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X-boarder to leap creek
6/1/2005 10:12

Shanghai Daily news


A top world skateboarder plans to do something perhaps as challenging as cleaning up the pollution in the Suzhou Creek: He wants to sail over it in a rolling, soaring arc.
America's danny Way - who already holds the world record for a skateboard jump - plans to build a seven-story ramp somewhere along the creek, roll down it and leap to a landing ramp on the other side.
It's all part of a plan to build Shanghai's reputation as hub for extreme sports in China.
The most likely venue for the event, scheduled for August, would be in Putuo District between Guangfu Road W. on the north side of the creek and Wanhangdu Road on the south, according to the jump's organizer, city-based East Exhibition.
For now, much about the event remains a secret. The organizer wouldn't say how long the jump would be, but the creek averages 40 to 50 meters between banks.
If way soars anywhere near that distance, he would break his present world record, a 24-meter jump in California.
The shanghai leap is planned to be the centerpiece of the summer's X-sports agenda, which includes BMX biking, inline skating and skateboarding in two events organized by East Exhibition: the X-Games and Gravity.
Shanghai has already embraced X-sports by hosting the Chinese leg of the prestigious LG Action Sports Championships annually. Construction on a 27,000 square-meter extreme sports park in Jiangwan in the city's northwest is due to be completed in June. The center will provide a permanent site for the bone-bruising games.