Red Bull inspires Sri Lanka’s Skate Culture with the “Bristol Boss”
Top Red Bull UK skateboarder, Korahn Gayle skates his way around Sri Lanka to discover the island’s ambitious skate culture

What is it about skateboarding that makes it so cool? Is it the tricks that one does using a board with wheels or is it the supposed lifestyle? In Sri Lanka, skate boarding is picking up amongst the action-craving youths and adults of Colombo who can be found skating on side streets and anywhere a mobile ramp can be placed.

With the skate scene growing, PUSH skateboards, the first store of its kind was opened by two exciting 25 year olds, Hash and Umanga who want to push the skate scene within the country to a competitive level and are concentrating on teaching kids and teens to skate. They have their mind set on importing skate ramps into the country in the near future.

Red Bull Sri Lanka offered their support towards this emerging culture by inviting their Red Bull skateboarding athlete, Korahn Gayle to join forces with PUSH and interact with local skaters at a session at the Race Course Grounds on the 10th December, 2014. The interactive session offered skaters a true insight into the stories, tips and tricks from a world-class skater who was full of advice for the local skaters whilst teaching them tricks and interacting with the youngsters.

Red Bull UK’s skateboarding athlete, Korahn Gayle is known as Bristol’s newest and finest street skate talent. Though he claims his special talent is football, he has numerous successes with skateboarding around the world. In 2009, he claimed 2nd place in the Rotterdam Grand Prix in the category of Street Best Trick. He followed that with winning the Best Trick in the UKSA British Skateboarding Championship and in 2012 was a semi-finalist at Simple Sessions held in Italy. His most recent escapade was on a Red Bull excursion in Sardinia where he tore up the streets with ollying benches, nose-grinding ledges, and kickflips. He is now in Sri Lanka to do the same and more.

Photos courtesy Red Bull

“Skating is tough and takes a lot of time to learn but it has definitely given me a lot of good friends, lots of travel and the opportunity to use my knowledge to help the local skate scene such as with PUSH, who are doing an amazing job.” Korahn marvelled at the beauty of Sri Lanka and creating exciting scenes in Colombo by “grabbing on to the back of tuk-tuks and cruising down the road”. Korahn is eagerly waiting to explore the island and mentioned Galle and Jaffna as definite spots to ride his board.

Photos courtesy Red Bull

“Get a skateboard and go out skateboarding, it’s so fun and quite cheap. All you need to have fun all day is just your board. Skating is something different!”

Follow Korahn as he travels around Sri Lanka on his Twitter and Instagram.

Photos of Korahn Gayle at Racecourse Grounds by Pradeep Dilrukshana