The screech of a bike tyre on an asphalt track. The clatter of a skateboard against a wooden ramp. The ground thrumming from the bass notes of Eminem’s Business .
Stand in the wrong place, and you might be in the way of some astonishingly fast MTB (mountain bike) cyclists or a few pros in aggressive skating who’ll skilfully skirt around you with a breath of space in between. As the sun dips behind the surrounding mango groves and the day’s early evening temperatures — finally – dip below 35°C, playful silhouettes are tossed into the air, pause at a peak, then land gracefully.
Wallride Park is alive with bikers, skaters and skateboarders – from Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune and Chennai – at RevJam 2019, a two-day BMX and skateboarding annual meet.
- Hyderabad’s first extreme sports park was opened just under two years ago near Peeran Cheruvu.
- The park is BYOG (Bring Your Own Gear) and charges ₹200 per hour. However, one can rent a BMX bike at an additional ₹150 per hour while a skateboard comes at ₹75 per hour.
- The pump track, the small, looping trail system which one can ride continuously without pedaling, was placed by Swiss company Velosolutions. Bengaluru-based Holystoked built the skatepark The team at Wallride is currently headed by the enterprising BMX-pro Hamza Khan .
There’s no anonymity in a space like this; fall over and a stranger on skates or a bike comes over and helps you up. Sit down quietly and you will be quickly joined by a smiling face. “Over time, we’ve really grown into a community here,” says Hamza Khan, a BMX-pro who co-founded Wallride Park. In the reflection of his bright blue Polaroids, one can see the reflection of the thriving pump track with leaping cycles and swerving skaters.
The space is peppered with about 150 people altogether, clearly not a rager of an event but something more meaningful – after all, everyone present is solely in the headspace of the sports, and not here just for the food, music or umpteen cans of energy drinks being distributed. Even kids as young as five years don knee-pads and helmets as they pull off impressive stunts against skateboard ramps.
Sitting on a bench, observing the leaping cycles, is 19-year-old Akshay Chaudhry, a Delhi-born MTB pro residing in Hyderabad. “It’s about time the city wakes up to these events. I’ve been MTB-ing for as long as I remember and the support in these realms of sports is totally different to those of cricket and football.” By his side sits a Hero Buzz cycle, its light aluminium alloy frame allowing easy suspension and seamless freestyling. Akshay points out that some of the other cycles, often assembled by the cyclists themselves, don’t have brakes. Upon observation, a grind trick often brings these speedy guys to a safe halt.
19-year-old Akshay Chaudhry is an MTB pro from Delhi.
‘Not just a hobby’
Bijal and Sagar Shah are parents of 16 year-old aggressive skater Sakshi. Having just finished her Std X, Sakshi is on her way to the World Roller Games 2019 at Barcelona, Spain in July. There’s barely two months left but she’s beaming with anticipation. “I went to last year’s competition in China; I’ve been training so hard for 10 years and I faced a lot of disappointment there.” But the teen has plenty of accomplishments to her name; she’s won 17 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and 5 bronze medals at district, state and national levels. Aggressive skating pretty much lives up to its name; line-skaters have to rely on instinct and creativity to wind around different pump tracks and courses while performing freestyle stunts and swift turns.
16-year-old Sakshi Shah at RevJam 2019 in Wallride Park. She’ll be heading to Barcelona’s World Roller Games in July
It’s a sport which requires a bottomless supply of grit. Ten years ago, Bijal and her husband didn’t know how to endorse a sport they knew very little about. “I come from a conservative Gujarati family. More importantly, how could I say ‘yes’ to my girls breaking their bones on a regular basis? But they’re stubborn and have stayed on course… with a lot of injuries along the way,” says Bijal as she watches Sakshi effortlessly tuck her knees beneath her and soar a few feet off the ground. Her younger sister Shiksha is no stranger to extreme sports; the 14-year-old’s been featured in India Book Of Records , Asia Book Of Records and World Record Union Book for her feats skating while playing keyboard and even blind-folded skating while hula-hooping.
One of the biggest challenges that the skate community in the city faces is the lack of supportive infrastructure. Given that Wallride Park is on the outskirts, it’s a long commute for many. “This isn’t just a hobby ... this is a huge part of my life and future,” insists Sakshi as she wipes at the sweat off her brow, “I come here every morning before school at 7am. We live in Abids so that’s a 90 minute journey for us, one way. I keep telling my parents to build a skate-park near our place… or to have an apartment here!”
A skateboarder revels in the success of RevJam 2019 at Wallride Park.
Taking these sports to international competitions has got to be a platinum lining on a college application, right? Sakshi shakes her head, with her parents adding, “Despite the hard work, discipline and awards they’ve won, colleges across India don’t see these sports as a valuable asset … definitely not like cricket, tennis or badminton. It’s unfair and extremely discouraging.”
But does that stop anyone? Not one bit. The whole idea of RevJam or any other event at Wallride so far has not been about teams, or about branding. Hamza concludes, “I’m so proud of the pull of this space; this isn’t just a space for practise but also one for communication.” Essentially, the spirit of sports is retained here.
Published - May 20, 2019 03:51 pm IST
