Longboard races on this weekend

The Cathlamet Downhill Corral, Cathlamet's first professional longboard racing weekend, will take place this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Longboarders from around the world will come to town for two days of races.

Before competition gets underway, Billy Bones Meiners and other well-known longboarders will hold a clinic on technique and present a demo board. The clinic will be Friday at 5 p.m. at Wahkiakum High School.

Racing action starts at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Stockhouse Farm on West Birnie Slough Road. Longboards will compete in a 7.5 mile push race in a loop that starts and ends at the farm.

At 12 noon, they'll participate in slalom races on River Street. Skip Marcotte, the North American Tight Slalom Champion, has designed the course, according to information from the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce. Registration available at site.

Both races each have a $10 registration fee.

The featured downhill races will get underway at 9 a.m. Sunday. Starting near Wahkiakum High School, the longboarders will fly down South 3rd, Spring, Columbia, Main, Broadway and Commercial streets to finish near the Warren Cannery Building.

Entry for this race is $80; contestants must wear full helmet and leathers or similar pads. Rip City Skates has donated first prize of $500, the Chamber reported, and both Rayne and Eastside Longboards have donated custom boards for the podium.

On Sunday, streets will be closed intermittently as the longboarders compete in the downhill. No parking will be allowed along the route, by order of the Cathlamet Town Council.

Event organizers and citizen volunteers will monitor the course to stop races to allow residents to drive to and from their houses. Main Street and SR 409 will be closed to through traffic when a race heat occurs.