Ditch skateboarding event piques police

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Albuquerque police are keeping an eye out for a group of skateboarders who are taking part in an illegal competition in the city's concrete-lined arroyos.

It's called Ditch Slap, a competition where skateboarders perform their best stunts in ditches and arroyos.

Eighty different boarders from as far away as Canada are sign up for the four-day event which started, according to online information posted by the Northern California Downhill Skateboarding Association . But since it's illegal to go into the arroyos participants are staying tight-lipped about the competition.

One organizer told KRQE News 13 by phone they are doing their best to stay out of sights of law enforcement. He did say that participants are avid skaters, some in their 50s, and that helmets are required.

However, police aren't the only one's concerned. The Albuquerque Metropolitan Flood Control Authority , which is responsible for many of the city's flood channels, criticized the event for running counter to the "Ditches are Deadly" campaign it has been promoting for decades.

"I don't care if they are professionals or not; it's not safe to be in there," AMAFCA spokesperson Joanie Griffin told News 13. "We are coming into flash flood season, and even though it's beautiful in Albuquerque if its rains north of here that water is coming in the arroyos.

"That's why it's called a flash flood. It happens in a flash. We've had adults die; we've had kids die. It doesn't matter how strong a swimmer you are."

The response from local boarders? Chill.

"The skaters are not that stupid to go skating when it's raining," Zoltan Leon said. This has been happening for years, he added.

"Everybody does it," he said. "They know about Indian School and the ditches around here."

Albuquerque police said anyone they catch in the arroyos will be cited for criminal trespass. And because of the secrecy surrounding the event, they're relying on the public to let them know where this group is operating.