First Skateboarding Competition in Ireland 10 years in Derry

Derry Journal

The Irish Skateboarding Association (ISA) hosted a skate competition at Derry City Skatepark at Altnagelvin Industrial Estate, for first competition in Ireland in 10 years.

Transcript

00:00My name's Joe Hull from Derry City Skatepark, I'm a professional skateboarder from Derry

00:19City.

00:20Well today we're hosting the first All-Ireland in 10 years, it's an All-Ireland Skateboard

00:26Contest, supported by the Irish Skateboard Association, Derry City Skatepark, and Monster

00:31Energy Drinks.

00:32And we've got people from Cork and Kerry and Dublin, Derry, all over.

00:38Good, good Derry.

00:41It's not just good to have in this park, but they have it in Derry, we've never even had

00:47one here in Derry before.

00:49So the fact that we can get all these people, some of the best skateboarders in the country

00:52up here, that's good, that's what I like to see.

00:55That's why I built the place.

00:57What's it like seeing all these people?

01:01See if I can see that place like that every weekend eh?

01:04We would have ten times the park of that, but no, it's great to see, it's great to see

01:08all the people travelling up, and everyone's having fun, I've had one or two people falling

01:13and getting hurt, and they're still saying they've had a great day, so that's the way

01:17you want to have it.

01:18You've got kids and you've got like a 30 plus year old.

01:23So right now we're at the men's 17 to 30, which is where the meat's sort of separated

01:29from the veg, the boys are really going off now.

01:33But we've also had earlier, we had under 12's mixed category, we've got under 16's girls,

01:39and over 16's, and then there'll be an over 30's category later, so it doesn't matter,

01:43there's no age limit to this.

01:45Are you saying this is the first one that we're going to be getting more people?

01:48Well that's exactly it.

01:50This is the first event from Irish Skateboard Association, and the first proper skateboard

01:55competition we've had here in Derry.

01:57So if we can keep working together the way we're going, there'll be more, there will be.

02:21My name is Filly Halton, I am the director of the Irish Skateboarding Association.

02:30Fantastic, it's been a long time coming, Ireland's been lacking a lot of competitive skateboarding

02:34for the last number of years, so to bring it back under one roof is fantastic, and a

02:38great facility that is DC Skatepark in Derry City.

02:43We look forward to hosting this yearly as well as a ton of other events in between throughout

02:47the year all across the country, and trying to get as many clubs and associations set

02:51up in different counties as possible, so that we can get official recognition from Sporting

02:56Ireland as the governing body for skateboarding, and then through that getting consistent funding

03:00so that we can make these events happen a lot more in more places all the time.

03:04How's the day gone so far?

03:06Brilliant, fantastic turnout, no problems, people have been really pushing themselves,

03:10and there's been nothing but smiles and joy, so far so good.

03:14Has it kind of shown you that new skate culture and the way in which all the Irish here have

03:19done it, that there's something there to be chased after?

03:22100% yeah, I think it's been growing fairly well for the last number of years, I mean

03:27skateboarding can be looked at in loads of different ways, competitions is just one element

03:31of them, there's also the artistic element of filming video parts with your friends and

03:35so on and so forth, and there's many different routes and avenues and options you can use

03:39with a skateboard, the competitions is just one that kind of brings everyone together

03:43and showcase the best of all of their skills throughout the country for a day, so to bring

03:46it back is brilliant.

03:48I think you've mentioned it already, but this isn't the first year of competing, it's the

03:51yearly, is it going to be at all an Ireland thing, or do you think you're going to win

03:54again?

03:55I think so, so at the minute Ireland is really struggling to get indoor skateparks because

03:58the insurance issue is quite a big problem for us right now, so we're trying to find

04:03loads of avenues to get through that, but also if we get official recognition we might have

04:07enough funding to open up an official Irish Skateboarding Association indoor park, which

04:11we could use consistently, however there's plenty of skateparks being built around the

04:15country and some of them are fantastic facilities, so we would like to bring it to as many of

04:19these places as possible and spread the idea of the Skate Association and it's grassroots

04:24kind of organisation and get as many people involved as possible.

04:28I just want to plug the Skate Association, everything in there.

04:31Yeah, so Skate NI is the body set up in the north for the moment through a fantastic man

04:38called Mark Lilley, probably be worth chatting to anyway, but at the minute they're trying

04:42to get their numbers up.

04:43We've officially hit our quota for the numbers needed for recognition, but Skate and I still

04:47need to get theirs as well, so that they can get consistent funding and do the same things

04:50that we're doing all across the country together, so everyone around is doing all that they

04:54can, we're all in good communication and in good spirits with each other, so it's looking

05:00fairly bright for the future.

05:09Jay Doherty.

05:12This is the All-Ireland Skateboard Championships, it's like the Sam Maguire for skateboarders.

05:21I'm just a local skater and kind of hopefully try and inspire some of the other boys just

05:27to hang on in there.

05:31I got my first skateboard about 1986.

05:33Since we run the first Northern Ireland Skate Comp, or our first one back in Limavady in

05:441992, so on and off, and this park here is a brilliant facility and Derry's skateboard

05:53scene is just thriving because of this park and Joe's hard work.

05:58That's brilliant.

05:59The energy is high in there and the inspiration.

06:02I say especially for the younger folk that maybe haven't seen this kind of thing, and

06:08a lot of young females that are seeing girls skating and skating fairly aggressively for

06:15the first time ever, everyone's getting lifted by what's going on here.

06:20It comes and goes.

06:21It's always come and came and went in cycles since ever.

06:25Right now it's in a fairly good, stable place, but we kind of need these gatherings because

06:35it takes on a whole new energy and it opens doors and things begin to happen, but people

06:40need to get involved.

06:43Joe would have competitions and maybe sessions, on and off, but this is the first big official

06:52one.

06:53There's guys from

07:06sessions on and off but that's the first big official one and there's guys from

07:12the 32 counties in there that have been traveling and sleeping in cars and stuff

07:16so they're this is as big as it gets for skateboarding and it's a it's an

07:21absolute privilege to be in the thick of it and I've got my wife in there and my

07:25daughter and it's like a big family day out, it's like I'm going to a picnic

07:31here's what here's the crack here I'll tell you the crack because my daughter

07:34skates and I used to come here to get away from all my problems not that my

07:40daughter's my problem in any way but I used to like when life it's getting you

07:43down and that what skateboarding does it provides a wee escape and it and it

07:47gives you just somewhere you can disappear to you it's kind of very

07:50meditative that way and then my daughter started skating and then she

07:55comes along with me and that's grand but then now she comes here and doesn't even

07:59bring me so she comes back home and says I was in the skate park and I'm like you didn't even bring

08:03your dad how can this be but anyway I'm proud I've kind of passed on the torture wee bit

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