Skateboard GB Announce Andy Macdonald as special guest at Habito National Skateboard Championships 2022
Last week Skateboard GB announced who their special guest attending & competing in this year's National Skateboard Championships was going to be. When the video dropped on Skateboard GB’s Instagram, everyone tuned in to learn it was none other than Skateboard Legend Andy Macdonald! This is massive news and a huge treat for everyone that will be attending or watching the championships live on BBC sports via the red button, so for those who may not be familiar with Andy’s legacy and have recently started skating or getting into skate culture we are looking back at some of Andy Macdonald’s greatest achievements.
Andy Macdonald is a pro skateboarder from Melrose, Massachusetts, USA, who has competed in the X Games since it started back in 1995, accumulating more medals than any other skater (23 in total including 8 gold medals). Often noted during his competition runs is Andy’s incredible work ethic, often practising his tricks rigorously to keep them consistent which at times his peers have commented possibly hindered him early in his skateboarding journey as his tricks were so flawless it looked like he wasn’t trying.
In 1999, Andy Macdonald credits finding skateboarding at the age of 12 as being a major factor in not partaking in drugs and alcohol and did a public service announcement for “Partnership for a drug free America” (Now known as Partnership to end addiction).
Which culminated in Macdonald being invited to the White House to meet with then sitting President Bill Clinton. Macdonald even rode his board through the White House which didn’t please the secret service. Andy Macdonald over his long career has had many sponsors and even was happy to have sponsors that aren’t considered to be standard skateboard sponsors including amazon.com and LEGO as just a few examples but again Andy was not scared to think outside the box and would endorse these brands as long as they contributed and helped with more skate events which helped many smaller events expand and become more established.
Many people would agree that Andy Macdonald’s career was certainly not a walk in the park as he stuck to skating vert ramps at a time when vert competitions were quickly losing popularity with everyone turning to street skating. Still, Andy was unshakable in his belief in skateboarding for a living and In 1999 was voted “Best Overall Skater” in a Transworld Skateboarding reader’s poll. So it’s with many highlights behind him and a wealth of skate trick knowledge at his disposal that we look forward to seeing Andy skate at the skateboard GB x Habito national championships and simply cannot wait to see the kind of runs that have been worthy of multiple X Game gold!
For more information about the events and to potentially pick up spectator tickets (available in limited numbers) please visit: https://skateboardgb.org/
You can also watch the events live via BBC Sports on the BBC Iplayer app.
