LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) Skateboarding stars such as Sean Malto, Theotis Beasley and Trevor Colden will compete this weekend in the new-look Dew Tour at the Long Beach Convention Center.
The biggest change is a four-part skate course that will challenge skaters and make it easier for fans to understand the scoring system.
''Four different courses, that's a new thing in skateboarding,'' Malto said. ''I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a lot of skating. It's going to be kind of intense because sometimes as a skater you can pick what you like in a course and stick to that. But in this we have to get outside of our comfort zone. It will force me to skate and compete. I like that challenge. It's a good format.''
Malto said it'll be like four different mini-skate parks. One section will be all hand rails and flat bars, one section will be gaps where skaters will do flip tricks and jumping down ramps and over sets of stairs, another section will be a technical section with ledges where skaters can flip in and out, and the last section will be a big bowl.
Malto described it as ''more of a jam format, a little more open. You'll basically be put on each section for three minutes at a time, skate and flow and see what you come up with. There's a little more room for failure but more room for excitement.
Malto filmed a course preview with GoPro cameras on Wednesday.
''It's really well-built,'' he said. ''When I was skating I was thinking, `This is going to be a fun event.' Sometimes when you step into these courses it's like, `This is going to be a long weekend.' But I'm looking forward to it.''
Title sponsor Mountain Dew enlisted The Enthusiast Network to help create the new skate competition and a consumer festival.
