Auckland, New Zealand in 1978 opened up a kickass skatepark called Skatopia in the Manukau suburb, which was sponsored by Coca Cola. It emulated the park plans from Skatopia in the U.S. Sadly, it was demolished in 1982. Here’s some vintage Youtube footage from 1979:
I stumbled upon a group photo including Debbie Bragg in 1980 from the Auckland Libraries digital collection, which stated that she had just “broken the world record for non-stop skateboarding.” I’m not sure if that meant pumping back and forth, or around a track, but pretty cool!
The photo was published in the Manukau Courier, June 14, 1980 on p. 3.
Would be awesome to hear from Debbie or the two guys in the photo being Janek Musialkawski and Phillip Taylor. And here’s a “before & after” photo of the park. Sob!
New Zealand is also home to solid skateboarders like Stace “the Ace” Roper and Maori legend, Georgina Matthews!
Womxn Skateboard History 