A racer makes his way to the finish during the 5K Bend Beatdown skateboard race at Pine Nursery Park last May. A survey suggests most Bend residents like their parks, but only 44 percent of survey participants correctly identified the Bend Park & Recreation District as an independent government agency, unrelated to Bend’s city government. (Jarod Opperman / The Bulletin) 5159578

A racer makes his way to the finish during the 5K Bend Beatdown skateboard race at Pine Nursery Park last May. A survey suggests most Bend residents like their parks, but only 44 percent of survey participants correctly identified the Bend Park & Recreation District as an independent government agency, unrelated to Bend’s city government. (Jarod Opperman / The Bulletin) - Bulletin

Racers take off at the begining of the 5K Bend Beatdown skateboard race at Pine Nursery Park in Bend on Sunday. (Jarod Opperman / The Bulletin) 5160484

Racers take off at the begining of the 5K Bend Beatdown skateboard race at Pine Nursery Park in Bend on Sunday. (Jarod Opperman / The Bulletin) - Bulletin

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Victoria Jacobsen The Bulletin

Colby Cummings was just one turn away from his second win of the day at the inaugural Bend Beatdown long-distance push race at Pine Nursery Park on Sunday morning.

Cummings, a 22-year-old Portland resident, had won the 5K skateboarding race in 10 minutes, 58.48 seconds, earlier Sunday morning, and as he approached the final straightaway of the 10K race in a pack with Eric Palmer and Andrew Andras, he had to make a decision: to sprint, or not to sprint.

“We’re coming to the last straightaway, and I was debating them, ‘Do you guys want to hold hands and finish as a team, or are we going to go for it?’” Cummings recounted. “And they were like, ‘No, this is you, go for it!’

“So I went for it, and right as I got to the straightaway I saw two other racers who were a little bit slower, and I decided to take myself out before I took the other racers out, because that’s what happens in a lot of these races. If the front person goes down, it’s a domino effect. So I took third place and called it good.”

After Cummings skidded off the path (or, in long-distance pushing terms, “deboarded”) Palmer, 25 and of Germantown, Maryland, took first place in the 10K in 22:58.54, while Andras, 39 and of Miami, took second in 22:59.10.

Neena Schueller, a 21-year-old Floridian, won the women’s 5K and 10K in 12:52.57 and 27:35.47, respectively. Alyssa Monteiro, 24, took second place and Calleigh Little, also 24, finished third in the 5K race, and the two switched places on the podium in the 10K race.

More than 50 competitors participated in Sunday’s events, a relatively large crowd for this niche sport, where the largest events tend to draw about 150. The field included some of the most accomplished LDP veterans in the country: Palmer and Andras, for example, are the only two men to have ridden more than 300 miles on a skateboard in a 24-hour period.

“Well I’m friends with all of them, so I knew they wanted to come out and see where I live,” said Bend Beatdown organizer Conan Gay. “I always travel to all of their locations. I was expecting 30 or so (competitors), so it was great to see it grow to 50.”

While the equipment may be similar to that used by street skaters, LDP racers say most of the similarities end there.

“It’s night and day,” Cummings said. “And a lot of people think it’s the same — ‘Oh, you’re a skateboarder!’ — and I’m like, no, we’re more like cross-country runners on a board. It requires a little more endurance, and you have a little more room for error.”

Much like Cummings, Monteiro, who was the second female finisher in the 5K and third in the 10K, said she originally began skateboarding just to get around when she moved to Chicago five years ago.

“I was just using it to push around and commute around the city, and I happened to run into this guy and started talking to him and found out he raced,” Monteiro recounted. “And I said, ‘What do you mean, race? Describe this to me.’ So I started doing local push races, about 7 miles or so, and when I had done all of the Midwest races I was like I want to try something new. I want to step up the game.”

Monteiro moved on to the Adrenalina Skateboard Marathon, which is contested in San Diego, and the Chief Ladiga Silver Comet Skate Challenge, a three-day, 188 mile race across Georgia and Alabama. By comparison, the Bend Beatdown races were absolute sprints.

“But dead sprint is it’s own animal, compared to sustaining speed over time,” Monteiro cautioned.

Indeed, during the race many of the competitors sank into a crouch on their board to rest on slight downhills, while the fastest racers put both rested hands on their plant leg even as they continued to push forward.

But Anne Palmer, 56 and of Boston, said she would take 5K on a skateboard over a 5K run.

“When I run a race, I do my best, try to beat a few people, and go home,” Palmer said. “When I do a skateboard race, I get there early, talk to people, give everyone a hug, race, catch up after and go out to eat. It’s like a big event, even if it’s a short little race.”

In Palmer’s case, the family reunion atmosphere at races is literal (her son, Eric, won the men’s 10K and his girlfriend, Tina Pico, 25, also competed).

But even when the skateboarders are not together, Cummings said they still encourage each other during training back in their home states.

“We all have this app call Map My Ride, so all of us are in different states but we compete with each other and we encourage each other,” Cummings said. “So if I’m having a lazy day and another friend’s out longboarding, I’ll go, ‘Oh, I’m going to go out now and do 10 miles.’”

—Reporter: 541-383-0305, vjacobsen@bendbulletin.com

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