Photo by Renda Eko Riyadi from Pexels
By Cillian Doyle.
The manager of a Wexford skate park says there's no hope of getting an Irish skateboarder to the Olympics if it goes out of business.
The Wreckless skate club in Gorey, Co Wexford, has the largest indoor facility for skateboarding, BMX and rollerblading in the country.
But the pandemic closure order has drained its bank account, and it's now had to launch an online fundraiser and hopes to relaunch as a non-profit.
It's the only place in Ireland where skateboarders could compete for Olympics qualification.
Manager Alexander Butler says they want to keep their extreme sports community from going extinct:
"The one thing we pride ourselves on is that under the age of 4 and over the age of 65 is on the house - anything they want to do whether it be arts or music, just read or have a coffee - it's more of a home away from home for people - it's a safe place, everyone is treated equally."
"Everyone is given the best guidelines depending on what they want to do sports-wise - they are extreme sports so we try to keep people as safe as we possibly can."
"It's a fun place - a place e where you can let your hair down and feel relaxed."
Butler, who is also the owner of the Wexford facility added that the centre is now fighting for survival:
"We put a GoFundMe out for 50,000 - that's really a worst-case scenario if we end up not being able to open at the end of June. "
"Everything is helping even if we don't even hit that target - it would just give us a better chance really - it would mean I could pay staff instead of them volunteering - just get up to date with unpaid bills that built up when we were forced to have our doors closed."
