How skateboarding park that is milestone for Hong Kong fulfilled boyhood dream
Construction of skatepark in Fanling, which has been certified by international governing body, was no easy feat, consultant Warren Stuart says
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Competition-class skate bowl opens in Hong Kong
Skateparks were still a novelty in Hong Kong when Warren Stuart and his friends were showing off their skills at a black podium between the now-demolished Queen’s Pier and City Hall in Central in the late 1980s.
In the days before the internet, they read magazines and watched videos to learn about overseas skateparks such as the one in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, as they dreamed of pulling off rail flips and slides at a similar one in their own city one day.
Thirty years later, after consulting on numerous skatepark projects across Asia, Stuart, now 56, stood surveying the new skate bowl at On Lok Mun Street Playground in Fanling when it opened to the public on Saturday.
The skate bowl is the first in the city to receive “Competition Class 1 star” certification by World Skate, the governing body officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee for skateboarding and roller sports activities. Its street course has attained “Recreational Class 3 stars”.
“I’m excited. This is the best thing to happen to Hong Kong skateboarding. To have a skate park like this. First of its kind. Quality is impeccable,” Stuart said. “It’s the first and only skate park in Hong Kong that has a bowl like this.”
Stuart, a former head of the Skateboarding Subcommittee at the Federation of Roller Sports, said the certification meant the facility could host official contests for China.