Week of August 13, 2009, Issue #721
GREAT OUTDOORS
Game Face: R.O.G.U.E.'s gallery
Science teacher tests laws of physics on his skateboard
Jeremy Derksen / snowzone@vueweekly.com
By day he's a high school math and sciences teacher. But in his free time, Nick Breton dons full body leathers and a face helmet and skateboards downhill at speeds topping out at over 100 kilometres per hour.
In just four seasons, Breton, 24, has taken podiums in Alberta and placed well at major Canadian competitions like Danger Bay (where he tied for 17th this year) and the Vernon DH (10th in 2008). In 2008, he earned a world ranking of 45th overall on the International Gravity Sports Association World Cup circuit in Europe. Still, his students were skeptical. "At first they didn't believe me, so I showed them a picture. They said, 'well, that could be anyone behind that helmet,'" he laughs.
Breton is also a co-founder of Edmonton's R.O.G.U.E. race, the long-distance skateboarding race taking place this August 22 – 23 (along with the accompanying High Level Downhill). Yet for the second time in the race's three-year history, Breton won't be competing.
During downtime at the Paskapoo Rodeo (an annual Calgary race), Breton and some friends were out for a casual ride when he went down hard while cruising a concrete drainage ditch. "There was a fairly large roll-in where you could get a lot of speed and we were taking fast lines," he recalls.
"On the opposite wall there was a two-foot wide outflow tunnel and I wanted to see if I could go up and over it. I did it once, first try ... then I did it again with my helmet cam. I cleared the outflow fine but on the way down there were expansion gaps. I hit one and it stopped my board immediately."
He dropped to his knees but his momentum as he hit the flats threw him face first onto the concrete. The injury tally—one chipped tooth, over 20 stitches to his face and a couple pins in his thumb—effectively ending his racing season.
But Breton is taking it in stride. "It's nice to see how you rack up ... but it's not the be all, end all of skateboarding," he says. "At World Cup-sanctioned races, it's hurry up and wait. There's so much red tape. If you're out just to skateboard and have fun, the whole bureaucracy can get annoying."
On the other hand, "Canadian races are like nothing else," he says. Most races here run random elimination heats of four to six riders, he explains, so it's not as onerous as individual time trials. And it's more exciting for racers and spectators.
For Breton, though, what counts are long open stretches of pavement and a good community of riders. "Closing off an entire road is gold to us," says Breton. "We just want to get out and skateboard."
This was the genesis of R.O.G.U.E. "We wanted to get together with friends and do a little race," he says. "Other longboarders refer to [Edmontonians] as flatlanders, so we thought, 'What can us flatlanders do?'" The answer: a long distance push race spanning 20 kilometres of Edmonton's river valley trails. "It's a different kind of race—a multi-discipline race. You have to be good at all aspects of boarding to win."
With a $1000 cash prize and a custom board for first place, this year's race promises to be the biggest yet. Most of the competitors, though, won't be there for the cash. "I don't know anyone who can make a living off racing," says Breton. "This isn't something we do for money."
If Breton's students are any indicator, nor for the fame. V
The follow up: Cody Canning
After featuring Cody Canning in our June issue, the Team Alberta cyclist went on to win a bronze medal at the National Cross Country Mountain Bike Championships in St. Felicien, QC, on July 12.
Links
roguerace.com
780longboarding.com
igsaworldcup.com
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