Today we’re celebrating Canada Day, so it’s the perfect time to acknowledge Karen Hegmann and the fantastic article she wrote for the magazine Concrete Wave (Holiday issue, vol. 7 no. 3) back in 2008, edited by Michael Brooke called “Canadian Contest Memories.”
Photos: Karen Hegmann practising in her driveway in Ottawa, 1977
Karen wrote: “In 1978, I lived and breathed skateboarding. Every kid on our block had a board, and those who didn’t were busy hounding their parents to get them one.” She also shared via email that “I grew up in Ottawa, and to get to a skate park I had to have my parents drive me to Toronto (the Superbowl at Lawrence/Midland)! That was around 1978.” And on her 16th birthday, it was Karen’s one wish to be taken there, almost 250 miles (400 km) away.
The first female National champion, Pam Judge from Canada’s Westcoast (1977 & 1978), also had fond memories of Superbowl skatepark since this outdoor concrete park (with two snake runs, half-pipe that became a 14 ft bowl, banked freestyle area, and a 16 foot “death bowl” which was mostly unskateable, unless you were a pro like Lonnie Toft) also included a dome to shield the park from the Canadian winters!
Photos: Superbowl skatepark in the 1970s with Jim Albano and Gary Wildman (who also worked at the park)
Karen wrote that her sense of adventure was likely related to growing up in a family with three brothers, but she couldn’t pinpoint where her inspiration to skate came from. “Whatever it was, I was hooked and determined to be a skateboarder… I made my first board in my parents’ garage out of a piece of wood and some creaky old metal Dominion roller skate wheels. The board was crude, and I had my brothers tow me behind their CCM bikes. The board worked for a while, until one day I hit a sewer and went flying. The scar on my knee was my first sign that it was time to buy a ‘real’ board.”
Photos: Karen Hegmann practising her moves at the Olympic Park in Munich while visiting her grandmother in 1977
When Karen acquired a blue plastic Makaha board with red urethane wheels and kicktail, she never let it out of her sight and was constantly ripping around her driveway and neighbourhood. She focused on freestyle moves like wheelies, endovers, high jumps and 360s, and was especially motivated when she noticed an advertisement in her newspaper for the Ottawa Skateboard Tournament. “I didn’t have a freestyle routine, but figured I had enough moves to pull something together at the last minute.” She also practised slalom by dodging a series of cans at the parking lot in a local mall.
On contest day, Karen was thankfully driven to the St. Laurent Arena by her dad and while there were many male competitors (approximately 150), it was only Karen and one other girl who had the nerve to represent. Karen recalled in her email that, “When I competed in Ottawa, one of the best skaters was a guy called Jim Minty. Super nice guy. He even lent me his slalom board for a local Ottawa competition as I just had a ‘cheapo’ board of my own. The day he lent me that board to compete was the first time I ever used a ‘fancy’ board!” The board was a G&S Fibreflex, and riding it helped Karen win the top spot in Ottawa, “as well as a berth in the Canada Week National Skateboard Championships later in June.”
On June 16, 1978, Karen was interviewed for the Ottawa Citizen in an article called “Borrowed skateboard brings out the best in champs” because it turns out that Jim also borrowed the skateboard, before passing it on to Karen! In the article she said, “I was lucky to get it. Next year, I’ll have to get a better board though.” Apparently, in her freestyle run she added an “arabesque” move, which none of the guys pulled off. “To prepare for the finals, Hegmann is going to practise, of course, and see if she can borrow some skateboards. ‘I can’t go out and buy a $100 board. My parents would be… hmmm,’ she laughed. ‘It’s expensive.’”
Karen’s performance also meant that she was approached by a sports shop called “Tommy and Lefebvre” to be part of their team as the only girl and was interviewed for the local Ottawa TV station. And in her email, she noted that, “Much of my training was either done alone – or with others at the Ottawa Boys and Girls Club (under the directorship of Bernie Muzeen). He coached me for my routine for the Nationals.” The routine would be two-minutes long “that included moves such as board-to-board jumps, two-footed nose and tail wheelies, christies, kamikazes, daffies and endovers.” And for slalom, she was able to purchase a second-hand G&S board.
The “Canada Week National Skateboard Championships” was held on June 30, 1978, at the National Archives in Ottawa on Wellington Street, sponsored by the Canadian Skateboard Association.
Karen recalled that the event attracted over 3000 spectators and while it was an incredible experience, there was some regret that she swore in front of the six judges during her routine after a blunder. “So much for grace under pressure. I had practiced so hard for this competition, yet knew the slip-up would cost me.” Even though Karen edged out her main competitor in the slalom race, with the combined score of the two disciplines, it was Andrea Hiob (sometimes misspelled as “Andria” “Hyob”) age 13 from Edmonton, Alberta, who took the overall win with Karen placing second out of eight girls (age 11-15).
Photos: Karen kept her trophy, the “Canada Week National Skateboard Championships” 1978 brochure, and the CSA Newsletter from July 1978, celebrating the event, including the group shot of the female competitors
Fortunately, Karen accepted that Andrea deserved the win and was a gracious person, so no hard feelings. Based on two articles from the Edmonton Journal in June and July 1978, Andrea then traveled on to Vancouver for the Canadian National Finals, which was reported on in the October 1978 issue of the National Skateboard Review, with Andrea placing 3rd in both disciplines.
For Concrete Wave, Karen also shared that in 2004, 26 years after her first attempt at slalom in the Nationals, “I found myself once again in the starting gate. I was competing in the July 1 Canada Day Slalom Competition in Ottawa” Even after such a long time, Karen utilized the steep starting-ramp that propels slalom skaters onto the course! She was the only woman in the event since her two competitors opted to drop-out after seeing how steep the course was.
And then, after the pandemic, Karen explained that “I wanted to try something new after all the lockdowns and bought a longboard. I was used to slalom (very narrow and flexible board) so this board was a different beast. First day out at Sunnybrook Park in Toronto, I fell and broke my arm. Also tore my rotator cuff. This was the first injury EVER that I had on a skateboard. I’m still doing physio now [April 2022] to treat that injury. My ego was a bit bruised that day too.”
More recently, Karen and her fellow skateboarding competitor from 1978, Andrea Hiob actually reunited in Edmonton in July 2025 after all these years! It turned out that Andrea works for the University of Alberta in the Anthropology department, and Karen’s brother works in a nearby lab also at UAlberta! It sounds like the two skaters immediately hit it off and had a great time reminiscing. Here’s a photo c/o Karen’s collection:
Overall, Karen celebrates her skateboarding history with a smile on her face and gratitude for the wonderful experiences it provided her. She stated that “skateboarding was a big part of my life and will always be a part of my heart and soul – even if I don’t attend competitions anymore.” And, I’m personally grateful that Karen valued skateboarding because her collection of memories including correspondence from the CSA President Robert A. Firth, Canadian Skateboard Association newsletters, and even a “Self-Assessment Checklist” that she created as a kid are absolutely invaluable.
Happy Canada Day!
References:
- Hegmann, Karen. “Canadian Contest Memories,” Concrete Wave 7, no. 3 (Holidays 2008).
- Hegmann, Karen. Personal email, April 13, 2022.
- Rodway, Paul. “Borrowed skateboard brings out the best in champs,” Ottawa Citizen (June 26, 1978) p. 23.
Womxn Skateboard History 