Extension of the Ramalde Skate Park will deliver twice the space and the much awaited pool

Two years after the start of the works of the Skate Park de Ramalde, the space is due to be extended and the number one reason for doing so is as simple as this: the adhesion to the Skate Park was huge and that alone justifies the municipal investment of 160 thousand euros. All is estimated to be set by autumn time.

We are talking about 600 square metres, with different obstacles and the much longed for pool, which should attract even more skate lovers to Ramalde Sports Park.

On 20 July, the Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, and councillor for Youth and Sports, Catarina Araújo, were able to envision what the equipment will look like, while children were on a mission to enjoy the Missão@Férias, and some were learning first moves or tuning others.

According to Catarina Araújo, “this is a good demand. We are the victims of our own success”. The work assignment order will be signed today, 21 July and the municipal company GO Porto will be in charge of the works. The extension will be done side by side to the current equipment and includes the building up of two new platforms for the practice of skate ramp and street skate, which will be connected by an inclined plane.

There will also be rest areas, with benches and paper baskets, alongside the strengthening of public lighting on site. Like the previous project, this project is signed by architect and skater Francisco Lopez “França”, one of the experts in the field.

The councillor for Youth and Sports highlighted that “a very special characteristic is the care of integrating this equipment in this fantastic park, with full respect and in harmony with the green space and the existing trees”.

“The ex-libris will be, in fact, the skate pool”, states Catarina Araújo, furthering that “we lacked that and it will make all the difference regarding the holding of larger competitions”.

It is worth recalling that the Ramalde Skate Park grants free classes to children, youth and grow-ups and it was the spot chosen by the Portuguese Skating Federation as the stage of the new Pro Skate League, an annual circuit of seven stages aimed at boosting the modality that will be taken to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Also, the Porto stage will be the only stage in Portugal to score for the world ranking that qualifies for the Tokyo Olympics 2020, for the first time.

Catarina Araújo emphasised that “the bet of the Municipality in a modality as skate is simple: youth told us that we had to have such an equipment. The skater’s community is so large that we felt the need to create the safety and comfort measures for this sports practice”.

In addition to skate, the park can be used to practice other modalities, namely aggressive in-line skating and BMX freestyle.

As soon as the Skate Park of Porto opened, it offered free skate classes for beginners. At first, classes were held only on Saturdays and Sundays mornings, between 10 am and 12 noon. However, due to the enormous demand the municipal company Ágora – Cultura e Desporto of Porto decided to extend free sessions, with two weekly sessions, on Mondays and on Thursdays, from 5.30 pm till 7.30 pm, including the sessions over the weekend, every Saturday and Sunday, between 10 am and 12 noon.