Karen Trimble of San Marcos, CA, along with her brothers John and Terry, was a competitive freestyle skateboarder in the mid-1980s. She was mentioned in passing within Terry’s Freestyle zine called GTurn and he published a photo of her practising kickflips in the November 1987 issue (Vol. 1 No. 2).
She became sponsored by Tracker trucks and was featured in an ad within Lynn Kramer’s zine Equal Time (Vol 1. No. 2) in 1989, with the photo taken by George Medlock.
Some of her contest results include:
- October 1987, Karen took 1st place in Freestyle “B” category at the Arizona Amateur Skateboard League contest
- 1987 CASL Freestyle contest in Anaheim, CA, Karen competed against the guys and came 3rd in the 1A 17 and over division.
- 1987 CASL Irvine Freestyle contest, she placed 3rd out of 4 guys in the 1-A 17 & Over.
- 1988 CASL Freestyle contest in Anaheim, CA, competed against the guys and came 1st in the 1A 17 and over division.
While the CASL contests required her to compete against the guys, Karen eventually competed against other women, placing third behind Michelle Sanderson and Dee Dee Devine at the Life’s a Beach contest in 1987, in Carlsbad, CA.
She also participated in a freestyle event at a contest called “Street Life” in San Diego on November 19, 1988. Kramer reported on the event in the Girls Who Grind zine (Vol. 1, No. 1), noting that five women had the nerve to snow up and represent, being 8 1/2 year old Jennifer Burbank, Lainey Edwards, Lisa Forman, Christy Jordahl, and Karen. Unfortunately, the male competitors were less than welcoming, taking over the course during their streetstyle practise runs and even skating during their contest runs. Kramer wrote, “The freestyle division was also a coed division. Karen Trimble placed fourth in that division, being the only woman competing. She won 3 CASL freestyle competitions last year.”
There’s a fair amount of accolades for her brother’s contributions, but I’m hoping to find more about Karen and maybe even some footage!
Womxn Skateboard History 