Longboarders fly down new track in Kamloops for grand opening

KAMLOOPS – The official grand opening of the Kamloops Longboarding Park was packed with riders Saturday.

The Kamloops Longboarding Club held a Slide Jam to mark the park’s opening in the Aberdeen neighbourhood above Pacific Way Elementary School.

The park cost property taxpayers $160,000 and was built about a year behind schedule.

The off-road track is the first of its kind and is drawing attention from all over Canada and as far away as Asia and Australia, according to a media release from the City of Kamloops.

Along with the 350 metres of downhill track, the city has included a grassy area, picnic table, a pit toilet, a drinking fountain, benches, trees and garbage cans. There’s even a bus stop nearby.

"After working closely with the local longboarding club over the past several months, we are excited to be the first municipality to provide an off-road longboarding track for riders to practice their skills in an automobile-free environment," Michael Doll with the City says.

The park is a better option than city streets for the longboards. RCMP have warned in the past they face fines of up to $2,000 for boarding in restricted areas of the city.

%%embed1%%

To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca or call 250-491-0331. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.