26 year old British man Dave Cornthwaite Skating across Australia while raising money for three charities and attempting to set a world distance record of 6000km. There have been a couple of groups who have done this in the U.S.. I remember someone doing it in the 80’s even. You would think that would be a longer distance, maybe Dave is taking an indirect route. Not to take anything away from Dave, especially considering he hits stretches of outback where he won’t see a city for two months! I guess we can cut him some slack on the dropped and fendered board he is riding. You can sponsor and even challenge Dave to go farther. Get the details from the European skate mag with the great name of Kingpin. No details as to why a British man is doing this in Australia. The important question is whether or not the dingo will eat his baby. Maybe it’s some sort of extreme case of skate harassment and former penal colonies. Let’s hear from some Aussies: Are you sick of these jokes yet?

No, it doesn’t. But try telling that to the kids at Beaverton Oregon’s skate park. These ramps were originally garbage picked, well donated by the X-Games. If you wanted to ride the vert ramp it usually meant you had to kick the kids off the flat bottom. These pics are from such a session, circa 2001. When the bottom rotted out of the vert ramp, local officials decided to replace it with more street obstacles made of concrete, even, I hear. Does anyone want to send in some pics of the new street developments? That would be great, mmm-kay? More after the jump.

A sensible reply to an irrational argument.

Parks & Recreation, the official magazine of the National Recreation and Park Association, an organization whose goal is to advance parks, recreation and environmental conservation efforts that enhance the quality of life for all people. The target audience is park professionals, urban planners, and concerned citizens. Kent Dahlgren, Executive Director of Skaters for Public Skateparks and long time Portland OR scenester wrote an article for the magazine titled “Taking It To the Street.” The article is not available on the NRP web site, but we have some highlights, complete with the requisite grunge typeface. How extreme.

According to (the complaining resident), the out-of-towners look “rough-and-ready.” They’re not wearing khakis and polos… Oh god. Here we go again. This joker is pissed cause he bought an overpriced house that sits on top of his neighbors and overlooks the West Linn skate park. His neighborhood association says they don’t like it. Well that means it’s time to move. The park sits in the midst of a pretty uptight neighborhood, that’s for sure. It’s time to get the folks over at Skaters For Public Skateparks to trot out the noise level studies again. Will they try to get it torn down? Seems implausible, but there’s a lot of collective wealth in those subdivisions. This guy has a lot of nerve posing for a picture in the skate park and giving his name, which is William Relyea. What a tool. Check out the story in the Aug 23, 2006 issue of the West Linn Tidings or read more commentary here.