Alana Reardon with her trophy and medal for winning the under 14 national scooter title. Photo / Rosalie Willis
Winning the first competition she's ever seen let alone competed in, 12-year-old Alana Reardon took out the girls' under 14 title at the New Zealand Scooter Nationals in Napier last weekend.
Scootering for a year and a half after following her brother into the sport, Alana convinced her parents to let her compete in the competition at Bay Skate after heading to the Hawke's Bay to watch the competition.
With over 600 on-site spectators and the event broadcast live by Sky Sport on YouTube, ASA NZ representative Katrin Brey said it was a huge success.
"Despite the complex and uncertain times due to Covid-19, over 600 spectators were on site with the number of riders almost reaching last year's level.
"The team from Bay Skate, who hosted the event this year, did a fantastic job.
"Many scooter fans in New Zealand, Australia, and overseas watched the ASA Nationals live."
Practising her tricks at Waikanae Park over the last year and a half, Alana was nervous before her first run but had her tricks all planned out.
"We were going to Bay Skate to watch the competition and I just wanted to give it a go and see how it was," Alana said.
"I was nervous before competing but wasn't nervous during the run.
"I had it all planned out, all the tricks I was going to do."
Spending hours at Waikanae Park practising tail whips and bar spins on the quarter pipes and ramps Waikanae Park has to offer, Alana normally finds she is the only girl at the park.
"It's normally just older people that come down to skateboard and there are hardly any girls even though it's so fun.
"I like going high and doing jumps, and doing lots of different tricks, it's really fun.
"Learning new stuff is cool because when you land a new trick it's really exciting."
Raising money to pay for her scooter herself, Alana spent $300 of her hard-earned paper run money on parts to build the scooter.
"I bought different parts to make it a custom scooter – the forks, wheels, deck, bars, headset and handgrips."
Given a chance to practise on the course the day before her run, this was the first time Alana had ridden on wooden ramps, with her usual practice place being on the smooth concrete of Waikanae Park.
"The wood was more slippery and different to concrete.
"It took quite a bit of getting used to.
"I practised the day before, had a 20 minute warm-up on the day and a small warm-up before my runs.
"I wanted to go around different parts of the skate park, and I tried to add in tricks every corner I went so there would be more points.
"I also tried to get them as clean as I could.
"You're marked on how hard the trick was, how well you do it, how clean it was and using different parts of the course.
"It was nerve-racking at first, but I liked competing in my first competition and I liked showing that girls can ride."
The sport is largely dominated by males, however, Alana was lucky enough to compete against her sporting role model, professional rider Alexandra Madsen who won her ninth New Zealand Women's Championship.
The event had 79 riders competing in 11 different categories, with just two of those girls - the under 14s and pros.
Katrin said, "Scooter riding in New Zealand is very popular and the number of riders is increasing.
"It's a sport for a wide range of ages and skill levels with a vast variety of tricks that can be done separately or combined and each year there are new tricks.
"More and more girls are beginning to ride scooters and of course, pro riders like Alexandra Madsen, Lucy Davis also contribute to the increasing popularity of scooter riding among girls."
"It was quite inspirational for her to compete with and against her role model," Alana's mother Paula Reardon said.
"It's a hugely male-dominated sport, with around 70 males competing and only a handful of girls.
"Alana was a very late entry, she wanted to give it a go and didn't' care that there were lots of people watching.
"It was a really cool event and has given her a good experience - it was well worth the experience."
At only 12 years old, Alana hopes to one day reach the heights of Alexandra and is keen to get more girls involved in the sport.
"It's a fun sport and really exciting when you land a new trick.
"Girls should give it a go."