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PORT Macquarie has one of the state’s best skate parks according to locals, and it seems others in-the-know agree.
Some of the world’s best skateboarders visited Bondi Beach in Sydney over the weekend for the General Pants Bowl-A-Rama event.
The event was born on Bondi Beach in 2005 and is now the biggest professional concrete series in the world.
As part of the promotion for the event, the organisers decided to investigate and name some of the best skate parks in NSW.
Port Macquarie made it into the prestigious list, and it is not hard to see why.
The impressive park, designed and built by Convic Skateparks, was officially opened in December, 2011.
The $700,000 project was partly funded by a $289,000 federal Regional and Local Community and Infrastructure Program (RLCIP) grant.
It was constructed on the foreshore of the Hasting River, featuring a clover style bowl with steel coping, and a street style area with mini-half pipe, quarter pipe and grind boxes.
Joseph Petro is a Port Macquarie scooter rider who is currently ranked among the best in the country.
It is tournament-class and I could see Port hosting a big skate or scooter competition in the future for sure.
- Joseph Petro, skater
He loves his home town skate park, honing his scooter skills on almost a daily basis for the past four years.
He competes in the Australian Scooter Association and has recently been placing in the top three for qualifying events.
“I’ve learnt how to ride on this skate park. It is where it all started,” he said.
“It is tournament-class and I could see Port hosting a big skate or scooter competition in the future for sure.”
Local man Matt Scully owns Inner Vision Surf and Skate, and has seen his fair share of talented youngsters using the facilities at Town Beach.
He believes it is capable of hosting world class professional skate boarders, BMX riders and other freestyle sport athletes.
“The park is unreal. It’s not only brought a fantastic venue to Port Macquarie but it gives kids a purpose and an outlet,” he said.
“They all look after it. There is a lot of camaraderie between all the riders and skaters down here.
“In terms of hosting tournaments, I think there is huge potential for something like that. We already host smaller tournaments locally and they are always fantastic and well received.”