Slalom in the Brownsville Herald Newspaper (Eddy Martinez)

[Adam Trahan]

From the Brownsville Herald

Street slalom finds following in Valley

By KEVIN GARCIA
The Brownsville Herald

BROWNSVILLE, Oct. 23, 2003 — He races downhill at speeds of more than 35 mph, weaving in and out of specially placed cones with nothing but a plank of Fiberglass and four plastic wheels between him and the pavement.

Eddy “Texas Outlaw” Martinez loves to street slalom – even if finding hills in the Rio Grande Valley can be difficult.

“I’m enjoying myself,” he said. “It’s like the summer of ‘78 all over again.”

Martinez, 43, first learned to skateboard practicing at the now-closed Six-Shooter Junction Skatepark in Harlingen in the 1970’s.

He regularly travels from Brownsville to Rio Grande City to practice his speed skateboarding on various street and parks – usually looking for spots with light traffic. Whenever he gets the chance, he attends national competitions to race against other street slalomers from across the country.

“Most of the guys I ride with are in their thirties, forties or fifties,” Martinez said. “The fastest guys are the older guys.”

Street slalom competitions began in the 1970s, but declined in popularity when vertical skateboarding grew in the 1980s. The sport began its comeback in the late 1990s, but it has yet to really catch on in Texas.

Martinez and Marcos “Rogue” Soulsby-Monroy of Galveston represent Texas at national competitions – they are the only known competitors from the Lone Star State.

Soulsby-Monroy, 41, said in a recent phone interview that the younger generation of skaters is more concerned with tricks than speed.

“I think that what they call street-style skateboarding is more popular right now,” Soulsby-Monroy said. “The older skaters were around when slalom was big, so it is easier for us to go back to it.”

These older skaters take their sport seriously and spend plenty of cash for the best equipment.

Martinez owns several boards, including some that cost as much as $575.

“My board is specifically made for me,” he explained. “They have wider wheels. The wider the contact path, the more stability you’ll have. The trucks are offset for better traction.”

The increased stability and traction is important for racers traveling at high speeds down large hills.

“When you fall, you pay in flesh,” Martinez said.

In other parts of the country, there’s no age difference between traditional skateboarders and street slalomers.

But trick riding doesn’t appeal to Martinez like it did when he was younger.

“I don’t go sliding down rails,” he said. “Jumping down stairwells doesn’t grab me, but I respect what they do.

“I’m old and I don’t heal fast. The thought of racking my groin never appealed to me.”

Because he wears protective gear, carefully avoids streets with traffic and looks older than other skateboarders, Martinez doesn’t have the same trouble with the law that younger skaters do.

“The cops stop and they say, ‘Oh my God, an older skater,’ and they tell me to be careful, but they generally leave me alone,” Martinez said.

For more information on street slaloming, visit the Web site http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/