Darren Miles had skateboarded all his life. But in his 50s, he realised he was losing his skills and flexibility. So he took it in a new direction<\/p>\n
Darren Miles never thought he would compete in any sport for Britain. But in October, he will represent Great Britain in slalom skateboarding \u2013 a form of downhill racing \u2013 at the World Skate Games in Paraguay. Last week, he completed his World Anti-Doping Agency awareness training. He had to tick a box confirming: \u201cI\u2019m an international athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJustification\u201d is the word that comes to mind, he says. \u201cA feeling that I haven\u2019t wasted my life skateboarding, that diverging into something new\u201d \u2013 he took up slalom in his late 50s \u2013 \u201cand working hard at it has yielded a result of which I am very proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s now a personal ambition,\u201d he adds, \u201cto do my best. See who I can be.\u201d A new feeling for someone who has lived with \u201call my light under a hundred bushels\u201d.<\/p>\n
What he doesn\u2019t often hear, he\u2019s pleased to say, is: \u201cAren\u2019t you too old?\u201d<\/p>\n
Miles is 60 now, but he used to get asked that all the time when he was a teenager, skating to the shops or on the ramps where he lived in Colchester, Essex. His mum gave him a skateboard when he was 10; his aunt worked in the manufacturing factory. \u201cWe were the first generation of British skateboarders. And we didn\u2019t know how long you could skateboard for. We just did it because we could do it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
He pulls the little orange board his mother gave him out from beside his desk; it\u2019s one of seven boards he keeps at home in Plymouth, south-west England.<\/p>\n
Miles has used a skateboard for almost his whole life \u2013 in his 20s, he skateboarded alongside his job repairing cameras, and in his 30s, while he went to university to study ocean science. He could ollie (a jumping technique) on to a handrail and slide down it, and he once skateboarded the legendary pipeline under the Mount Baldy reservoir in California. In his 40s, he continued to skateboard while working as a consultant specialising in flooding. He now manages flood risk for the local council.<\/p>\n
But a few years ago, he began to sense his world diminishing. \u201cThe amount of people I knew was shrinking.\u201d And his flexibility was deteriorating.<\/p>\n
During Covid, taking his skateboard to the local park, he realised: \u201cI would slowly be unable to do these tricks, one by one.\u201d He completed a \u201cquite basic\u201d trick \u2013 a 180-degree turn \u2013 and a stranger voiced an appreciative \u201cYeah!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Oh, no!\u2019\u201d Miles thought. \u201c\u2018This is a grim glimpse into the future\u2019 \u2026 They were impressed that I was an old person doing an easy trick. That didn\u2019t sit comfortably with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having sat a while with \u201cthe pain of my lost youth\u201d, he made a conscious decision to take up slalom. He has had to learn new ways to move his body, and how to build momentum while changing direction between the cones on the racecourse. \u201cYou have to pump through. It\u2019s unexpectedly physical \u2026 You\u2019re always judging, relearning what you\u2019re capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Managing speed and sharp redirections \u2013 the course sounds like a lifetime in miniature. \u201cIt\u2019s a surprising amount that happens in 15 seconds,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Slalom appealed because Miles believed \u201cthere must be an element of learning at the beginning\u201d. An upward curve, \u201cwhere you get better\u201d. For anyone who enjoys skateboarding, it\u2019s \u201ca surprising way to extend your skateboarding life\u201d. He mentions Tony Alva, the American skateboarder who will turn 70 next year.<\/p>\n
Slalom has also enlarged Miles\u2019s circle of friends. \u201cRacing has a habit of forging close friendships in a short time,\u201d he says. He\u2019s raced in Cambridge, London, France, Germany, and trains at an annual slalom camp in Czechia.<\/p>\n