From 18th-22nd February 2014, Bondi Skate Park will play host to Vans BOWL-A-RAMA™ Bondi, not only the biggest professional concrete event in the Southern Hemisphere, but also the biggest week of skateboarding infused cultural festivities in Australia.

Showcasing Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach, Vans BOWL-A-RAMA™ celebrates art, music, film and true skateboard culture with the “Festival of the Skateboard”. The event features the world’s most successful and influential skaters, including fellow ‘Bones Brigade’ members, Vans legendary skater Steve Caballero, World Champion Pedro Barros and the iconic Tony Hawk.

The PRO division is the strongest ever assembled, with the list including some of New South Wales’ best riders, Nathan “Jimmy” Beck, Ben Key, Jack Fardell, veteran rider Renton Miller and thirteen year old Poppy Olsen, looking to skate their way to a spot on the podium.

While the Masters Division includes skateboarding legends Tony Hawk, Nicky Guerrero, Eddie El Gato Elguera, Pat Ngoho, Mike McGill, Sergie Ventura, Adam Luxford, Lester Kasai, Sean Goff, Jeff Grosso, Kevin Staab, Adrian Jones and Mike Rogers.

Skating in New South Wales

With a powerful skateboarding community and some of the best skate-parks in the world, skaters love shredding it up in New South Wales. Brazilian skater Murilo Peres says, “Sydney is one of my favourite places, there are so many awesome skate parks and bowls. It's been amazing to be a part of the Australian Bowl-riding Championships at Bar Beach Newcastle, The Australian Open of Surfing at Manly and now to the iconic Vans BOWL-A-RAMA Bondi – the famous blue bowl on Sydney's best beach.”

From Riverwood to Five Dock and Newcastle to Port Macquarie, there are dozens of skate-parks with steep bowls, ramps and rails popping up around the state. World Champion skater, Pedro Barros, says "There are so many great places in Sydney and NSW to skate, from Bondi and Bar Beach in Newcastle to Entrance Skate Park and Manly Vale.”

Skating in Sydney is for those with years of experience as well as those just starting out. For those that have never skated vertically and want to give it a go, the Monster Skatepark at Sydney Olympic Park has iSkate sessions geared towards skaters of all skill levels.

Australian skater RJ Barabaro shares his favourite places to skate in NSW:

• Bondi: Bondi Bowl offers a lot to a bowl/transition skater. It is large enough to blast huge airs and pull off some pretty technical spins but is small enough also to do some lip trickery. It has some pretty nice features including the steep waterfall, tight corner, the hip and if course the pool coping. The park itself caters to street skaters too with some of the most unique obstacles in Australian skate parks. www.waverley.nsw.gov.au
• Five Dock: This park offers an amazing bowl with crazy lines all over the place. To master this park you really need to spend a lot of time there and be willing to dedicate some skin and blood. It also has some of the oldest crete around the main bowl which adds another element to it. www.canadabay.nsw.gov.au/parks---five-dock-skate-park.html
• Newcastle: Newy 'Gold Bowl' is one if the newest in Australia, its fast and slick. The level of the kids here is definitely going to take over Australian bowl territory. This has big transition allowing for speed and lots of air along with a tight pocket and two different angled hips. www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/recreation/virtual_tours/empire_park_skate_park
• Manly Vale: This place is a bit haggard, old and crusty, just beautiful. It's got a bit of a street section but for me the magic happens in the tight pool style bowl. It's literally one of the best replica style bowls. It's fast, tight and you gotta rip everything in with a nail and tooth. http://skatin.it/manly-vale-skatepark/
• Monster: At Olympic Park it holds Australia's largest Vert Ramp at 14ft with a 17ft and 21ft roll in. A rad spine ramp with all the attachments and an indoor street course with huge floor space and lots of ad-on’s or every ramp and bank in there. www.monsterpark.com.au

 Key skating events

NSW’s will host a number of skating events in 2014, including:

• 6-10 Feb 2014: Australian Bowl-riding Championships, Bar Beach, Newcastle. National qualifiers for the BOWL-A-RAMA at Bondi and last chance for local skaters to win a wild-card to compete against the world’s best www.abcskate.com.au
• 8-16 Feb 2014: The Hurley Australian Open of Surfing. Showcases the best in surfing, music, fashion and art at one of Australia’s most iconic beaches, featuring skateboarding hosted by Nike SB www.australianopenofsurfing.com
• 18-23 Feb 2014: Vans BOWL-A-RAMA™ at Bondi Beach. Celebrating its ten-year anniversary, the event returns to the half-pipe where it started back in 2005. Line-up includes legendary skaters Steve Caballero and Tony Hawk plus world champion Pedro Barros www.bowlarama.com.au
• 30 Aug 2014: Nike x SbA Am Titles, Waterloo (Fernside) Sydney. This nine-round series comes to Sydney in August, with competition for under-14s and Open events for men and women http://sba.org.au/Blog/2014-nike-x-sba-am-titles

For more information on Vans BOWL-A-RAMA™ Bondi www.bowlarama.com.au

For more information go to www.sydney.com or www.visitnsw.com

To access the image library and download images go to images.destinationnsw.com.au  

Media Contacts:
Kate Young, Destination NSW 
Email: kathryn.young@dnsw.com.au 
Tel: +61 (0) 2 9931 1164
Mob: +61 (0) 404 700 379