A few years ago, Pattaya declared itself to be an ‘Extreme City’ but it wasn’t made clear what that classification was exactly meant to be. Could it be a city of ‘extreme entertainment’ ‘extreme shopping’ ‘extreme sports’ or extreme everything?
In any case during this past ill-fated COVID-19 pandemic year, there being no influx of extreme tourism to spend extreme bucks in Pattaya, the local population is suffering an extremely painful period of extremely no income.
To remedy the situation and to help ease the suffering of the citizens, our invincible mayor and his team are constantly working to organize various activities to bring back visitors to our city and facilitate our economic recovery.
Some of the activities and events included cultural, entertainment and sports. Many events have already been held and proven to be quite successful as one could see on recent extremely busy weekends.
The latest of the so-called ‘Extreme Sports’ was held on March 27. Being a beach resort, the event was suitably called the ‘Pattaya Bikini Surf Skate Day’. The event saw over a hundred skate boarders from many parts of Thailand participating.
The event was held around the activities area of the Central Marina on Second Road/North Pattaya with Mayor Sonthaya Khunplome officiating. He was accompanied by Kwanchai Boonaree, general manager of the shopping centre, Rattanachai Suthidechanai, Pattaya mayoral advisor, Boonanan Pattanasin president of the Pattaya Business and Tourism Association (PBTA), officials from the cultural and tourist departments of city hall and members of the Pattaya Board Riders Club.
Skate boarders showed off their extreme skills as they sped along the second road up towards the Dusit Thani Hotel, down Beach Road, up central Road and ending back on Second Road to the Central Marina.
For the uninitiated, *Skateboarding is a form of recreation and sport, popular among youths, in which a person rides standing balanced on a small board mounted on wheels.
Considered one of the so-called extreme sports, skateboarding as a professional sport boasts a range of competitions, including vertical and street-style events. Vertical skating (also called “vert”) features aerial acrobatics performed in half-pipes that were originally built to emulate empty swimming pools. Street style features tricks performed in a real or simulated urban environment with stairs, rails, ledges, and other obstacles.
Skateboarding has developed as a youth subculture that emphasizes creativity and individuality. It is an alternative to mainstream team sports, which are more formally organized and largely controlled by adults. (*Encyclopedia Britannica)
The mayor said that he hoped such activities will encourage Sports Tourism in Pattaya attracting athletes from around Thailand and in the near future from other countries to come to Pattaya and hold their tournaments and exhibitions here.
