boarding.com :: Skateboarding's Big Chill page 1 skateboarding downhill slalom skate

Don¹t tell Russ Howell that skateboarding is just for kids.  The 51-year-old Howell climbed on his first board back in 1958.  He went on to skate professionally during this 1970¹s, when his flying blond hair and gymnastics-style athleticism became familiar features on the freestyle circuit.  He ranged abroad as far as Australia promoting the sport, and counted among his corporate sponsors Pepsi Cola and Vans Street Wear. But over the years, something changed in Howell¹s relationship to his chosen sport.  Or maybe it was skateboarding itself that changed, mutating into
something less like gymnastics on wheels and more like a careening vehicle of youthful rebellion.  Skateboarding zines, under masthead banners like "Skate and destroy," started to celebrate a new breed of skater:  the punk,
the outsider, the suburban outlaw wielding his deck like a loaded weapon. This bad-boy rep, far removed from the Beach Boy-ish, "sidewalk surfing" roots of the sport, has taken hold over the past two decades, causing
skateboarding to be banned by local ordinance in many communities -- and leaving gifted athletes like Howell out in the cold.

But this Sunday, May 20th, the wheel turns full circle.  Russ Howell, along with dozens of other old pros, some of them near-legendary figures from what veteran skateboarders call "the Day," will converge upon Morro Bay, California, for the first World Slalom Championships -- an event one
competitor has characterized as "one of the most massive Ocoming out of retirement¹ situations in modern sporting history."

Whether the Morro Bay gathering is a watershed in the 40-odd-year history of skateboarding remains to be seen.  But already it has produced a swell of excitement among longtime aficionados, and attracted an unprecedented lineup of entrants, young as well as not-so-young, from across the United States, Europe and beyond.

It has led skaters like John Gilmour of Massachusetts to scour attics and e-Bay for vintage racing equipment.  And it has lured hot younger talent like Maurus Strobel of Switzerland and Gianluca Ferrero of Italy -- places where slalom skating never went out of vogue -- to travel thousands of miles for the prospect of going head-to-head with Americans they have known heretofore only through decades-old magazines.

Certainly the North American roster is an illustrious one, especially to those old enough to remember when skateboarding was a sport and not a lifestyle, and skating competitions were aired on shows like CBS's "Wide
World of Sport."  Among the veterans slated to appear at Morro Bay are Beau Brown, John Hutson, Dan Gesmer, Gary Fluitt, Ed Economy, Chris Sturhann, Ellen O'Neal, Bob Skoldberg, Marcus Rietema, Chris Chaput, Cliff Coleman, Don Bostick, German-born Attila Aszodi, and the near-mythical Henry Hester, who will preside as Master of Ceremonies.

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