Charitable Distance Skating

Charitable distance skating refers to long distance travel on a Longboard or skateboard with an associated charitable fundraising effort.

Perhaps one of the most famous boards in the world, Elsa (a rolls rolls carbon longboard) has over 10,000 km under her wheels. Elsa was pushed from Perth to Brisbane between August 20, 2006 and January 22, 2007 by Dave Cornthwaite, of BoardFree, at a distance of 5823 km, which broke American Jack Smith's previous distance record by 994 km. Cornthwaite was also the first person to skateboard the length of Britain, travelling from John O'Groats to Lands End between April 30, 2006 and June 2, 2006, a total distance of 895.9 miles.

During the same summer of 2006, four young Canadians pushed their way across the second longest land mass in the world. Beginning on the waterfront in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Push for the Cure pushed more than 7000 km to Vancouver, British Columbia. The journey took just over five months and raised more than $80,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Many other charitable longboard journeys have taken place, including Nat Halliday et al.'s skate of the length of New Zealand in 2007, Sam Benson's Beatswalkin journey from Devon, England to France in 2007, and Ben Stiff's record-breaking length of Britain skate in 2008.

Long Treks on Skate Decks, comprising Paul Kent, Aaron Enevoldsen and Adam Colton. In 2009, the group skated 2400 km through South America, from Peru to Bolivia. In 2010, they completed yet another 2000km journey through Morocco, raising funds for Art à la Carte, a Canadian volunteer society that provides acute care cancer patients with a choice of art for their hospital rooms. The blogs from these skating teams and the video coverage of their epic trips on sites such as YouTube.

In 2010 SkateAcrossUSA formed a team led by Ari Mannis that skated almost 3,000 miles from Oregon to New York to raise money for at-risk youth followed by a support vehicle. In 2012 they finished their second journey from Santa Cruz, CA to San Diego, CA totaling over 550 miles with no support.

Skate4Hope, comprising members from Singapore. Skate4Hope completed a 120 km maiden round-island voyage in July 2010.

Famous quotes containing the words charitable, distance and/or skating:

    She was so charitable and so pitous
    She wolde wepe, if that she saugh a mous
    Kaught in a trappe, if it were deed or bledde.
    Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)

    As distance shows a horse’s strength, so time reveals a person’s heart.
    Chinese proverb.

    In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)