FATBMX Your Online BMX News Resource Since 1998

The kids of Shirebrook got to celebrate their independence in style by riding the ramps of their very own new GBH skatepark. The size of this park is deceptive, not unlike stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia…with ramps. It may not be a particularly large area but the design skills of  Russ has made sure that it has a whole lot going on, and his clever use of space ensures that nothing is crammed in so skaters aint gonna come a collision cropper.

When I used to work for GT in Belgium, I lived in a small town called Wellen, the place where John Holcomb (RIP) set up the office. For any city activities you had to drive up to Hasselt, the closest bigger city. It was a 10 minute drive so not too far. Luckily my colleague Franky had an apartment in Hasselt so whenever we decided it was time to go out, I could crash at his place. Other than the typical miniramp, there was not much to ride in Hasselt but that's about to change. Om May 27 next, the "biggest concrete skatepark" will be opened. The day starts at 1pm and ends at 10pm and by looking at the photos the last riders/skaters will have to be forced to leave the place that day.

Derelict areas of the Veracity recreation ground in Southampton have been given a £600,000 facelift courtesy of Barclays Spaces for Sports. The extreme part of this makeover is the installation of the GBH Veracity skatepark, which was officially opened this month.

Concrete parks seem to pop up everywhere these days and not only in America. Amsterdam had a fairly new one and a good one at that. It's dubbed the Marnix bowl simply because it's located on Marnix street. It's an awesome set up with just enough hips to keep you busy for ages.

It's 1,90 meters deep on one end and just a touch deeper at the very end.

It's been almost 2 months since I've been in Peru. It has literally been a long and dangerous road. My time has been spent in highs of the mountains in Cusco and Macchu Picchu, all the way through spiral roads into valleys all the way to the desert coast of Peru. New adventures and wild rides are what this country is all about, the highs and lows are all around you, from the rich to the poor, from the desert to the jungle, it truly is a country of extremes. My time has been varied between many different sports, sailing off the coast of Lima to an island called Fronton (old prison), playing tennis, swimming, horse back riding and of course riding Flatland with the locals. 

Last year we visited the [url=//fatbmx.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=192] etnies skatepark in Lake Forest[/url] and were denied access so all we could do is take pictures from behind the fence. One year later we gave it another try hoping that the rules had changed. I parked the Subaru Outback in a spot and walked by the cop car on my way to the entrance with the Canon in hand. My question was simple: "Can I take some pictures?"  as I wanted to walk into the park. This innocent approach usually works but not at the etnies park.

On Cali trips I usually trip to stop by Hidden Valley in Huntington Beach. I've ran into miniature razor riders there, mountain bikers, BMX-ers and plowed trails. This time I parked the car behind the grocery store on Beach Blvd. and made the walk down only to find one rider who was filming himself with a helmet camera. After checking the current trail situation and snapping a few shots, I drove off to Sheep Hills to see if Thursday afternoon was more popular there. Consider that a negative so I headed back to Beach and Adams to check it out one more time. I had more luck this time.

Around 10 riders were making it through the pack. I stayed low profile and snapped away. POW Jay Lonargan was there too and so was Sean (who did recognize me and said he was a FATBMX regular so this one's for you Sean! good to see you again). Ben Snowden had a posse there including Sean Logan, his girlfriend and some photographer. Some other guy was filming so you get the idea, Hidden Valley is still happening. 

If you live in the Le Havre area in France you're stoked. The biggest outdoor skatepark of France is being built in this city that is situated 200 kilometers West of Paris. That's good news for the British riders too as it's not too far for them to cross the channel in the rubber boat. If you can, lend a helping hand and show your support. The park will definitely put Le Havre on the BMX/sk8 map. With these kind of parks popping up, we can only say that the future is bright. 

January 2006. Starting the year on a high, GBH Ramps has just completed works on two parks in Beddau and Gelligaled. Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council has been committed to providing exceptional skate facilities for the youth in their area and through a tender process selected GBH Engineering as the choice company to design and construct their two new skateparks.