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Boarders, Bikers to Face Off Saturday

Anyone can try to enter in the games at final qualification round on Friday. Adrenaline Games
Are you impressed by the teenagers on their skateboards and BMX bikes who fly around the statue of Karl Marx at Teatralnaya Ploshchad? If so, learn from the best this weekend when the Adrenaline Games come to Moscow.

Eight thousand people are expected to visit the two-day event, which starts Saturday at the speed-skating center in Krilatskoye.

The games will see hundreds of competitors from around the world compete in six different disciplines: street skateboarding, street BMX, flatland BMX, aggressive in-line skating, mountain-boarding and wake-boarding.

One of the most eagerly awaited competitors is Chris Haslam, a Canadian professional skateboarder.

Visitors will also watch the new wunderkind of the BMX world, 13-year-old Nikolai Rogatkin, a second-generation Russian-American, who is so successful that he earns more money than some people twice his age.

Local riders are just as dedicated and have been battling to get into the competition too.

“It is a great chance to put yourself out there,” said Pavel Kuznetsov, who took up skateboarding when he was just 8 years old. “It is not just entertainment, it is a way of life, your world where you can run to hide away from problems.”

Despite a certain whiff of boys and toys, the games has a growing female contingent and is trying to attract more.

“There are very few girls who skate. I’d like to raise the skill level,” said Yekaterina Shengeliya, who won first place in the skateboarding women’s section in last year’s games.

If you are a budding skater, there is still time to enter the games at qualifying competition at Adrenalin skate park Friday. The top 15 will qualify for the games.

The Adrenaline Games is on Sept. 19 and 20 at Krylatskoe speed skate center, 16 Krylatskaya Ulitsa. Metro Molodyozhnaya. Tel. 910-406-7878. www.adrenalingames.ru

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