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Home / New Zealand

Local Focus: Riding NZ's largest 'vert' ramp

Gavin Ogden
By Gavin Ogden
Video Journalist, Tauranga, NZH Local Focus·NZ Herald·
22 Feb, 2021 05:00 AM3 mins to read

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Verticus skateboarding comp not for the faint-hearted. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

From ollies and kickflips to handplants and 720s, all the moves were on show at New Zealand's largest "vert" ramp for the inaugural Verticus competition at Mount Maunganui's Blake Park.

Put together by locals, the competition was open to everyone and a crowd of 500 proved that skateboarding is thriving in the regions.

The 14-foot (4.36m) "vert" ramp is a big vertical drop that eases into a half-pipe, and for anyone not used to skateboarding, it's pretty terrifying.

Pāpāmoa skateboarder Beau Fisher, 11, was so keen he plucked up the courage to "drop in" for the first time, but it didn't go to plan. He shared a video of his fall with Local Focus.

"I dropped in and didn't press down hard enough or bend my knees enough. I bailed down and hit my elbows first then it went to my head and I hurt my neck real bad."

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Luckily Beau was back on his feet in time for the competition.

Skateboarding is still largely male-dominated but New Zealand's current national female champion Krysta Ashwell said that was changing.

"Earlier days … pretty rubbish," she said.

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"You'd go to a skate comp, maybe one or two girls. Everyone would say 'just enter, you'll win because there's only two of you and you can ride on the flat and win'.

"What you'd get as prizes wouldn't be as much as the guys. They'd get boards, prize money … girls got the leftover T-shirts, usually XLs which being my size didn't really work - it was more of a dress. So I'd just give it to the crowd if I won anything."

But Ashwell never lets the pressure get to her.

"I personally haven't had a negative experience with males versus females at a skatepark. You do get them watching them you quite a bit, but it's not because you're a girl. They're watching you because they're like 'is she any good at skating?'.

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"And you do feel judged, like you've got eyes on you wherever you go in a skatepark. I just learn to ignore it I just put music in my ear and carry on. But it's not in a negative way, it's just curiosity. Guys want to know if she can skate."

Ashwell is supported by Yeah Gnar, which campaigns for equal prize money between men and women.

"Yeah Gnar is a non-profit charity that my husband and I set up," said founder Daroll Clark.

"We sponsor all New Zealand skateboarding but we do have a focus on women, mainly for the equality issues.

Equality of prizes is increasingly becoming the norm.

"I have definitely seen organisers doing it for themselves," she said. "This competition for example, we said we'll give you some money to make it equal and they were like 'cool, it's already equal, though'."

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With skateboarding set to make its debut at the next Olympic Games, the popularity of this extreme sport is once again on the rise.

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