SAN DIEGO — Ask pro skateboarder Andy Macdonald was it’s been like over the past couple of months to create a new sport and he laughs.
“Like giving birth,” he says.
The analogy is especially fresh, because at the same time Macdonald began overseeing construction of the new Skatercross Skateboard Racing track at the YMCA Krause Family Bike and Skate Park in the Clairemont neighborhood, his wife was due to have their third child.
They were both experiencing their own kind of labor.
Macdonald is among the most accomplished skateboarders in X Games history, with 23 medals earned. At 42, he was beginning to wind down his competitive career, but there was a dream left unfulfilled.
For years he thought skateboarding needed a form of racing that was devoid of the contentious judging that has always been a part of vert and street competitions. Macdonald envisioned a cross between snowboard racing and BMX, with a twisting track that might resemble a Hot Wheels set of old.
Through Macdonald’s own vision and persistence, with space and money provided by the YMCA, Skatercross is a reality.
The first permanent track in the world is at the Krause park, and the new sport made its debut Saturday, with a $10,000 purse, during the 10th Clash at Clairemont, which benefits the cancer charity Grind for Life and features some of the top skaters in the country, including Tony Hawk.
Hawk, in fact, joined Macdonald for a Skatercross session recently, though it was so taxing for the 48-year-old legend that he couldn’t finish the 120 feet of racing when he went head-to-head with Macdonald.
“It feels like skating at an amusement park,” Hawk said.
That was Macdonald’s point, of course — to create something completely different.
“It’s a whole new genre competitively,” said San Diego 17-year-old Cory Juneau, a pro pool and vert skater. “I don’t know where to put it.
“I enjoyed it right away.”
A crew of the top local skaters have been showing up at the course for a couple of weeks to try it, and Macdonald said of the reaction, “It’s more than I’d hoped for.
“In skateboarding, it can be a pretty fickle bunch with anything new. I thought we’d get some naysayers, but 99 percent of the feedback has been positive. This is the cool thing — when I talked about it and hadn’t built it, the naysayers didn’t get it. And when they come to the track now, they’re, like, ‘Oh this is gnarly.’
“I watched Tony Hawk take a half hour to do the first jump, and he’s one of the greatest skaters in the world. It’s no joke.”
There are numerous elements to the track, including jumps, “camel” bumps, vert walls and hurdles. None is more daunting than the first obstacle. Coming out of a start gate, the skaters power down a steep ramp and speed toward a jump that requires they clear a 25-foot gap — well over the length of a standard truck.
Macdonald wore a “crash dummy” suit the first time he tried the gap, had so much speed he overshot the landing and took a violent slam.
The challenge in the racing is the skaters being able to control their jumps and keep up their speed — which requires a constant and exhausting pumping of the legs. There also are three high berms to negotiate with another rider within arm’s length. The entire ride: about 30 seconds.
The race finishes with a hurdle as the finish line, and there will be photo finishes. Macdonald recently raced Trey Wood — 27 years his junior — and lost by the tip of the board.
“The most exciting thing about this is that it’s objective: the first guy across the finish line wins,” Macdonald said. “All of modern-day skateboarding has been about subjective judging. There is always drama and controversy.”
The track would not have come together without the cooperation between Macdonald and Krause YMCA. The park was considering spending money to replace its aging halfpipe vert ramp. Macdonald said he could negotiate getting a competitive Dew Tour ramp if the Y would consider spending money on a Skatercross track.
The Krause Y eventually agreed to commit $200,000 to the project.
“It’s super innovative, and that’s the way we want to be for all sports,” said Baron Herdelin-Doherty, Krause YMCA CEO.
He also pointed out that after Saturday the gaps will be filled in so that skaters of all ages and experience will be able to ride the Skatercross track.
“Whatever sport we’ve founded, it’s about how do we get the kids and family involved?” Herdelin-Doherty said. “We’ll see the pros on Saturday and then we’ll adapt it for the everyday young person. It’s for scooters, skateboards and bikes. It’s all about inclusivity.”
Skatercross at the Clash was filmed by ABC and featured on the July 23 “World of X Games.”
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