Skateboarders shred it up at Renner Brenner Park

By Jared Hoffmann

Anna Faltermeier
A skateboarder goes up for a trick during the Rollin’ on the River competition at Renner Brenner Park. Dozens of youths turned out for the first-ever skateboard competition at the park.

A crowd of competitors and interested spectators hailing from across the Kansas City area packed into Renner Brenner Park this past weekend for Riverside’s first Rollin’ on the River skateboard competition.

The event was sponsored by the Riverside Police Athletic League, Parks and Recreation Department and Escapist Skateboarding, and was the first competition since the city created the skate park more than two years ago.

Although the park boasts an arrangement of ramps, rails and other trick-enabling obstacles, the Saturday, May 3, competition required skaters to bring their best ground maneuvers.

In a contest known simply as SKATE, similar to the basketball counterpart HORSE, competitors tried to out-trick each other one letter at a time.

Parkville resident Nigel DeMent, 18, was one of the numerous skaters who took part in the competition. A frequent user of the park, he said it was nice to have such a large-scale competition in the Northland.

“I’m here all the time, basically every day,” DeMent said. “It’s a fun park.”

Riverside residents Austin Cosler, 15, and Jordan Ferraguti, 15, both students at Park Hill South High School, also took part in the competition. Both said they skated at Renner Brenner Park on a daily basis and until last weekend had to travel across the state line in order to enter a competition. Cosler said although a regular group of skaters regularly utilized the park, many new people were getting involved in the sport as well.

“There’s a lot of new people getting into it,” Cosler said. “A lot of the younger kids are coming out and getting involved.”

Ferraguti said he looked forward to the possibility of having more competitions in Riverside in the future and hoped the city would consider expanding the park to offer additional amenities as the sport continued to gain popularity throughout the Northland.

“I think they should just do it more often,” Ferraguti said. “There is a lot of room here to expand the park.”

Mayor Kathy Rose was among the numerous spectators who turned out to watch the event, which lasted the majority of the day. Rose said she was pleased to see such a large turnout for the event and hoped residents of Riverside and beyond would continue to enjoy the park space.

“We’re trying to embrace these kids and promote how valuable this skate park is,” Rose said. I want them to take it and embrace it and make it their own.”

Staff writer Jared Hoffmann can be reached at 389-6636 or jaredhoffmann@npgco.com.