Profiles of women skaters, August, 2006

The series has really grown! More than 350 skaters from a dozen states gathered for the 4th annual 2006 Mid Atlantic Skate Series, held at four premier skateparks throughout Maryland and Virginia. Ledo Pizza, a chain of 70+ restaurants sponsored the series and stoked the skaters with all the free pizza they could eat at every event. Kronic Energy Drink sponsored the Kronic Energy Pro Bowl Class, a new division this year, and the skaters responded with predictable mind blowing intensity. Ben Hatchell, threw down tons of new school spinning, flipping, hammering airs that were in sharp contrast to Jesse Davis’s old school ultra high speed spontaneous ripping style. The judges had fits determining the winner, but eventually Ben edged out everyone to walk away with the $500 first place check. Wes Meadows took home $300 while Jesse and Greg

Christie Aleixo is a skateboarder, in the true sense of the word. She rides not for fame or money. She rides for the love of a piece of wood with 4 wheels attached to it. If this seems like something normal in a place where there is an abundance of wealth and prosperity, it means much more when you speak of a country such as Brazil, where the land of opportunity is a place very far away. Here, you have to be a warrior in the true sense of the word. Every day is a battle and if Christie were to have a rank, she would be a general. She’s a single mother, an independent woman, intelligent, beautiful and kind. At the same time as there are many words to describe her, no words are sufficient. All that needs to be said is that skateboarding runs through her veins. Skate NA VEIA.

If you were looking for somewhere new on earth to bomb
a hill and you spun a globe of the world, and ended up
with your finger on Cape Town, South Africa, fortune
would have led you to a good place. For a start, the city has
got some craggy, sheer mountains towering over it, many of
them plunging straight into the cold sea. Secondly, and
most importantly, in this city of six million, there are plenty
of steep, winding runs. For a modern downhill skater, this
combination makes for the sickest selection of choice hills.
You can bomb the narrow, twisting vertigo-inducing coastal
highways with million dollar postcard views. Or to go to the
smoothest hills you’ve ever rolled on, found hidden, beyond
the city limits in farmlands, open bush and forests.
From way back in the day runs were found and conquered