Boarders travel the Southeast for competitions
Three gnarly skaters climbed up Sumter Street and boarded down at audacious speeds, performing exhilarating slides and dance moves. These daredevils and Columbia natives, Gene Wrightson, Alex Dingman and Ted Aslund, are the core of the city’s professional longboarding team.
The team, sponsored by Salty’s Board Shop in Five Points, travels all over the Southeast to participate in major competitions.
“The races with big cash prizes are really far away. We regularly compete in Charlotte, Memphis and Atlanta. A few years ago, we did a downhill sprint in Clemson and the King Street Bomb in Charleston,” Wrightson said. “We’ll go wherever there are solid riders. It’s just a matter of finding someone to carpool with.”
The team has been successful in competitions since its 2009 inception, winning an array of prizes including wheels, decks, glove pucks, T-shirts and sunglasses.
“We don’t go to competitions for material rewards, although the free stuff definitely helps us along financially. We travel for the love of the sport and to see our friends,” Aslund said. “We’ve met so many cool boarders from all over the region. The competitions are like reunions. We’re there to compete, but we always have a great time.”
Having grown up in Columbia, Dingman and Wrightson know the city’s hillscape, and have picked out all the best longboarding spots Columbia has to offer. But they want to keep these sacred locations low key.
“If everyone knew about these spots, they would draw attention from the police and get busted. Longboarding isn’t illegal, but it isn’t a right either. If the police see you using your board for transportation, then you’re fine. But if you post up at the top of a hill for an afternoon, they’ll kick you off,” Wrightson said.
And the Salty’s team warns against the area’s bigger slopes.
“Some of the hills we regularly use are enormous. It’s no secret that Rosewood Hills is a prime spot, but it would be reckless for an inexperienced boarder to take those hills on. When daring students get hurt because they get in over their heads, this brings negative attention to a sport that can be done safely and under control,” Dingman said.
However, it’s undeniable that longboarding carries an inherent risk. On Dingman’s 21st birthday last month, he was cruising down Greene Street toward Five Points when he was hit by a female USC student in a Mercedes who had pulled an illegal U-turn.
“My body rolled up the front of the hood and shattered the windshield. I was pretty much unharmed. It’s usually not the case, but this time the car took more damage than the rider. I was really, really lucky,” Dingman said.
And the injuries didn’t stop there. Aslund hit a curb while doing a Coleman slide during the interview, bruising his heel and cracking the tip of a Loaded board he had won at a competition. But Aslund said longboard falls aren’t that bad because the rider’s body is so low to the ground.
The three longboarding team skaters can be spotted throughout the city, even through all the car collisions and minor falls, taking their turn at all their expertly scouted hills and runs.