Skateboard ‘vert ramp’ going up
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WANAKA could become a training ground for New Zealand Olympic skateboarders if a group of residents can fund the upgrade of a new ramp.
Nick Fellows and Wayne Pretty of the Wanaka Skate Club are hoping to raise $10,000 to refurbish a ‘‘vert’’ ramp, which would become the third Wanaka skate ramp and the biggest in the South Island.
Mr Fellows said the club was offered the 11mwide, 4.3mhigh vertical ramp free if it could remove it from Western Springs in Auckland, where it had sat unused and deteriorating since 2012.
He had it packed in shipping containers and transported to his property in Ballantyne Rd, where a group of supporters assembled it, but it still needed a coat of paint and sealant, he said.
Mr Pretty said the club had always wanted a vertical ramp because it was bigger, higher and a ‘‘better facility to learn your tricks’’ on than the Pembroke Park skate bowl or the privately owned Dream skate ramp.
Mr Fellows said ‘‘the bowl is an amazing feature — it has lots of carves and turns — but it’s made of concrete, so if you fall over you’re going to break’’.
‘‘The vert ramp will be much more forgiving because it’s bigger and made out of plywood,’’ he said.
Mr Pretty said the Wanaka Skate club had more than 450 members and having a vert ramp would provide the perfect training ground for future Olympic athletes.
Wanaka already had Josh Wilson, one of the best skateboarders in New Zealand, and his brother Sam was likely to start competing this year, he said.