One of the things that the redevelopment of the Donkin Reserve in Port Elizabeth has done was inadvertently create the ideal winding downhill skateboard (long board) coarse. This has led to the first Donkin Downhill Dash taking place today. The pathway, starting up at the historic lighthouse and pyramid with its crosses representing democratic votes past and future, makes its way down towards Chapel Street and are long enough for the top skaters to clock times of about 1 minute 22 seconds.
The turnout was quite good with over 50 skateboarders taking part and hundreds of people turning out to watch what is hopefully the first of many such competitions to come. It was also the ideal opportunity for the photographers of the city to bring out their hardware and shoot the action with me starting to get some lens envy watching some of the guys click away with their big cameras and lenses.
After a couple of warm up runs the first heats took place with everybody getting a run. It was a timed event which means a race against the clock and not against each other on the coarse. During the lunch break the guys were doing free runs again before the second heat and it was nice to get a couple of photos with more than one skater in the picture.
This event and the venue has great potential to become very big and we will hopefully see both national and perhaps even international skaters here in future.
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