Spot Check: Livi Skatepark, Livingston

Mar '06
Words and Pics by Alex Irvine.



Writing an intro for Livi is not something I think I'm qualified to do. To my mind it should by someone who can actually skate it, i know i suck at skating it but it doesn't stop me going back time and time again. I'll begin by describing the first time i ever rolled around it.

Back in about '96, when about 50% of banchory skated, someone's folks had the idea of organising a coach load of kids on a trip south, to the legendary Livingstone skatepark. Myself and a few Aberdonian shredders hopped on board the bus for the seemingly epic journey.

I didn't know what to expect when we arrived, i'd seen a few pics in magazines but everyone was always talking about Livi as though it was some sort of mystical wonderland.

Chet gnar shreds the half pipe with a classic Childress trick, backside air to disaster, kind of like a body jar but to disaster, i'm gonna call it a gnar jar.>>

The first thing i remember about arriving there was the size of the place itself, up to that point in my life it the largest mass of skateable concrete i'd ever seen. The second thing i noticed is how i couldn't do a s**ting thing what so ever, it took me ages to even land an

ollie out of the ressy, something i still struggle with today. Despite the struggle of actually skating it it blew me away, this placed dwarfed me and the skating that was happening all around was mind blowing.

This single day is probably one of the most memorable from my adolesence and it changed the way i will view skateboarding, forever.

<<Benson is the latest up and comer to be spawned by Livi. Here he shows the Big Bowl whassup with this switch front rocker slide







Ben Leyden tucks a japan over a hip in the 'new' bit. >>

There really is no point in sitting there reading my ramblings, this skatepark has been standing for the last 25yrs and even though it isn't going anywhere fast.You need to go there. Even if, like I did, you find yourself overwhelmed and dwarfed by the place, persevere and you will not regret it.

Livi is definately a one of a kind park, strange as it was constructed so far back but done so well, and these days they can't seem to get any where near the mark.

The layout of Livi comprises of a 20ft long half pipe that starts at about 3ft and grows to 8ft at the deepest end. The pipe then bleeds into a large dish originally designed for the slalom skaters, who were given the flat of the half pipe to slalom down, to dissapate their speed, it is now used by Jimmy Boyce to get him up that scary bastarding back wall. To the right of the dish you'll find the bowls a 4ft into an 8ft, nice and chunky concrete coping on the big yin.

<<Stew Graham floats his chunky frame from the halfpipe to the Andover by utilising the power of the half cab.

To the left hand side of the halfpipe there is a tight trannied quarter named the Andover - the part Stu is half just above- this initiates the 'new' part of the park. Constructed in the early nineties this area is about 30M squared and contains a double halfpipe disected by a pump bump/hip (see right) and a molehill and rounding off into bowls at the far end.

The majority of Livi is without coping and results in a satisfying grind coupled with roll in heaven giving an amazing flow round the whole park.


Colin Kennedy is probably Livi's most regular visiting street skater, it shows. He can rip it up.Here's big 'ol back three >>

The majority of Livi is without coping and results in a satisfying grind coupled with roll in heaven giving an amazing flow round the whole park.

Every year, in the last weekend of June, to comemorate the being of the best skatepark in Scotland there is a fun party where people lose their fears, their inhibitions and occasionally their marbles. These fun weekends are probably the last bastion of the

free world as far as skateboarding is concerned, no corporate sponsorship, no red bull tent, basically... no bullshit.

If you haven't been to one, you are missing out, i suggest you catch the next one.

Big Mark Burrows is a beast, out the andover front lip up the escalator. >>