After 23 years of skateboarding, Trigger Brothers team rider Nicholas Buchanan feels as good as ever on the board and competes every chance he gets.
He will be one of many local hopefuls competing in upcoming Skate Park League [SPL] competitions in the western suburbs, one on Sunday, November 6 at Newport Skate Park and one on Sunday, December 4 at Yarraville Skatepark.
Mr Buchanan, 41, said he is “all set” for the competition.
“I don’t feel any inhibitions skating at this age in competitions whatsoever,” he said.
“I feel as good skating as when I was 25.”
In his years on the board, he said his biggest achievements are winning the City Skatepark Competition back to back in 2002 and 2003, and holding what he believes is the world record for the furthest distance skated in a day, 70 kilometres from Port Melbourne to Mornington down the Beach Esplanade.
The upcoming competitions are a part of 66 SPL events across Australia.
Competitors accumulate points through participating in multiple competitions, with the top three competitors from each state then invited to compete in the Australian Skateboarding League final.
The top three ASL winners will be awarded prize money, but the exact amount is yet to be confirmed.
Mr Buchanan said it was punk culture which attracted him to skateboarding when he was 17, and these roots are why he feels like competition skating is not just about the money.
He said his biggest motivators are personal achievement and the incentive to travel.
However, the main thing Mr Buchanan said he would recommend about skateboarding is simply going quick.
“Speed, man – it’s good going fast,” he said.
Liam McNally
