MORE than 250 people flocked to Thornbury’s skate park last weekend for the annual Skate Fest.

The event, which is organised by youth groups Street Space and Krunch for the sixth year, saw competitive skaters, skateboarders and BMX riders of all ages take to the ramps for some extreme sports at the park, which has recently been renamed REKRE8.

The turnout on Saturday was particularly pleasing to the organisers, as some of the competitive aspects at last year’s event were cancelled due to bad weather.

More than 50 riders took part in the various competitions, coming from as far as Gloucester, Yate and Weston-super-Mare, with many more taking part simply for the fun of it.

“It was such a brilliant day,” said the event’s organiser Dan Potter. “It was great to see so many people enjoying themselves in the sunshine.

“The local lads made us proud, winning some of the events as well as taking party in judging and hyping up the crowd.”

Penny Baker, from Krunch, added: “We have been overwhelmed by the level of support for the Skate Fest this year.

“With all the people there, no one was just sat around, everyone was engaging with the event, taking part or helping out.

“The turnout was great as it shows there is a real need for the project. We went bigger and better than we have in years before, and really pushed the Skate Fest as an opportunity to showcase our plans for the skate park.”

The groups have been working for the past year on plans to expand the park, with the first stage of repainting the ramps, adding new pedestrian access and a new bench now complete.

Plans to increase the size of the park, add new ramps and rails and install a café are being presented to Thornbury Town Council on Thursday, June 29.

A spokesman for Thornbury Town Council, which maintains the skate park, said: “We are proud to support the Skate Fest and it was a great opportunity to talk to young people about improvements they would like to see us make for the skate park.”

Mr Potter added: “A big thank you goes out to everyone who came along to support the Skate Fest as well as to the skate park user group and all the volunteers from Street Space, Krunch and the Baptist Church for putting the time and effort into helping us run it.”