Never too old to ride: Downhill skateboarding contest in Fair Oaks is thrill for ages

In local skateboard circles, the spot is known as Suicide Hill. It stands along a steep section of Winding Oak Drive in Fair Oaks, an otherwise serene neighborhood lined with single-family suburban homes and Lake Natoma just a power walk away.

Rolling down this hill on a skateboard isn’t for the meek, as its ominous nickname suggests. Add slalom cones to navigate at speeds up to 30 mph, and one false move could land you in a world of hurt. It’s a spot best navigated by skateboard veterans like Jeff Will, Gary Cross, Judi Oyama and Jonny Miller.

They will be among the competitors at the Gold Rush Classic Super G contest on Saturday, with nearly 30 skateboarders vying for $5,000 in cash prizes and priceless bragging rights. They are heading to Fair Oaks from all over California — some of them legends in the sport — to race in a classic skateboarding format that’s enjoying a renaissance.

The contest is organized by Will, a 64-year-old Fair Oaks local who runs a construction company when not satisfying his need for skateboard speed. He’s wrangled all the proper permits from Sacramento County and circulated a petition among the neighborhood to close down Winding Oak from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the contest.

Will first skated this hill in the early 1970s, just as downhill skateboarding ascended in popularity. He said he looks forward to seeing it transform into a skateboarding speedway, with up to 100 onlookers cheering as some races feature riders going head to head. The event will be held in a Super G format, a slalom style similar to downhill skiing, with long and sweeping turns.

“Why am I doing this? My wife asked me the same thing,” said Will, in a recent call. “I’ve lived in Sacramento my whole life. I raced until I was 17 then took a 40-year hiatus and came back into (skateboarding). There’s nothing like head-to-head competition to drive excitement.”

The capital region has long been a hot spot for skateboarding. Miles Silvas, Thrasher magazine’s 2023 Skater of the Year , is a Sacramento native. Nyjah Houston, who won a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics in men’s street skateboarding , was raised in Davis before heading to Orange County. John Cardiel, a local for more than two decades, was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in 2015.

Sacramento is also home to the N-Men, a local crew for nearly 50 years who are the subjects of an award-winning 2023 documentary . Its members include Will and Jamie Hart, a downhill skateboarding star in the 1970s who still competes occasionally at the age of 73 . The N-Men are serving as the official hosts for the Gold Rush Classic along with La Costa Racing from Carlsbad.

The average age of Saturday’s skaters is about 40 years old. A masters’ division will be held for men and women 45 and up; a pro division for men and women will accommodate the younger riders.

Whatever the age, it’s more of a lifestyle than the work of weekend warriors.

“I’m looking forward to the camaraderie and seeing the guys I’ve been racing with all these years,” says Hart, via phone, while riding shotgun with Will to a downhill competition near San Luis Obispo. “It’s like a reunion. We high-five and have some beers. It’s a small community, but one that takes commitment and desire.”

Downhill skateboarding was a key attraction for the sport in the 1970s. This subset of skateboarding had its own stars, such as John Hutson, Cliff Coleman and Hart. Back in 1977, Hart was featured on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” at the Catalina Classic contest. He lost by just a few tenths of a second to Hutson, but the showing led to Hart getting his own bubblegum card from General Mills.

Saturday’s racing field is expected to draw a who’s-who of slalom skateboard stars, including Jonny Miller and Gary Cross, who was crowned world champion in the masters division at the 2023 World Skate Slalom Skateboarding World Championships.

Oyama, 64, is making the trip from her Santa Cruz home to race and meet up with her longtime Sacramento skater friends. She’s a 2018 inductee to the Skateboard Hall of Fame who’s been connected to the N-Men crew since the 1970s.

This is Oyama’s first contest since representing Team USA in September at the World Skate Games in Rome. Come November, she’ll be off to the U.S. Nationals in Nashville. But for now, she’s ready to roll in Fair Oaks.

“(The Sacramento skaters) are very family-oriented and very welcoming and supportive,” said Oyama. “These are people I’ve been friends with for 40-plus years and it’s been a great, loving community. Giant slalom is not really my thing, but I just want to have fun. This will be a fast and technical (course).”

These competitors take their boards especially seriously.

The gear for slalom-style skateboarding tends to be much more specialized — and more expensive — than the set-up seen at your local skate park. Unlike the usual popsicle-stick-shaped skateboard, the boards seen on Saturday tend to be longer for added stability and are sometimes made with carbon fiber for extra flexibility and resilience. Set-ups like these can cost well over $1,000, though entry-level riders can get started closer to $250 with a more rudimentary set-up.

They’ll need all the precision possible with Saturday’s skaters racing down the 1,400-feet course, a downhill joyride through slalom cones that takes 30 to 40 seconds to complete.

“When you get down to the bottom and make it, you’re like, ‘No, I’m not gonna die!’” said Will. “You have this overwhelming feeling of holy (smokes) that was serious!”

And, as they race, the overall hope is that younger generations get stoked on slalom skateboarding. Oyama is already coaching Leiola Kahaku, a 16-year-old who also represented Team USA at the 2024 World Skate Games.

Both Oyama and Hart feel hopeful about the future of slalom skateboarding, noting its popularity around Europe and Japan. The addition of skateboarding in the 2024 Olympics also added a boost of visibility — and perhaps respect — for the discipline overall.

Either way, these competitors aren’t in a race against time, even with some of them reaching senior citizen status. They live by the adage, “You didn’t quit skateboarding because you got old, you got old because you quit skateboarding.”

Suicide Hill now awaits.

“There’s newer blood with slalom and I see a younger generation coming up to take over the elders,” said Oyama. “I just want to encourage others to keep doing what they love. Age is just a number.”