Friday, July 08, 2005

Going Huge in China

This looks like fun, an attempt by pro skater Danny Way to jump the Great Wall of China on a skateboard tomorrrow at around 7:30 p.m. central. Danny is famous for his Megaramp stunts and dropping in onto a vert ramp from a helicopter, and has prepared for years for something like this.

I met Danny briefly in Dallas 16 years ago, or maybe a little more. At the time he was a young teen and had already been a pro for some time, and what struck me about him was that he was very short and had already had a number of serious skate injuries. Vertical ramp skating puts an enormous amount of stress on the body, and I wondered at the time if that hadn't contributed to his lack of height. He's grown some since then, and now he's going for Even Knievel-type stardom with a huge stunt that could kill him. He may well break the skateboard speed record during the roll-in, and no matter what happens it should be great fun to watch, assuming he doesn't die. Good luck, Danny.

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