products and stickers to promote their sponsors – Afroman Skateboards, Tracker trucks and Axion shoes.

One of the team members, Brian Summers, said he has been coming to Lincoln City to skate since the first skateboard park was built in the early 1990s. “That was pretty basic,” said Summers. “The concrete work was kind of chunky.”

The park has since undergone two major renovations designed, both constructed by Lincoln City’s own Dreamland Skateparks. The original 1999 renovation – now the upper section of the expanded park – was named “America’s Gnarliest Skatepark” by Thrasher Magazine, which gave the park a 9-out-of-10 rating. The newest section of the Lincoln City Skatepark is a convoluted, smooth concrete bowl with a crazy little feature called a “cradle,” allowing inverted skating.

Summers said of the new addition, “If you could classify skateparks like you do ski trails, that’s a black diamond.” The park now draws skateboarders from all over the state, and is mentioned in awed tones on almost every skateboarding Web site on the Internet.

On October 4 and 5, the Lincoln City Skateboard Park will host the Board Games Skateboard Tournament for beginners and amateurs. Boarders will be judged on their personal style during one-minute runs and two clinics will be offered for those seeking to improve their skills.

Registration will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, with the preliminary heats of the tournament starting that afternoon. The finals will be held Sunday, and category winners will receive skateboard products as prizes. Beginners may compete for free, but amateur entry will be $10. Clinics are $5 per person, with enrollment limited to 15 students per clinic.