Oil fails to spoil Fair Go event

VANDALS who put oil in the bowl at Ballina skatepark didn't ruin last Saturday's Fair Go skateboarding event.

While organiser Dylan McNamara, the manager of Skateboarding Australia's Northern Rivers Hub, couldn't believe something like that could happen at a country event, he said the oil was cleaned up and all the scheduled events took place.

Luke Watt, from Ballina, doesn't have legs, but he was a crowd favourite in the Open category. Luke, 18, has sacral agenisis, but that doesn't keep him off a skateboard, or from pulling off spectacular moves in the skatepark.

A handstand he performed on his board proved popular with the crowd in the heat, and with the judges, too, as he progressed through to his category's final.

Luke, who also holds a speedway licence, has been skateboarding for 18 months or so, and entered Fair Go to simply "give it a go".

Ballina's Simon Carven won the Open event.

Jackson Pilz, from Yandina in Queensland, won $1200 in the sponsored division. As for the locals, Grace Dwyer, from East Ballina, came third in the Junior Girls; Jake Martinovich from Lennox Head was fourth in the Junior Guys, with Damin Cahill from Lennox Head fifth.