Skateboard facilities ‘shocking’

Press, 20 July 1979, Page 1

Skateboard facilities ‘shocking’

Skateboarding has become a dangerous sport in Christchurch because of the shocking standard of facilities, says a committee member of the South Island Skateboarding Association, Mr P. M. G. Inder. If Christchurch’s skateboard parks were not improved someone would be seriously hurt, said Mr Inder. _® ne problem area was Thompson Park at New Brighton. The Christchurch City Council had provided a wooden

ramp which was poorly constructed and virtually worthless. Skateboarders had been forced to build their own ramp with limited materials. Although this gave them the shape needed to perform advanced manoeuvres, some edges were splintered and occasionally nails protruded dangerously from the wood. The council had been notified yesterday and a carpenter had gone to the park to investigate.

Mr Inder also criticised the design of the skateboard facility at the park. This had cost the council $ll,OOO about two years ago. About 80 per cent of it was not used because the design restricted the skateboarders’ momentum. The skateboarding facility was designed and built by Morgan and Pollard, landscape contractors, at a time when the council was under pressure to provide skateboarding areas.

The contractors had to build it with limited information on design, obtained mostly from American magazines. “We just conjured it up on the’site, using what we thought were reasonable contours,” said one of the contractors, Mr A. C. Morgan. The council had received few complaints of hazards, said the council’s parks recreation manager (Mr A. J. Paterson). If the facility was dangerous, the faults would

be rectified, he said. It was the council’s responsibility to provide a facility which could be used by a wide range of skateboarders with varying levels of competence. “The problem is that experienced skateboarders want something more challenging. If we provide them with this, the facilities would require supervision to ensure that the lesser experienced children were not endangered,” said Mr Paterson.