La Salzadella - The Fastest Downhill Skateboarding Event in Spain

We at Adrex.com are always stoked to help local scenes. This time, guys from Ridersfly sent us a brief peek into what many take for granted. Organizing an event is not an easy task but as the old saying goes "where there's a will there's a way" nothing is impossible. Downhill skateboarding boom is spreading all over the world. Still far from becoming a common discipline, sport clubs and federations, backed up by town councils, among others, are working really hard on bringing the scene closer to everybody. This is the reason why Ridersfly, a Spanish skateboarding brand and event organization, decided two years ago to bet on their first project. Having passed its 3rd edition this year, we are proud to present the Salzadella Freeride.

18. 11. 2014 Photos: 20

Words by Palaxa Golden and Maria Giner: The idea arose due to organizers willing to go down a road that required a big amount of safety protections. Decided to reach their goals, the well-acclaimed proposal and the closer relationship they had created with the major of the town and locals has bore its fruit. In 2013, the first edition of Salzadella Freeride took place. Hosted by the town with the same name which holds its very well-known cherry, almond and olive trees characterize the perfect environment for the sublime welcome of the riders.

An amazing effort of volunteers takes place to secure the whole course a few days earlier before every event. Hay bales, tire wheels and course marshals with walkie-talkie connections are arranged along 2,6 kilometers of track to provide participants the best security rolling down the hill. Obviously, all this would not be possible without the Inertia Sport Federations’ (FDI) support with its Accident Insurance and the corresponding permits such as the Civil Liability Insurance and the ambulance assistance.

The surrounding success experienced after the first edition gave Ridersfly enough energy to hold two more Salzadella Freerides in 2014. Despite the extremely hard weather conditions they suffered during the previous editions, a registration list of a 100 participants vanished in a record time closure of 3 hours and a half. Riderfly’s only expectation was to leave participants a good taste in their mouths, and so they did!

A lot of runs were made with shuttle trucks for riders to go up and down without stopping. Leathers suits wore, full-face helmets on, closed-skin-wheels set and tire shoe soles ready. All these with the simple purpose of having fun and reach the top speed of 90km/h in standup and 100km/h in streetludge discipline in packs of a maximum of 6 riders each run.

The Longboarding downhill influence is getting bigger and bigger each year. Riders are acquiring more level and learning faster, however racing competition is not as established in Spain as it might be in some other countries. Nevertheless, this kind of initiatives are becoming very popular in our country and it is a very good training and the best way to spend some time with friends doing what we like the most.