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Beenleigh Skatepark
Beenleigh is a truly unique skatepark boasting a heritage that
cannot be matched by other parks in Australia. For the last 14
years it has served as a central hub of the Australian BMX
freestyle scene. Ever since Doug Larson set up two quarter pipes
in the car park of the BMX park next door, the Beenleigh park has
grown in size and popularity, producing some of Australia’s
greatest riders. Names like Colin Mackay, Clint Millar and Corey
Bohan are but a few of the locals who have made a name for
themselves both here and overseas. These riders are now
representing Australia in the US, competing against the world’s
best in competitions such as the US X-Games and Gravity Games.
They still have ties to the park, and practice there daily whilst
back in Australia as well as competing in the Heavy Metal Heroes
contests.
In fact, Colin Mackay has grown to become one of the highest
profile riders in the sport and his success has seen him included
as a character in the video game “Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2”
currently available on Playstation 2 and X-Box. In this game, he
is quoted as saying that Beenleigh skatepark is his favourite park
to ride, and Acclaim (the game creators) has expressed interest in
including the park as a playing area in the upcoming sequel to the
game.
In the last 3 years, Beenleigh has been host to the Heavy Metal
Heroes contests. This event was started by myself and helped along
by local counsellor Doug Larson and a crew of riders such as
flatlanding legend Ricky Hunt, Ryan Turrenson, Jamie Bell, Mick
Hodson and Stewart Devenish. All events are non-profit and I have
run two events per year since 1999, totalling 7 competitions.
In contrast to events such as the X-Games that cater only for
professional riders, Heavy Metal Heroes is open to riders of all
ages and skill levels. This is the only contest in Australia to
offer this opportunity to local riders whishing to participate in
a competition against their peers. Each event receives coverage
from two nationally distributed magazines, 20/20 and BMX Express.
A video is currently available of the last event (HMH7) and
footage from the last two contests will be televised on Fox Sports
in an upcoming BMX related program named “BMX Central”
It is true that Brisbane has approximately 20 other skateparks
that could host a competition. Why not hold BMX competitions at
another skatepark? These other parks are simple “streetscape”
concrete skateparks and cannot cater for all the disciplines of
BMX which are: Vert, Street, Flatland, Dirt and Mini/Spine.
Beenleigh is the only park in Australia that can cater for all
these disciplines as can be seen in the diagram alone.
Written by Mark Schneider
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