Art teacher Brett Summerlee, left, Mahi Mahi Bowlriders founder Gregor Ross and Reuben Baker, a skateboarder and skatepark builder, at the freshly revitalised Kaiti skatebowl. It will be ready to open soon. Photo / James Pocock
Art teacher Brett Summerlee, left, Mahi Mahi Bowlriders founder Gregor Ross and Reuben Baker, a skateboarder and skatepark builder, at the freshly revitalised Kaiti skatebowl. It will be ready to open soon. Photo / James Pocock
A Gisborne skatebowl has transformed from a dangerous and dismal “death trap” into a bright and welcoming community “asset” through a collective effort.
Mahi Mahi Bowlriders founder Gregor Ross described the bowl as “pretty much unskatable” because of earthquake damage and vandalism.
“People pretty much didn’t skate it,” Rosssaid. “We were getting smashed glass, graffiti and all the rest of it.”
Ross was approached by Gisborne District Council when it allocated funding to patch up the old and tired Kaiti skatebowl at Kaiti Memorial Park.
He was told there was also about $10,000 available to fund the painting of a mural.
Ross believed more still could be done to revitalise the bowl and approached the community for support.
The Kaiti skatebowl before and after a community effort to revitalise it. Left photo / Gregor Ross. Right photo / Brett Summerlee
Friend Reuben Baker - a former professional skateboarder and skate park builder - and others spent about five weeks scraping the old paint off, grinding 146 square metres of concrete in the bowl, patching the concrete and doing other work to it.
“He’s a concrete guy, he’s a skater and he has worked on bowls around the country,” Ross said. “With his skillset he said he could grind the bowl back and do a good job on the surface.”
Currie Construction donated equipment, Gisborne Boys’ High School art teacher Brett Summerlee offered to work on the mural, Resene donated paint and Mike Smith, of 1st Class Decorators Gisborne, offered the manpower to do the base coat.
“When we had that amount of community buy-in, that freed up a whole bunch of cash, so we thought we should just do the whole bowl, rather than just patch it up,” Ross said.
“It is like a brand-new bowl, basically. It is just about being resourceful and the community chipping in.”
Ross said the bowl had transformed from “unskateable and dangerous” to being an “asset”.
“We had a death trap of a bowl and now we have got a ‘sick’ facility.”
He hoped the bowl would be ready for use by Monday.
Former national champion Baker said the bowl was one of the first places he saw skateboarding as a young boy, but it had been many years since it was in good condition.
The work to revitalise the bowl wouldn’t have been possible without Ross as the driving force, he said.
“The alternative was busting it down, and I would rather keep the legacy alive,” Baker said.
“This is what happens when you get the right people with the right energy wanting the right outcome.”
The project was about making it a better place for the kids.
“How can you not want to be a part of that? I’m just stoked to have the chance.”
Mahi Mahi Bowlriders started about eight years ago with a similar sense of community spirit to what drove the skatebowl revitalisation.
Based in a former classroom building next to YMCA Gisborne - Y Tamariki, the informal group built and maintained an indoor ramp with a mix of recycled and donated materials over the years.
They also keep boards and protective gear, free for visitors of all ages to use.
Ross estimated there were about 120 sets of keys out in the community, held by responsible people for them to access their facilities.
