Downhill Skateboarding – Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Excerpt from the book Sports the Olympics Forgot This book describes 40 sports that ought to be played but aren’t, because I made them up.

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The road from the Cameron Highlands hill station down to the plains of Malaysia is ideal for skateboarding as there are long stretches of steep downhill road where skateboarders can build up great speed. On the third weekend of May skateboarders from all over the world come to the area to take part in the annual boarding extravaganza. This event also hosts the official skateboarding relay world championships over one and two miles.

For the relay events teams of four compete in heats, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final for the world championship trophy. As in any athletics event the first past the post is the winner unless there has been an infringement further up the course. In the relays the only problems, other than crashes, are in the three handover zones, an area 100 yards in length where the baton must be passed between the racers. In 2013, the Jamaican team won both relay races in new world records, 1 minute 12 seconds in the mile and 2 minutes and 7 seconds in the two mile race. Due to the steepness of the road there have been a number of severe accidents, especially in 2008 when the road was wet. In the first of the 1-mile semi-finals the Italian boarding the third leg slipped on a tight bend and brought down the other boarders taking them all off the road and down a steep ravine. The Italian team was barred from all future events for five years and it was decided to ban contestants from smoking while racing down the road.

Published by Julian Worker

Julian was born in Leicester, attended school in Yorkshire, and university in Liverpool. He has been to 94 countries and territories and intends to make the 100 when travel is easier. He writes travel books, murder / mysteries and absurd fiction. His sense of humour is distilled from The Marx Brothers, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, and Midsomer Murders. His latest book is about a Buddhist cat who tries to help his squirrel friend fly further from a children's slide.

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